The Moral Foundations Questionnaire-2 (MFQ-2) was designed to measure moral attitudes along six theorized dimensions: Care, Equality, Proportionality, Loyalty, Authority, and Purity. The MFQ-2 builds on the original MFQ and attempts to broaden moral measurement across cultures. However, close inspection of the factor loadings reported in its 2022 validation study1 reveals substantial psychometric weaknesses.
A factor loading indicates how strongly an item correlates with the underlying latent variable—the factor the item is intended to measure. In practice, loadings below 0.40 are often considered too weak to justify inclusion2. Yet across the MFQ-2:
Weak factor loadings are not just a minor technical issue. Low-loading items add noise to any latent variable estimation, undermining construct validity. If a researcher wants to correlate “Loyalty” with political identity, but the Loyalty factor is mostly noise, then their results will be attenuated or misleading.
Several items load more strongly on unintended factors, which is also grounds for exclusion2. For example:
Such results suggest the MFQ-2’s factors are not well-isolated psychological constructs.
Some MFQ-2 factors appear to measure specific political or cultural values that are rather difference from the abstract moral principles they purport to measure:
Consider a recent study correlating MFQ-2 scores with IQ. Because MFQ-2 conflates Equality with full income redistribution, high-IQ individuals are misrepresented as less morally egalitarian. And because Loyalty is narrowly nationalistic, high-IQ individuals are characterized as disloyal, when they may just be less attached to their national identity.
In short, researchers using the MFQ-2 may not be measuring what they think they are measuring.
| Item | Care | Equality | Proportionality | Loyalty | Authority | Purity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| It pains me when I see someone ignoring the needs of another human being. | .66 | .05 | -.04 | .09 | .04 | -.02 |
| I am empathetic toward those people who have suffered in their lives. | .70 | .04 | .05 | .00 | -.01 | .01 |
| I believe that compassion for those who are suffering is one of the most crucial virtues. | .73 | -.01 | .01 | .00 | -.04 | .08 |
| Caring for people who have suffered is an important virtue. | .73 | -.01 | .04 | .02 | -.01 | .05 |
| We should all care for people who are in emotional pain. | .74 | .03 | -.01 | .00 | .00 | .05 |
| Everyone should try to comfort people who are going through something hard. | .64 | .05 | .00 | .04 | .07 | .03 |
| I believe it would be ideal if everyone in society wound up with roughly the same amount of money. | .01 | .81 | .01 | .00 | -.05 | -.01 |
| When people work together toward a common goal, they should share the rewards equally, even if some worked harder on it. | .07 | .38 | -.16 | .06 | .26 | -.02 |
| I believe that everyone should be given the same quantity of resources in life. | .23 | .54 | .02 | -.02 | .07 | -.03 |
| The world would be a better place if everyone made the same amount of money. | -.04 | .88 | .00 | -.03 | .00 | .01 |
| I get upset when some people have a lot more money than others in my country. | .07 | .52 | .12 | .09 | -.30 | .07 |
| Our society would have fewer problems if people had the same income. | -.03 | .86 | -.02 | -.04 | .04 | .00 |
| I feel good when I see cheaters get caught and punished. | .09 | .02 | .29 | .20 | .03 | .00 |
| I think people should be rewarded in proportion to what they contribute. | .08 | -.04 | .54 | .03 | .06 | .09 |
| I think people who are more hardworking should end up with more money. | .00 | .02 | .72 | .01 | .01 | .04 |
| It makes me happy when people are recognized on their merits. | .32 | -.07 | .27 | -.07 | .40 | -.09 |
| In a fair society, those who work hard should live with higher standards of living. | -.06 | .04 | .72 | .10 | -.04 | .01 |
| The effort a worker puts into a job ought to be reflected in the size of a raise they receive. | .13 | .06 | .53 | -.04 | .10 | -.04 |
| I think children should be taught to be loyal to their country. | .00 | .00 | -.01 | .78 | .12 | -.01 |
| I believe the strength of a sports team comes from the loyalty of its members to each other. | .19 | .03 | .13 | .10 | .36 | -.04 |
| Everyone should love their own community. | .15 | .06 | .01 | .37 | .21 | .08 |
| Everyone should defend their country, if called upon. | -.02 | -.01 | .07 | .70 | .02 | .08 |
| Everyone should feel proud when a person in their community wins in an international competition. | .21 | -.03 | .08 | .27 | .28 | -.03 |
| It upsets me when people have no loyalty to their country. | .04 | .00 | -.02 | .83 | -.01 | -.04 |
| I feel that most traditions serve a valuable function in keeping society orderly. | -.03 | .07 | .08 | .21 | .39 | .10 |
| I think having a strong leader is good for society. | .10 | -.09 | .14 | .09 | .32 | .14 |
| I think it is important for societies to cherish their traditional values. | -.04 | .05 | .08 | .22 | .44 | .06 |
| I believe that one of the most important values to teach children is to have respect for authority. | -.02 | .00 | -.03 | .16 | .59 | .05 |
| I think obedience to parents is an important virtue. | .01 | .00 | .04 | .09 | .55 | .19 |
| We all need to learn from our elders. | .09 | .07 | .00 | .10 | .49 | .05 |
| I believe chastity is an important virtue. | .05 | -.02 | .02 | .00 | -.01 | .84 |
| I think the human body should be treated like a temple, housing something sacred within. | .17 | .05 | -.01 | -.02 | .37 | .21 |
| I admire people who keep their virginity until marriage. | -.01 | .01 | -.01 | -.03 | .09 | .79 |
| People should try to use natural medicines rather than chemically identical human-made ones. | .06 | .23 | .00 | .06 | .10 | .25 |
| If I found out that an acquaintance had an unusual but harmless sexual fetish I would feel uneasy about them. | -.04 | .10 | .03 | .12 | -.05 | .48 |
| It upsets me when people use foul language like it is nothing. | .11 | -.01 | -.01 | .28 | .05 | .29 |