Do moral dilemmas elicit competing intuitions? Not in all countries
Consider two options:
- Reduce great harm even when that requires causing a smaller amount of harm (a la utilitarianism)
- Do no harm, even when that allows more harm than necessary (a la deontology)
In the U.S., the moral appropriateness of utilitarian and deontological options correlated NEGATIVELY, but in China they correlated POSITIVELY!
Moral comparisons of utilitarian tradeoffs depended on the rating protocol?
Participants rated pairs of utilitarian tradeoffs. Relative differences for each pair depended on
- whether participants saw both tradeoffs at the same time or separately.
- whether the rating was comparative or quantitative.
Sometimes (although not most of the time), the average relative difference for one protocol reversed in the other protocol!
Does studying economics turn students "into unscrupulous calculating machines"?
In "a sample of #Polish undergraduate students of #Economics (N=408) and #Sociology (N=123) ...we observed that the choices of more advanced #economists-to-be [we]re more #deontological (grounded in norms) than #utilitarian (grounded in benefits) [suggesting] that economic education does not...."
Are there social class differences in moral decision-making?
When dissociating anti-social from deontological and utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas, social class predicted differences in the latter two response patterns among thousands of German speakers — the class differences in utilitarian thinking were partially mediated by reflection and empathic concern.
How does disgust impact judgments about criminality? Does legal expertise matter?
In an online study of over 1400 laypeople and legal professionals a “virtual child pornography vignette (characterized as low in harm, high in disgust) was criminalized more readily than the financial harm vignette (high in harm, low in disgust), and (b) disgust sensitivity was associated with the decision to criminalize”.
What brain areas have been particularly active in deliberate, reflective thinking?
An “activation likelihood estimation (ALE) #metaAnalysis [that] investigate[d] the neural foundation of the dual-process theory of thought …converged on the medial frontal cortex, superior frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and left inferior frontal gyrus.”
How should we engage in controversial public debates?
Like @jayvanbavel did (on other sites) today: with relevant arguments and evidence.
"People strongly condemn plagiarizers who steal credit for ideas, even when the theft in question does not appear to harm anyone"
https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12500
"These negative reactions are driven by people's aversion toward agents who attempt to falsely improve their reputations"
Like-Minded: Externalism and Moral Psychology
A proposal that the cognitive processes that make us moral agents are partially constituted by features of our external environments.
@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#MoralPsychology
#morality
#externalism
How Can Science Help Us Live Up to Our Moral Values?
There’s a dissertation for that: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8p0882jv (it’s #openAccess)
The Next International Moral Psychology (IMP) Seminar Series talks will take place on Monday 2nd of October at 12pm (EST).
Looking forward to flashtalk from Brandon Bretl and main talk from Niels Skovgaard-Olsen
Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rb-4ns9qTKaUlyQFgoemiw
With @DrMeltemYucel and Jim Everett
"Deontological and absolutist moral dilemma judgments convey self-righteousness" in U.S., German-speaking, and British participants (N = 1254).
In the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2023.104505
Chronological feeds reduced political engagement on Facebook and Instagram (compared to the default feed algorithm) during 3 months of the 2020 U.S. election.
However, leaving the default feed algorithm for the reverse chronological feed “did not significantly alter levels of issue polarization, affective polarization, political knowledge”.
Switched servers so reposting an introduction
I am a #moral #psychologist (in @UL ) interested in the cognitive processes underlying our moral judgments. Also interested in #ecological #psychology and understanding #behaviour in #context. #openscience advocate and #rstats #r user.
Ouside of work I play #music including #guitar #harmonica and #songwriting. I enjoy #chess and #running (but have been inconsistent of late) and #walking
I also have 2 #cats
Outstanding #dissertation!
Trivia #games reduced #polarization?!
Playing the game with a partner that disagree about #politics improved people's feelings towards the out-party for up to 4 months!
- even one-player versions of the game worked!
- adding *political* trivia questions *helped*!
"As one participant put it, the game... 'gives me further hope that we can work with others no matter what divides us.'"
Is it wrong to eat meat? End a pregnancy? Buy luxury goods?
A Moral Philosophy course changed students' views about these questions AND the degree to which students reported answering based on "deliberation/analysis" or "intuition/emotion".
But it was reduced reliance on intuition/emotion (not increased reliance on deliberation/analysis) that explained changes in students' ethical views!
Gender- and country-level differences in the “consequences, norms, generalized inaction” (CNI) battery of moral dilemmas.
That is, there were some differences in the C, N, and I parameters of men and women from Japan, China, and "English" or "Western" contexts (N ≅ 600).
3 minute moral psychology survey!
Read about 4 characters, and rate them on 5 dimensions (also some demographic and attention questions).
Go on! You know you want to!
#morality #moralpsychology #research
https://unioflimerick.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7X0bIQKbboJUrXM
Performance on the cognitive reflection test and base rate neglect tests (Analytic cognitive style) did not significantly predict moral judgments about "disgust-eliciting vignettes" (above and beyond other factors) in about 400 Swedish participants.
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1746435/FULLTEXT01.pdf
"Ecospirituality" was associated with preferring principle/rule-based moral thinking over cost-benefit moral thinking—moreso in two US samples than a similarly sized a Canadian sample (Ns ≅ 475).
Students' moral judgments of trolley problem decisions seemed to depend not only on the decision (cause some harm or don't), but also the decision-maker (human vs. AI), and the problem type (standard vs. footbridge).
(Ns ≅ 200)
