Universität zu Köln

Reynolds, Caleb J. and Conway, Paul (2018). Not Just Bad Actions: Affective Concern for Bad Outcomes Contributes to Moral Condemnation of Harm in Moral Dilemmas. Emotion, 18 (7). S. 1009 - 1024. WASHINGTON: AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC. ISSN 1931-1516

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Abstract

Moral dilemmas typically entail directly causing harm (said to violate deontological ethics) to maximize overall outcomes (said to uphold utilitarian ethics). The dual process model suggests harm-rejection judgments derive from affective reactions to harm, whereas harm-acceptance judgments derive from cognitive evaluations of outcomes. Recently, Miller, Hannikainen, and Cushman (2014) argued that harm-rejection judgments primarily reflect self-focused-rather than other-focused-emotional responses, because only action aversion (self-focused reactions to the thought of causing harm), not outcome aversion (other-focused reactions to witnessing suffering), consistently predicted dilemma responses. However, they assessed only conventional relative dilemma judgments that treat harm-rejection and outcome-maximization responses as diametric opposites. Instead, we employed process dissociation to assess these response inclinations independently. In two studies (N = 558), we replicated Miller and colleagues' findings for conventional relative judgments, but process dissociation revealed that outcome aversion positively predicted both deontological and utilitarian inclinations-which canceled out for relative judgments. Additionally, individual differences associated with affective processing-psychopathy and empathic concern-correlated with the deontology but not utilitarian parameter. Together, these findings suggest that genuine other-oriented moralized concern for others' wellbeing contribute to both utilitarian and deontological response tendencies, but these tendencies nonetheless draw upon different psychological processes.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Reynolds, Caleb J. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Conway, Paul UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-170196
DOI:	10.1037/emo0000413
Journal or Publication Title:	Emotion
Volume:	18
Number:	7
Page Range:	S. 1009 - 1024
Date:	2018
Publisher:	AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
Place of Publication:	WASHINGTON
ISSN:	1931-1516
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language VENTROMEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX; PROCESS DISSOCIATION; DECISION-MAKING; GREATER GOOD; JUDGMENT; EMOTIONS; EMPATHY; RESPONSES; AVERSION; DAMAGE Multiple languages Psychology, Experimental Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/17019