The processing of moral transgressions: Investigating the role of affective evaluation

目前，关于情绪在道德判断和决策（JDM）中的功能作用的争论正在进行中。因此，情绪可能（a）扮演一个因果关系的角色，（B）施加一个调节的影响，或者（c）仅仅反映了道德JDM的副产品。即使我们假设情绪在JDM中起着关键作用，但到目前为止，情绪对道德信息处理的影响机制仍然不清楚。在本项目中，我们特别感兴趣的问题是，假设参与道德JDM的情感过程和状态是否确实先于决策过程，如两个著名的道德判断理论（海特的社会直觉主义模型和格林及其同事的双过程理论）所假设的那样。因此，我们的目标是研究道德处理的时间过程中的范式，让我们访问的基本心理过程和（情感）状态在时间上接近他们的启发。进一步的目标是评估情绪相关的维度（唤醒，效价，动机倾向）对不同类型的道德（或社会规范）材料的道德JDM的影响。为了解决这些问题，我们采用不同的小插曲和任务范式，分析心理生理指标（事件相关电位、皮电活动、面部肌肉活动）以及行为指标（反应时间）。

Currently, there is an ongoing debate concerning the functional role of emotion in moral judgment and decision-making (JDM). Thus, emotions may either (a) play a causal role, (b) exert a moderating influence, or (c) merely reflect an epiphenomenal by-product of moral JDM. Even if one assumes that emotions play a critical role in JDM, so far the mechanisms underlying their influence on moral information processing have remained unclear. In the present project, we are specifically interested in the question of whether affective processes and states assumed to be involved in moral JDM do indeed precede the decision process, as assumed by two prominent theories of moral judgment (social-intuitivist model of Haidt and dual-process theory of Greene and colleagues). Hence, we aim at examining the time-course of moral processing in paradigms that give us access to the underlying mental processes and (affective) states in close temporal proximity to their elicitation. A further goal is to assess the impact of emotion-related dimensions (arousal, valence, motivational tendency) on moral JDM for different types of moral (or socio-normative) materials. To address these questions, we employ different vignettes and task paradigms, analysing psychophysiological measures (event-related potentials, electrodermal activity, facial muscle activity) in addition to behavioural ones (response time).