Showing papers on "Moral psychology published in 2021"
TL;DR: It is shown that individual differences in reasoning ability and cognitive style of thinking are positively associated with a preference for utilitarian solutions, but bear no relationship to harm-relevant concerns.
Abstract: Sacrificial moral dilemmas elicit a strong conflict between the motive to not personally harm someone and the competing motive to achieving the greater good, which is often described as the “utilitarian” response. Some prior research suggests that reasoning abilities and deliberative cognitive style are associated with endorsement of utilitarian solutions, but, as has more recently been emphasized, both conceptual and methodological issues leave open the possibility that utilitarian responses are due instead to a reduced emotional response to harm. Across 8 studies, using self-report, behavioral performance, and neuroanatomical measures, we show that individual differences in reasoning ability and cognitive style of thinking are positively associated with a preference for utilitarian solutions, but bear no relationship to harm-relevant concerns. These findings support the dual-process model of moral decision making and highlight the utility of process dissociation methods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
60 citations
TL;DR: This article clarified how virtue research relates to prosocial behavior, positive psychology, and personality psychology and does not run afoul of the fact–value distinction by clarifying how the STRIVE-4 framework can unify extant research and fruitfully guide future research.
Abstract: Numerous scholars have claimed that positive ethical traits such as virtues are important in human psychology and behavior. Psychologists have begun to test these claims. The scores of studies on v...
59 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that people believe in the truth of both facts and personal experiences in non-moral disagreement; however, in moral disagreements, subjective experiences seem truer (i.e., are doubted less) than objective facts.
Abstract: Both liberals and conservatives believe that using facts in political discussions helps to foster mutual respect, but 15 studies-across multiple methodologies and issues-show that these beliefs are mistaken. Political opponents respect moral beliefs more when they are supported by personal experiences, not facts. The respect-inducing power of personal experiences is revealed by survey studies across various political topics, a field study of conversations about guns, an analysis of YouTube comments from abortion opinion videos, and an archival analysis of 137 interview transcripts from Fox News and CNN. The personal experiences most likely to encourage respect from opponents are issue-relevant and involve harm. Mediation analyses reveal that these harm-related personal experiences increase respect by increasing perceptions of rationality: everyone can appreciate that avoiding harm is rational, even in people who hold different beliefs about guns, taxes, immigration, and the environment. Studies show that people believe in the truth of both facts and personal experiences in nonmoral disagreement; however, in moral disagreements, subjective experiences seem truer (i.e., are doubted less) than objective facts. These results provide a concrete demonstration of how to bridge moral divides while also revealing how our intuitions can lead us astray. Stretching back to the Enlightenment, philosophers and scientists have privileged objective facts over experiences in the pursuit of truth. However, furnishing perceptions of truth within moral disagreements is better accomplished by sharing subjective experiences, not by providing facts.
58 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that partisans who blatantly dehumanize members of the opposing party prefer greater social distance from their political opponents, which is indicative of reduced interpersonal tolerance, and that blatant dehumanization is associated with perceptions of greater moral distance between the parties, which are indicative of moral disengagement.
Abstract: Despite evidence that dehumanizing language and metaphors are found in political discourse, extant research has largely overlooked whether voters dehumanize their political opponents. Research on dehumanization has tended to focus on racial and ethnic divisions in societies, rather than political divisions. Understanding dehumanization in political contexts is important because the social psychology literature links dehumanization to a variety of negative outcomes, including moral disengagement, aggression, and even violence. In this manuscript, I discuss evidence of partisan dehumanization during the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign and demonstrate how a focus on dehumanization can expose new relationships between moral psychology and partisan identity. Using data from two surveys conducted in October of 2016, I show that partisans dehumanize their political opponents in both subtle and blatant ways. When I investigate the correlates of dehumanization, I find that partisans who blatantly dehumanize members of the opposing party prefer greater social distance from their political opponents, which is indicative of reduced interpersonal tolerance. I also find that blatant dehumanization is associated with perceptions of greater moral distance between the parties, which is indicative of moral disengagement. These results suggest that dehumanization can improve our understanding of negative partisanship and political polarization.
51 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a holistic and integrated framework showing how emotive and intuitive information processing may foster ethical consumption at individual and social levels, and the model built on social intuitionism to show how consumers' a priori affect-laden intuitive moral judgments impact their post hoc reflective moral reasoning.
