Do individuals intuitively favor certain moral actions over others? This study explores the role of intuitive thinking—induced by time pressure and cognitive load—in moral judgment and behavior. We conduct experiments in three different countries (Sweden, Austria, and the United States) involving over 1,400 subjects. All subjects responded to four trolley type dilemmas and four dictator games involving different charitable causes. Decisions were made under time pressure/time delay or while experiencing cognitive load or control. Overall we find converging evidence that intuitive states do not influence moral decisions. Neither time-pressure nor cognitive load had any effect on moral judgments or altruistic behavior. Thus we find no supporting evidence for the claim that intuitive moral judgments and dictator game giving differ from more reflectively taken decisions. Across all samples and decision tasks men were more likely to make utilitarian moral judgments and act selfishly compared to women, providing further evidence that there are robust gender differences in moral decision-making. However, there were no significant interactions between gender and the treatment manipulations of intuitive versus reflective decision-making.
Intuition and Moral Decision-Making – The Effect of Time Pressure and Cognitive Load on Moral Judgment and Altruistic Behavior
G. Tinghög,D. Andersson,Caroline Bonn,M. Johannesson,Michael Kirchler,L. Koppel,D. Västfjäll
Published 2016 in PLoS ONE
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2016
- Venue
PLoS ONE
- Publication date
2016-10-26
- Fields of study
Medicine, Psychology
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar, PubMed
CITATION MAP
EXTRACTION MAP
CLAIMS
CONCEPTS
- altruistic behavior
Participants' giving behavior in dictator games where they can allocate money to charitable causes.
Aliases: altruism, giving behavior
- austria
One of the countries where participant data were collected.
- charitable causes
The recipient categories for donations in the dictator-game decisions.
Aliases: charities
- cognitive load
A treatment condition that occupies attention or working memory while participants make decisions.
Aliases: load condition
- dictator game
An allocation game used here to measure how much money participants give to charitable causes.
Aliases: DG
- gender differences in moral decision-making
Differences in moral judgments or giving behavior associated with participant gender.
Aliases: gender effects, sex differences
- intuitive thinking
A mode of decision-making in which judgments are made under reduced deliberation, operationalized here by time pressure and cognitive load.
Aliases: intuition, intuitive state
- moral judgment
Participants' evaluative responses to trolley-type dilemmas about what action is morally acceptable.
Aliases: moral decision
- selfish behavior
Giving choices that retain resources for oneself rather than allocating them to others or charity.
Aliases: self-interested behavior
- sweden
One of the countries where participant data were collected.
- time pressure
A treatment condition that requires participants to respond quickly rather than deliberating at length.
Aliases: time-pressure
- trolley dilemma
A sacrificial moral scenario used here to elicit judgments about utilitarian versus non-utilitarian action.
Aliases: trolley-type dilemma, trolley problem
- utilitarian moral judgments
Moral judgments that favor maximizing overall outcomes in trolley-type dilemmas.
Aliases: utilitarian judgments
REFERENCES
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