Inferences about moral character moderate the impact of consequences on blame and praise

Cognition
Jenifer Z SiegelRaymond J Dolan

Abstract

Moral psychology research has highlighted several factors critical for evaluating the morality of another's choice, including the detection of norm-violating outcomes, the extent to which an agent caused an outcome, and the extent to which the agent intended good or bad consequences, as inferred from observing their decisions. However, person-centered accounts of moral judgment suggest that a motivation to infer the moral character of others can itself impact on an evaluation of their choices. Building on this person-centered account, we examine whether inferences about agents' moral character shape the sensitivity of moral judgments to the consequences of agents' choices, and agents' role in the causation of those consequences. Participants observed and judged sequences of decisions made by agents who were either bad or good, where each decision entailed a trade-off between personal profit and pain for an anonymous victim. Across trials we manipulated the magnitude of profit and pain resulting from the agent's decision (consequences), and whether the outcome was caused via action or inaction (causation). Consistent with previous findings, we found that moral judgments were sensitive to consequences and causation. Furthermore, ...Continue Reading

Citations

Jun 21, 2017·Cognition·Fiery CushmanPeter Railton
Jan 31, 2018·Psychological Science·Andreas KappesMolly J Crockett
May 2, 2019·Topics in Cognitive Science·Hongbo YuMolly J Crockett
Mar 13, 2019·PloS One·Steve Guglielmo, Bertram F Malle
Jul 25, 2019·Memory & Cognition·Junho Lee, Keith J Holyoak
Dec 12, 2020·PloS One·Arvid ErlandssonPer A Andersson
Sep 5, 2020·Annual Review of Psychology·Bertram F Malle
May 15, 2019·Cognition·Paul HenneJoshua Knobe
Mar 10, 2021·Nature Human Behaviour·Yeon Soon Shin, Yael Niv
Jul 20, 2020·Trends in Cognitive Sciences·Rajen A AndersonDavid A Pizarro

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