Abstract: Literature on consumers’ ethical decision making is rooted in a rationalist perspective that emphasizes the role of moral reasoning. However, the view of ethical consumption as a thorough rational and conscious process fails to capture important elements of human cognition, such as emotions and intuitions. Based on moral psychology and microsociology, this paper proposes a holistic and integrated framework showing how emotive and intuitive information processing may foster ethical consumption at individual and social levels. The model builds on social intuitionism to show how consumers’ a priori affect-laden intuitive moral judgments impact their post hoc reflective moral reasoning. Symbolic interactionism is used to interpret consumers as interdependent and socially embedded agents that self-construct their social identity through interactions with other consumers. The proposed social intuitionist framework of consumers’ ethical decision making shows that other-oriented moral emotions—such as elevation, gratitude, and empathy—interact with persuasion and social influence in ethical consumption. Consequently, moral emotions and intuition drive interpersonal persuasion among ethical consumers. Theoretical propositions and implications for consumer ethics theory and practice are discussed.
37 citations
TL;DR: The relationship of morality and political orientation is investigated by focusing on the influential results showing that liberals and conservatives rely on different moral foundations, supporting both the bidimensional model of political orientation and the findings that the dimensions are often strongly correlated.
Abstract: We investigate the relationship of morality and political orientation by focusing on the influential results showing that liberals and conservatives rely on different moral foundations. We conducted a comprehensive literature search from major databases and other sources for primary studies that used the Moral Foundations Questionnaire and a typical measure of political orientation, a political self-placement item. We used a predefined process for independent extraction of effect sizes by two authors and ran both study-level and individual-level analyses. With 89 samples, 605 effect sizes, and 33,804 independent participants, in addition to 192,870 participants from the widely used YourMorals.org website, the basic differences about conservatives and liberals are supported. Yet, heterogeneity is moderate, and the results may be less generalizable across samples and political cultures than previously thought. The effect sizes obtained from the YourMorals.org data appear inflated compared with independent samples, which is partly related to political interest and may be because of self-selection. The association of moral foundations to political orientation varies culturally (between regions and countries) and subculturally (between White and Black respondents and in response to political interest). The associations also differ depending on the choice of the social or economic dimension and its labeling, supporting both the bidimensional model of political orientation and the findings that the dimensions are often strongly correlated. Our findings have implications for interpreting published studies, as well as designing new ones where the political aspect of morality is relevant. The results are primarily limited by the validity of the measures and the homogeneity of the included studies in terms of sample origins. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
35 citations
TL;DR: This article found that people view time-donations as more morally praiseworthy and more diagnostic of moral character than moneydonations, even when the resource investment is comparable, and that donors who are prompted with an affiliation rather (versus dominance) goal are likelier to favor timedonations.
22 citations
TL;DR: First indication that people evaluate moral choices by robots that resemble humans as less moral compared to the same moral choices made by humans or non-human robots: a moral uncanny valley effect is provided.
Abstract: Artificial intelligence and robotics are rapidly advancing. Humans are increasingly often affected by autonomous machines making choices with moral repercussions. At the same time, classical research in robotics shows that people are adverse to robots that appear eerily human—a phenomenon commonly referred to as the uncanny valley effect. Yet, little is known about how machines’ appearances influence how human evaluate their moral choices. Here we integrate the uncanny valley effect into moral psychology. In two experiments we test whether humans evaluate identical moral choices made by robots differently depending on the robots’ appearance. Participants evaluated either deontological (“rule based”) or utilitarian (“consequence based”) moral decisions made by different robots. The results provide first indication that people evaluate moral choices by robots that resemble humans as less moral compared to the same moral choices made by humans or non-human robots: a moral uncanny valley effect. We discuss the implications of our findings for moral psychology, social robotics and AI-safety policy.
21 citations
08 Mar 2021
TL;DR: The authors found that Japanese and U.S. participants differ to some extent in their treatment of robots as moral agents and in the particular norms they impose on them, and the two cultures show parallel patterns of greater blame for robots who fail to intervene in moral dilemmas.
