Moral values are things held to be right or wrong or desirable or undesirable. While morality is sometimes described as 'innate' in humans, the scientific view is that a capacity for morality is genetically determined in us, but the set of moral values is acquired, through example, teaching, and imprinting from parents and society. Different cultures have very different moral value systems. Moral values, along with traditions, laws, behaviour patterns, and beliefs, are the defining features of a culture. Morality, in the strictest sense of the word, deals with that which is regarded as right or wrong. ... Look up innate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... A tradition is a story or a custom that is memorized and passed down from generation to generation, originally without the need for a writing system. ... This article is about law in society. ... Belief is assent to a proposition. ...

Nationalists believe that a society needs one culture to hold it together, and that 'multiculturalism' is not desirable as it tends to lead to conflict. Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... Human relationships within an ethnically diverse society For other uses, see Society (disambiguation). ... Multiculturalism is a public policy approach for managing cultural diversity in a multiethnic society, officially stressing mutual respect and tolerance for cultural differences within a countrys borders. ...

In Evolutionary psychology, moral values are seen as part of cultural evolution. They reduce conflict within the group and make reciprocal altruism possible. They are one mechanism by which the 'Tragedy of the commons', in which selfish individuals spoil things for everyone by taking more than their fair share, might be prevented. Evolutionary psychology (abbreviated ev-psych or EP) proposes psychology can be better understood in light of evolution. ... Cultural evolution is the structural change of a society and its values over time. ... In evolutionary biology, reciprocal altruism is a form of altruism in which one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation. ... The tragedy of the commons is a phrase used to refer to a class of phenomena that involve a conflict for resources between individual interests and the common good. ...

Moral values are enforced by peer pressure, conscience, disapproval, shunning, and only in some instances by law. They were effective in small communities before laws were formalised. They can also be sustained by the concept of 'status', a concept which has many different meanings in different societies. There is today significant disagreement over what role status plays in contemporary society and what it actually consists of. Conscience is generally thought of as a moral faculty, sense, or feeling that impels individuals to believe that particular activities are morally right or wrong. ...

Political application

The term "moral values" was brought to public attention and acquired significance as a political slogan when pollsters included it for the first time in U.S. presidential exit polls. Many voters who voted for George W. Bush reportedly cited "moral values" as their reason for voting for Bush instead of John Kerry. George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States and former governor of Texas. ... John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. ...

See also

• Morality
• Conscience
• Evolutionary psychology
• Tragedy of the commons