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More than a feeling: When emotional reactions don't predict moral judgments

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: Many moral psychologists have proposed that the difference between people's moral judgments about the Trolley and Footbridge dilemmas can be explained by their differing emotional responses to the dilemmas.In two experiments, we tested this explanation by presenting the dilemmas and measuring participants' reactions using a self-report emotion measure (PANAS-X).As might be expected, participants experienced more intense emotions after reading moral dilemmas when compared to a non-moral dilemma.However, participants' emotional reactions to the Trolley and Footbridge dilemmas did not differ.Our findings call the oft cited emotion explanation into question.

Source: eScholarship (California Digital Library)

Authors: Zachary Horne, Derek Powell

Institutions: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of California, Los Angeles

Language: English

Topic: Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Office of Naval Research

Award: G5196708573

OpenAlex ID: W2401615528

FWCI: 0.297

Cites: 14

Cited by: 4

Related to: 10