Abstract: Previous work has shown that people provide different moral judgments of robots and humans in the case of moral dilemmas. In particular, robots are blamed more when they fail to intervene in a situation in which they can save multiple lives but must sacrifice one person's life. Previous studies were all conducted with U.S. participants; the present two experiments provide a careful comparison of moral judgments among Japanese and U.S. participants. The experiments assess multiple ways in which cross-cultural differences in moral evaluations may emerge: in the willingness to treat robots as moral agents; the norms that are imposed on robots' behaviors; and the degree of blame that accrues to them when they violate the imposed norms. Even though Japanese and U.S. participants differ to some extent in their treatment of robots as moral agents and in the particular norms they impose on them, the two cultures show parallel patterns of greater blame for robots who fail to intervene in moral dilemmas.
17 citations
01 Jul 2021
TL;DR: This article argued that universal moral beliefs and emotions shaped the evolution of the laws of war, and in particular laws that protect civilians, and that these norms were embryonic in earlier societies and civilizations, including Ancient China, early Islam, and medieval Europe.
Abstract: Drawing on recent research in moral psychology and neuroscience, this book argues that universal moral beliefs and emotions shaped the evolution of the laws of war, and in particular laws that protect civilians. It argues that civilian protection norms are not just a figment of the modern West, but that these norms were embryonic in earlier societies and civilizations, including Ancient China, early Islam, and medieval Europe. However, despite their ubiquity, this book argues that civilian protection rules are inherently fragile, and that their fragility lies not just in failures of compliance, but also in how moral emotions shaped the design of the law. The same beliefs and emotions that lead people to judge that it is wrong to intentionally target civilians can paradoxically constitute the basis for excusing states for incidental civilian casualties, or collateral damage. To make the laws of war work better for civilians, this book argues that we need to change how we think about the ethics of killing in war.
15 citations
TL;DR: Zhang et al. as discussed by the authors investigated the role of brand identification and brand attitude strength on the moral reasoning processes, including moral rationalization and moral decoupling, and found that brand identification is an important indicator of both moral rationalisation and moral decoding strategies.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors interpret John Rawls's concept of the original position as a spiritual exercise, in addition to the standard interpretation of the position as an expository device to sel...
Abstract: In this article I interpret John Rawls’s concept of the original position as a spiritual exercise. In addition to the standard interpretation of the original position as an expository device to sel...
TL;DR: The authors argue that findings from moral psychology are necessary to understand why law can effectively resolve cooccurring conflicts related to punishment and group membership, and emphasize how insights from Moral Psychology can promote equality via the law.
Abstract: Coordinating competing interests can be difficult. Because law regulates human behavior, it is a candidate mechanism for creating coordination in the face of societal disagreement. We argue that findings from moral psychology are necessary to understand why law can effectively resolve cooccurring conflicts related to punishment and group membership. First, we discuss heterogeneity in punitive thought, focusing on punishment within the United States legal system. Though the law exerts a weak influence on punitive ideologies before punishment occurs, we argue that it effectively coordinates perceptions of individuals who have already been punished. Next, we discuss intergroup conflict, which often co-occurs with disagreements related to punishment and represents a related domain where coordination can be difficult to achieve. Here, we underscore how insights from moral psychology can promote equality via the law. These examples demonstrate how contributions from moral psychology are necessary to understand the connection between social cognition and law.
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19 Aug 2021TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that international relations (IR) theorists should engage more with research in moral psychology and neuroscience to advance theories of norm emergence and resonance, and they discuss various ways in which the IR literature on norms may be of interest and of use to moral psychologists.
Abstract: Research on international norms has yet to answer satisfactorily some of our own most important questions about the origins of norms and the conditions under which some norms win out over others. The authors argue that international relations (IR) theorists should engage more with research in moral psychology and neuroscience to advance theories of norm emergence and resonance. This Element first provides an overview of six areas of research in neuroscience and moral psychology that hold particular promise for norms theorists and international relations theory more generally. It next surveys existing literature in IR to see how literature from moral psychology is already being put to use, and then recommends a research agenda for norms researchers engaging with this literature. The authors do not believe that this exchange should be a one-way street, however, and they discuss various ways in which the IR literature on norms may be of interest and of use to moral psychologists, and of use to advocacy communities.
TL;DR: The authors found that professional identity was not a significant predictor of moral reasoning, but there was an interaction effect between gender and identity priming, which suggests that the complexity of professional identities in concert with gender and professional training, among other variables, interact to affect moral reasoning.
