A Multinomial Process Model of Moral Judgment

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For centuries, societies have wrestled with the question of how to balance the rights of the individual versus the greater good (for example, protection of civil rights versus protection from terrorist attacks). Many currently pressing debates in our society and urgent challenges have such issues at their root. To act (or omit acting) in order to protect the individual rights of one person, independent of any consideration of the broader context or broader consequences, abides by the moral principle of deontology. On the other hand when the well-being of a large number of people will be harmed as a result of those decisions it creates a dilemma, as this violates a moral principle of utilitarianism. Because both moral principles are intuitively plausible, they can lead to psychological conflicts within individuals and ideological conflicts in society when the two principles suggest different conclusions in a particular situation. To provide a basis for the resolution of such conflicts, the proposed research will examine the psychological processes underlying people's responses to moral dilemmas, their situational and individual determinants, and their effects on moral behavior in different contexts. To address the study aims, the project will test and utilize a newly developed mathematical model that quantifies the unique contributions of three components that determine people's responses to moral dilemmas. Two are deontology and utilitarianism; the third is people's general tendencies toward action and inaction. In a series of 14 studies, the researcher will examine the contribution of cognitive and emotional processes to moral dilemma responses, the role of neuroendocrine factors in shaping moral decisions, and downstream effects of these processes on morally relevant behavior such as cheating and helping. By offering fine-grained measurements of the components, the proposed studies will provide deeper insights into the psychological processes underlying moral judgments and valuable practical implications for the resolution of moral controversies in society. In addition to illuminating the causes and consequences of moral judgments, the findings of this project will contribute to the scientific understanding of human action by identifying the conditions under which moral thoughts and feelings do and do not result in corresponding moral actions. The project also makes a valuable contribution to the development of research infrastructure by offering a novel tool for detailed analyses of moral judgments that will be freely available to other researchers.