Moral foundations and prosocial giving in deficit versus growth conditions: a study on a representative sample of Poles

Abstract Drawing on the assumptions of construal level theory of psychological distance, moral foundations theory, and the revisited cost-reward model of intervention, we aimed to test how a person's moral foundations relate to the readiness to help targets that endorse sets of foundations which are similar or different to theirs. Moreover, we investigated how people expect these targets to help them. In both cases, we took into account help in the conditions of deficit (personal problems) and growth (self-development). A representative sample of Poles, N = 818, aged 18–65 ( M = 42.3; SD = 12.9), took part in an online survey. Higher individualizing moral foundations related to lower giving intentions to binding targets and targets in growth condition, as well as to lower expectations of help from binding targets, and in the case of being both in deficit and in growth situation. Higher binding moral foundations related to higher propensity to give and to higher help expectations regardless of the moral foundations of the target and the condition. In general, people primarily intended to share with individualizing targets in a deficit condition, and least – with binding targets in a growth condition. Similarly, they expected most support for themselves in the case of deficit from an individualizing target, and least from binding targets in the case of needing resources for growth. We discussed our results in the light of psychological proximity and the consequences of moral polarization in societies.