Moral thinking across the world: Exploring the influence of personal force and intention in moral dilemma judgments

KEKECS ZP; BAGO B; SEVERAL AUTHORS ; ACZEL B; REYNA C

2019-03-01/2021-12-31

Pre-registro

Prom.Gral.del Conoc.-Cs.Sociales

The study of moral judgements is often centered on moral dilemmas in which optionsconsistent with deontological perspectives (i.e., emphasizing rules, individual rights andduties) are in conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (i.e., following thegreater good defined through consequences). In a seminal study of this field, Greene et al.(2009) showed that psychological and situational factors (e.g., the intent of the agent or thepresence of physical contact between the agent and the victim) can play an important role inmoral dilemma judgements. As their study was conducted with US samples, our knowledgeis limited concerning the universality of this effect, in general, and the impact of culture onthe situational and psychological factors of moral judgements, in particular. Here, weempirically test the universality of intent and personal force on moral dilemma judgements bytesting the replicability of the experiments of Greene et al. on a large (N = X,XXX) anddiverse sample across the world. We hypothesize that intent and personal force universallyincrease the unacceptability of outcome-maximizing harm in these dilemmas, and that theeffect is stronger in collectivistic than in individualistic cultures due to cultural differences inemotional processing (guilt, shame, anxiety).The relevance of this exploration to a broadrange of policy-making problems is discussed.