When Adolescents and Emerging Adults Think Reasonable People Can Disagree about Morality and Politics

ABSTRACT Youth in a polarized society may attribute disagreements to the other side's irrationality and evil—or to the possibility that reasonable people can disagree on difficult issues. This study examined the determinants and consequences of moral reasonableness perceptions. Adolescents ( N = 131, M age = 15.88, 54% Female, 41% White) and emerging adults ( N = 65, M age = 19.83, 74% Female, 45% White) evaluated the difficulty of manipulated moral dilemmas and contemporary politico‐moral issues, the reasonableness of stances that disagree with them, and how likely they would be to talk with or be friends with those who disagree with them. We found that participants (1) saw disagreements as more reasonable for more difficult issues, (2) were more willing to engage with those they saw as morally reasonable, and (3) were more likely to perceive reasonableness when they had personal experience with disagreement and were less politically extreme. Perceptions of moral reasonableness, whether those perceptions are accurate or inaccurate, shape the course of disagreements. When youth see moral and political issues as difficult, their elevated perceptions of moral reasonableness may foster the kind of respectful engagements on which healthy democracies depend.