Abstract: Moral reasoning among media professionals varies. Historically, advertising professionals score lower on the Defining Issues Test (DIT) than their media colleagues in journalism and public relations. However, the extent to which professional identity impacts media professionals’ moral reasoning has yet to be examined. To understand how professional identity influences moral reasoning, if at all, and guided by theories of moral psychology and social identity, 134 advertising practitioners working in the USA participated in an online experiment. While professional identity was not a significant predictor of moral reasoning, an interaction effect between gender and identity priming occurred. This finding suggests that we reconsider moral psychology theory’s explanatory power for media practitioners and consider how the complexity of professional identities in concert with gender and professional training, among other variables, interact to affect moral reasoning. In addition, advertising practitioners participating in this experiment scored higher on the DIT than those tested previously.
TL;DR: In this paper, a computational model that formalizes moral judgments of agents in visual scenes as computations over a theory of physics combined with an intuitive theory of mind is presented. But the model is limited in providing a more detailed understanding of exactly how these variables affect moral judgment.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that most organizations retain norms that disfavor the experience and expression of many strong emotions while at work, which inhibits individual's ability to generate moral intuitions and reason about ethical issues they encounter.
Abstract: Organizations have become essential institutions that facilitate the vital coordination and cooperation necessary to create value across societies. Recent research within moral psychology and behavioral ethics indicates that emotions play a pivotal role in promoting ethical decision making. The theory developed here maintains that most organizations retain norms that disfavor the experience and expression of many strong emotions while at work. This dynamic inhibits individual’s ability to generate moral intuitions and reason about ethical issues they encounter. This occurs as individuals utilize specific emotion regulation mechanisms that stifle the experience and expression of emotion in organizational decision making. Over time, individuals fail to register emotion within organizational decision processes, which increases the prevalence of amoral decision making. Organizational emotion norms also influence the chronic accessibility of specific moral foundations that effect the contents of both moral intuitions that do occur, as well as deliberate reasoning that generates moral judgments.
TL;DR: Morality-as-cooperation provides a principled and powerful theory that explains why there are many moral values, and successfully predicts what they will be; and it generates a systematic framework that has the potential to explain all moral ideas, possible and actual.
Abstract: What is morality? How many moral values are there? And what are they? According to the theory of morality-as-cooperation, morality is a collection of biological and cultural solutions to the problems of cooperation recurrent in human social life. This theory predicts that there will be as many different types of morality as there are different types of cooperation. Previous research, drawing on evolutionary game theory, has identified at least seven different types of cooperation, and used them to explain seven different types of morality: family values, group loyalty, reciprocity, heroism, deference, fairness and property rights. Here we explore the conjecture that these simple moral ‘elements’ combine to form a much larger number of more complex moral ‘molecules’, and that as such morality is a combinatorial system. For each combination of two elements, we hypothesise a candidate moral molecule, and successfully locate an example of it in the professional and popular literature. These molecules include: fraternity, blood revenge, family pride, filial piety, gavelkind, primogeniture, friendship, patriotism, tribute, diplomacy, common ownership, honour, confession, turn taking, restitution, modesty, mercy, munificence, arbitration, mendicancy, and queuing. These findings indicate that morality – like many other physical, biological, psychological and cultural systems – is indeed a combinatorial system. Thus morality-as-cooperation provides a principled and powerful theory, that explains why there are many moral values, and successfully predicts what they will be; and it generates a systematic framework that has the potential to explain all moral ideas, possible and actual. Pursuing the many implications of this theory will help to place the study of morality on a more secure scientific footing.
TL;DR: In this paper, the nature of the commonly presumed association between psychopathy and moral judgment was investigated. But the authors focused on the relationship between moral judgment and psychopathy, rather than the psychopathy itself.
Abstract: A major question in clinical and moral psychology concerns the nature of the commonly presumed association between psychopathy and moral judgment. In the current preregistered study (N = 443), we a...
TL;DR: Across 9 studies, four principles are established that are difficult to square with utilitarian or deontological approaches, but sit well within person-based approaches to moral psychology.
TL;DR: The authors found that consumers are indeed tribalistic in which experts they find convincing, preferring products advocated by experts who share their moral values, with this effect generalizing across product categories (books and electronics) and measures (purchase intentions, information-seeking, willingness-topay, product attitudes, and consequential choices).
