Research
Preprints and papers developed within The Judgmentalism Project. All documents are published open access on Zenodo, with DOI and version history.
Moral Violations Are Made, Not Found: A Theory of Motivated Violation Construction
Preprint · 5 April 2026 · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19423438 · CC BY 4.0
Abstract
Moral psychology treats moral violations as features of behaviour that observers detect and then evaluate. This paper challenges that assumption. We introduce Motivated Violation Construction (MVC), the process whereby observers categorise ambiguous behaviour as morally wrong in order to justify predetermined negative evaluations. Factors such as threat, dislike, envy, or group allegiance can motivate an observer to deem certain behaviour as morally wrong. This increases the likelihood that ambiguous behaviour is classified as a violation rather than simply judged more harshly.
MVC is therefore activated at the point where behaviour first enters the moral domain, a stage before evaluation begins. MVC is distinct from motivated reasoning, which shapes how people judge behaviour they already see as wrong, and from moralization, which concerns gradual shifts in what practices a society treats as moral issues. Four predictions are advanced, including the critical diagnostic that motivation should affect classification more than severity, distinguishing MVC from generalized evaluative bias. If proven, moral violations are not simply features of behaviour; they are partly determined by the observer.
Cite this paper
Boullineau, E. (2026). Moral Violations Are Made, Not Found: A Theory of Motivated Violation Construction. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19423438
Concept DOI for cite-all-versions: 10.5281/zenodo.19423437
Licensed under CC BY 4.0
Trait Judgmentalism: Contextual Moderation Failure and the Architecture of Evaluative Rigidity
Preprint · 16 December 2025 · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17946128 · CC BY 4.0
Abstract
Judgmentalism is pervasive across everyday life, yet the phenomenon has remained largely unformalised within psychological science. Existing constructs such as self-criticism, dogmatism, perfectionism, and Need for Closure capture narrow aspects of harsh evaluation but do not explain why some individuals maintain rigid, negatively biased judgments even when mitigating contextual information is available. This paper introduces Trait Judgmentalism as a stable cognitive, emotional, and behavioural disposition to evaluate oneself and others through rigid standards that resist contextual moderation.
A mechanistic account is proposed via Contextual Moderation Failure (CMF), defined as a specific utilisation deficit in which reflective processing fails to update initial intuitive appraisals. CMF explains how initial negative evaluations persist, expand into global character inferences, and shape downstream behaviour. A Tripartite Model is presented, linking cognitive evaluative rigidity, violation-contingent negative affect, and a punitive orientation – which may be expressed overtly or through latent silent sanctioning.
The model distinguishes Trait Judgmentalism from adjacent constructs, including conscientiousness, humility, and Emotional Intelligence, by identifying its core feature not as simple interpersonal coldness but as a mechanistic failure to integrate context. No empirical data are presented; the paper is intended as a conceptual foundation to guide subsequent measurement development and empirical testing.
Cite this paper
Boullineau, E. (2025). Trait Judgmentalism: Contextual Moderation Failure and the Architecture of Evaluative Rigidity. Zenodo. x§x§
Licensed under CC BY 4.0
Seeing the Signal, Missing the Meaning: Affective Perception and Misattribution in Emotional Intelligence
Preprint · 3 May 2026 · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20028594 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Abstract
This preprint introduces the Branch Dissociation Hypothesis: a refinement of the four-branch model of emotional intelligence that identifies a previously undertheorised profile within the EQ measurement tradition. The framework argues that detecting affective signals and attributing their causes are separable capacities, and that their dissociation produces a specific failure mode the paper calls interpretive miscalibration.
The diagnostic profile is people who detect affective signals well but attribute their causes poorly, with high confidence in the wrong attribution. When the situation is ambiguous and the perceiver could plausibly be its cause, this profile may make emotional perceptiveness a liability rather than an asset, because confident misreading prompts action while non-detection prompts none.
The paper proposes two reusable methodological tools: Branch-Residualised Interpretation, a scoring approach that isolates attribution accuracy from detection accuracy, and the Self-Referential Attribution Task (SRAT), a procedure designed to surface the diagnostic profile under self-relevant ambiguity. Eight numbered falsifiable predictions and an eight-item research agenda are offered.
Cite this paper
Boullineau, E. (2026). Seeing the Signal, Missing the Meaning: Affective Perception and Misattribution in Emotional Intelligence. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20028594
Licensed under CC BY 4.0
Residualised Scoring for Component-Process Isolation: A Regression-Based Framework for Layered Psychological Measurement
Preprint · Version 5 · 27 May 2026 · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20404269 · CC BY 4.0
Abstract
In psychological measurement, component processes are often conceptually separable but operationally entangled. When one task depends on another as input, raw scores confound downstream interpretation with upstream detection. This paper develops Branch-Residualised Interpretation (BRI), a regression-based scoring framework for isolating downstream variance from upstream variance in any layered psychological measure, applicable to cognitive ability tests, self-report instruments, and ability emotional intelligence.
Five Monte Carlo studies evaluate BRI, including a sixteen-cell head-to-head against a latent-residual structural equation model and a Lord-style disattenuation correction. Two real-data demonstrations on the public MIDUS longitudinal dataset show predictive utility: in the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT), the retention residual predicted later cognitive performance over and above encoding, non-memory baseline ability, and demographics (p < .001, N = 2,393); in the marital demonstration, the residual predicted later relationship dissolution (OR = 2.60, 95% CI [1.92, 3.54]). An open-source R pipeline accompanies the estimator.
Cite this paper
Boullineau, E. (2026). Residualised Scoring for Component-Process Isolation: A Regression-Based Framework for Layered Psychological Measurement. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20404269
Concept DOI for cite-all-versions: 10.5281/zenodo.20007669
Licensed under CC BY 4.0