‘Thou shalt not kill’: a survey experiment on the effects of moral primes on war attitudes in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Through an original survey experiment on a nationally representative sample of the Turkish population, this article demonstrates that respondents who are primed on the immorality of the use of force against others are substantially more willing to support only conditional military intervention in a civil war in another country. Further statistical analyses reveal that the activation of moral beliefs largely depends on the degree of approval of the moral statement and previously held foreign policy predispositions on isolationism. These findings contribute to the research on priming and public opinion regarding the use of force in general and, in particular, interventions in civil wars.

KEYWORDS:

• Military intervention
• priming
• public opinion
• survey experiments
• morality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Osman Sabri Kiratli is Associate Professor in the International Trade Department of Bogaziçi University, Istanbul. Originally trained in political science, he holds MA and PhD degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, awarded in 2007 and 2012 respectively. His research areas include public opinion dynamics, European integration, EU foreign policy, and international political economy. Kiratli has published his work in various political science journals such as European Union Politics (EUP), International Journal of Public Opinion Research, European Integration Online Papers (EIOP), Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, and Turkish Studies.

Notes

1 See Schuman and Scott, “Problems in the Use.”

2 Zaller, The Nature and Origins, 582.

3 Iyengar and Kinder, News That Matters, 63.

4 Fiske and Taylor, Social Cognition, 257.

5 Riker, The Art.

6 Krosnick and Kinder, “Altering the Foundations.”

7 Hassin et al., “Subliminal Exposure.”

8 Hurwitz and Peffley, “Playing the Race Card.”

9 Djupe and Calfano, “Religious Value Priming,” and Clemons, Peterson, and Palmer, “Priming Assad.”

10 Liberman, “An Eye for an Eye,” and Stein, “War and Revenge.”

11 Kadir Has University Social and Political Trends 2016 Survey, https://www.khas.edu.tr/news/1498. Turkish public opinion was also largely in favor of Turkish military action in northern Syria in November 2019.

12 See for example report from CNN World, March 2, 2003, available at https://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/01/sprj.irq.main/, accessed 12 October 2019.

13 Mintz, “How Do Leaders Make Decisions,” and Kesgin and Kaarbo, “When and How.”

14 Kiratli, “To Fight or Not to Fight”; Sarigil, “Public Opinion”; and Uslu et al, “Turkish Publıc Opinion.”

15 Kertzer et al., “Moral Support.”

16 Moseley, “Just War Theory,” and Moy et al., “Support for the Death Penalty.”

17 Liberman, “An Eye for an Eye.”

18 Aquino et al., “A Grotesque and Dark Beauty.”

19 Hallin and Gitlin, “The Gulf War,” and Parker, “Towards an Understanding.”

20 Kreps and Maxey, “Mechanisms of Morality.”

21 Lyon and Malone, “Was Woodrow Wilson Right?”

22 Djupe and Calfano “Religious Value Priming,” 648.

23 Molden, “Understanding Priming Effects.”

24 Chong and Druckman, “A Theory of Framing.”

25 Sniderman and Theriault, “The Structure of Political Argument.”

26 Boettcher III and Cobb, “Echoes of Vietnam.”

27 Kleinlogel, Dietz, and Antonakis, “Lucky, Competent, or Just a Cheat.”

28 Djupe and Calfano, “Religious Value Priming.”

29 Tripp, A History of Iraq.

30 Aquino et al. “A Grotesque and Dark Beauty.”

31 Funding information to be provided.

32 The provinces in which interviews were carried out are: Istanbul, Tekirdag, Kocaeli, Bursa, Ankara, Izmir, Konya, Antalya, Adana, Kayseri, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Malatya, Erzincan, Trabzon and Samsun.

33 Relevant information on demographic and socio-economic statistics of Turkey can be found at https://www.turkstat.gov.tr/Start.do.

34 The original format of the priming question was as follows: “Başkalarına karşı güç kullanmak ahlaki olarak yanlıştır.”

35 Moy et al., “Support for the Death Penalty,” 2253.

36 Djupe and Calfano, “Religious Value Priming,” and Transue, ‘Identity Salience.”

37 Guth, “Religion and American Attitudes.”

38 Druckman, “The Implications of Framing Effects.”

39 Djupe and Calfano, “Religious Value Priming.”

40 Lyon and Malone, “Was Woodrow Wilson Right?” 4.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Boğaziçi Üniversitesi [grant number 15N02SUP1].