Abstract: Funding information Institute for New Economic Thinking Abstract We study the psychology at the intersection of two social trends. First, as markets become increasingly specialized, consumers must increasingly defer to outside experts to decide among complex products. Second, people divide themselves increasingly into moral tribes, defining themselves in terms of shared values with their group and often seeing these values as being objectively right or wrong. We tested how and why these tribalistic tendencies affect consumers' willingness to defer to experts. We find that consumers are indeed tribalistic in which experts they find convincing, preferring products advocated by experts who share their moral values (Study 1), with this effect generalizing across product categories (books and electronics) and measures (purchase intentions, information-seeking, willingness-topay, product attitudes, and consequential choices). We also establish the mechanisms underlying these effects: because many consumers believe moral matters to be objective facts, experts who disagree with those values are seen as less competent and therefore less believable (Studies 2 and 3), with this effect strongest among consumers who are high in their belief in objective moral truth (Study 4). Overall, these studies seek not only to establish dynamics of tribalistic deference to experts but also to identify which consumers are more or less likely to fall prey to these tribalistic tendencies.
TL;DR: This paper investigated whether third-person at first person at first-person conversation is meaningful in a meaningful life, and found that thirdperson at-first-person understanding of meaningful life is poorly understood.
Abstract: The desire for a meaningful life is ubiquitous, yet the ordinary concept of a meaningful life is poorly understood. Across six experiments (total N = 2,539), we investigated whether third-person at...
TL;DR: In cases of apparent moral dilemmas, the feeling of regret reminds us that there were competing, morally significant options as mentioned in this paper, which is why Kant denies the existence of genuine conflicts of obligation.
Abstract: In cases of apparent moral dilemmas, the feeling of regret reminds us that there were competing, morally significant options. Because Kant denies the existence of genuine conflicts of obligation [1...
TL;DR: The authors discuss practical Moore sentences, which combine an order with an avowal of agnosticism about whether the order will be obeyed, and show that such sentences are generally infelicitous.
Abstract: I discuss what I call practical Moore sentences: sentences like ‘You must close your door, but I don’t know whether you will’, which combine an order together with an avowal of agnosticism about whether the order will be obeyed. I show that practical Moore sentences are generally infelicitous. But this infelicity is surprising: it seems like there should be nothing wrong with giving someone an order while acknowledging that you do not know whether it will obeyed. I suggest that this infelicity points to a striking psychological fact, with potentially broad ramifications concerning the structure of norms of speech acts: namely, when giving an order, we must act as if we believe we will be obeyed.
TL;DR: Theorists seeking evidence of moral cognition in human infants, nonhuman animals, or any other population would benefit from a minimalistic description of what moral cognition is as mentioned in this paper, which is not the case here.
Abstract: Theorists seeking evidence of moral cognition – whether in human infants, nonhuman animals, or any other population – would benefit from a minimalistic description of what moral cognition is. Howev...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors offer an integrative perspective on how loyalty can lead people to do unethical things, and they propose an approach to evaluate the effect of loyalty on people's behavior.
Abstract: Loyalty has long been associated with being moral and upstanding, but recent research has begun documenting how loyalty can lead people to do unethical things. Here we offer an integrative perspect...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that stereotyping constitutes discrieval, and that treating people in a discriminatory way in virtue of how we think about them constitutes discrediting. But they do not address the problem of discrimination in the context of race.
Abstract: Can we treat people in a discriminatory way in virtue of how we think about them? In this essay, I argue that the answer is yes. According to the constitutive claim, stereotyping constitutes discri...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the development and teaching of a course on global engineering ethics in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China and outline course objectives, methods, and contents, and instructor experience and plans for future development.
Abstract: This article describes the development and teaching of a course on global engineering ethics in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. It outlines course objectives, methods, and contents, and instructor experience and plans for future development. This is done with the goal of helping educators to plan standalone courses and/or integrated modules on global engineering and technology ethics, which address challenges arising from the increasingly cross-cultural and international environments of contemporary technology and engineering practice. These efforts are motivated by the global environments of engineering, as well as recent research in empirical moral psychology. Although this course was developed and taught in China, as a course on global engineering ethics taught to students from throughout the world, its approach could be beneficial elsewhere.
TL;DR: Many philosophers and psychologists have thought that people untutored in philosophy are moral realists, and they interpret their judgments as tracking realists as mentioned in this paper, which is not the case.
Abstract: Many philosophers and psychologists have thought that people untutored in philosophy are moral realists. On this view, when people make moral judgments, they interpret their judgments as tracking u...