Psychological pillars of support for free speech: Tolerance for offensive, disagreeing, socially divisive, and heterodox speech

Freedom of speech is a core value in free and democratic societies, but its psychological characteristics are not well understood. Here, we test a model of support for freedom of speech consisting of four correlated dimensions: 1) Tolerance of offensive speech, 2) Tolerance of disagreement, 3) Tolerance of heterodox speech, and 4) Tolerance of socially divisive speech. Study 1 (N = 809) supported this model, finding that freedom of speech measures fit this four-factor structure well and showed strong external validity. Replication (Study 2, N = 721) confirmed this four-factor structure and its external validity. The scales also showed strong discriminant validity, e.g., MFQ-2 moral foundations accounted for <3 % of freedom of speech variance. A third study confirmed the 7-month test-retest reliability of the scales. In summary, support for free speech could be measured validly and reliably, spanning multiple dimensions and providing a firm base for research on this essential trait. It was robust to potential confounders of personality and moral domains, suggesting that variation in support for freedom of speech may index a separate “liberty” moral foundation.