Political Orientation, Moral Foundations, and Democratic Crisis: Longitudinal Behavioral and Neuroanatomical Evidence from South Korea’s Political Upheaval

We examined how political orientation, moral foundations, and brain structure shape evaluations of contentious events during South Korea’s political upheaval. Longitudinal behavioral data, combined with neuroimaging measures, showed that binding foundations and ACC/DMPFC volume moderated partisan-aligned rightness judgments, suggesting that moral standards may help temper polarization and democratic erosion.