How Sympathy Shapes Moral Judgments of Economic Transgressors: The Interplay of Status and Causal Attributions

Using a 2 × 2 experimental design (N = 285), we show that moral judgments depend on how people explain a transgressor’s socioeconomic status. Attributional frames shaped sympathy, which in turn mediated effects on severity, justification, and dehumanization. Sympathy emerges as a mechanism linking SES, causal attributions, and moral judgements.