scholarly journals The association between personality traits and third-party moral judgment: A preregistered study

2021 ◽  
Vol 219 ◽  
pp. 103392
Author(s):  
Flora Schwartz ◽  
Hakim Djeriouat ◽  
Bastien Trémolière
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flora Schwartz ◽  
Hakim Djeriouat ◽  
Bastien Trémolière

Although recent research in the moral judgment field has explored third-party judgment, much less is known as to how personality influences these judgments. The present preregistered study addresses this issue by exploring the influence of various personality traits, namely honesty-humility, emotionality, and conscientiousness. Adult participants recruited online (N = 405) read short narratives describing the interaction between two protagonists (“agent” and “victim”). We manipulated the intent of the agent (intent to harm or not) and the outcome for the victim (harmful consequences or no harm). Participants indicated the extent to which they perceived the agent’s behavior as acceptable and blameworthy, and how much punishment they felt the agent deserved, before filling the HEXACO questionnaire. Our results point to a moderate role of honesty-humility, emotionality, and conscientiousness on acceptability of the agent’s behavior, with their relative weight depending upon the type of moral transgression. While higher honesty-humility scores were associated with lower acceptability of moral transgressions overall, higher emotionality was associated with reduced acceptability when the agent attempted to harm, and higher conscientiousness was associated with lower acceptability ratings only when the agent harmed intentionally. We also found a moderate effect of extraversion and emotionality on decisions of punishment and blame of an agent who harmed or attempted to harm. The results suggest that third-party moral judgment is modestly, yet selectively modulated by personality traits and the type of moral transgression.


1987 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Pratt ◽  
Gail Golding ◽  
Patricia Kerig

Recent work on aging and moral judgment has investigated the claim that older adults may show a regression in their average stage level of moral judgment, compared with younger groups. A second line of work has suggested that at least some elderly adults may be more reflective in their thinking regarding moral and ethical issues (e.g. Kohlberg, 1973). The present research was designed to investigate these issues with respect to hypothetical and real-life moral judgment. Subjects were 60 adults in three age groups: 18-24 years, 30-45 years, and 60-75 years. Each responded to the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview and to the personal moral dilemma task of Gilligan. Measures of stage level and of reported use of perspectivetaking processes, as well as analyses of the content of personal dilemmas, were obtained. Results showed no average stage level differences between the age or sex groups. Hypothetical stage scores were significantly higher than real-life scores overall. There were no age differences in reported role-taking processes on hypothetical dilemmas, though there were sex differences, with men more likely to report adopting a third-party, observer role. Finally, older subjects produced significantly more varied reflections on their personal dilemmas.


Author(s):  
Julia Neuhaus ◽  
Andrew Isaak ◽  
Denefa Bostandzic

AbstractExpressed personality traits can play a pivotal role in convincing investors in crowdfunding. Our study answers the research question: What is the current body of knowledge regarding the relationship between personality factors and crowdfunding success and where are knowledge gaps where the literature is silent? In our literature review, we therefore analyze and categorize (1) the results provided by quantitative studies on the relationship between the personality of entrepreneurs and crowdfunding success and (2) the research gaps identified by the authors investigating personality in crowdfunding. We find that studies investigating the entrepreneur's personality, i.e. the Big Five, other baseline personality traits (self-efficacy, innovativeness, locus of control, and need for achievement) and the Dark Triad, find positive relationships between openness and crowdfunding success, while narcissism shows an inverted u-shaped relationship with crowdfunding success across articles. However, the effects of other personality traits on crowdfunding success are largely inconclusive. Further, we identify four main gaps in the literature. First, future studies should examine non-linear relationships between expressed personality traits and crowdfunding success. Second, there is a need for more studies that employ different methods like qualitative or mixed-method approaches. Third, replication studies in similar and different contexts are urgently needed. Fourth, a plurality of personality perspectives would strengthen future research (e.g., investor perspective, third party perspective). To our knowledge this is the first literature review of personality traits in crowdfunding. Our work aims to enrich our understanding of individual-level components in the underexplored alternative finance market.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Krick ◽  
Stephanie Tresp ◽  
Mirijam Vatter ◽  
Antonia Ludwig ◽  
Michael Wihlenda ◽  
...  

Abstract. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships between the personality traits of the Dark Triad, the moral judgment level, and the students’ disciplinary choice. It was hypothesized that students who major in higher business and management education show higher levels of the Dark Triad and lower levels of moral judgment competence (self-selection hypothesis). According to the indoctrination hypothesis it was assumed that the differences between business and management students and other students would be higher in advanced semesters. The findings suggest that business and management students show higher levels of the Dark Triad but not of moral judgment competence. However, there was no evidence found for a higher difference in advanced students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 182-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virgil Zeigler-Hill ◽  
Avi Besser ◽  
Sinead Cronin ◽  
Jennifer K. Vrabel

Recent research has highlighted important individual differences in moral judgment. The present study extends these findings by examining the associations between pathological personality traits and utilitarian moral judgments. This was accomplished by asking 2,121 Israeli community members to complete self-report measures concerning their pathological personality traits and evaluate the acceptability of utilitarian moral judgments in various sacrificial dilemmas (is it acceptable to intentionally kill one person in order to save several other people?). The results showed that the pathological personality traits of antagonism and disinhibition were positively associated with the endorsement of personal utilitarian moral judgments (i.e., those decisions requiring the individual to directly inflict harm on the would-be sacrificed individual), whereas negative affectivity was negatively associated with personal utilitarian moral judgments. Antagonism was the only pathological personality trait associated with impersonal utilitarian moral judgments (i.e., those decisions that did not require the individual to directly inflict harm on the would-be sacrificed individual). Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for understanding the associations between pathological personality traits and moral judgments.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenhao Hu ◽  
Zhen Wu

There is a growing concern for environmental issues and urgent need to understand interaction between human behavior and nature. Rewarding environmental protection and punishing harm can be the behavioral consequence of the moral judgment to environmental actions. Two studies (N = 211) were designed to understand the early development of such moral behaviors. In Study 1 and the follow-up conceptual replication Study 2, we performed 4- to 6-year-old children with both environmental protection and harm. Three tasks measured children’s behavioral responses toward environmental actions: reward the action that they think is good or punish the action that they think is bad even at a cost. Results demonstrated that children differentiate environmental actions and depicted an age-increase preference to environmental protection. Preschoolers, as a third-party bystander, actively punish environmental harm; with age, they become more consistently and steadily willing to be punitive even with a personal sacrifice. Together, young children are pro-environmental; from early in development children show a behavioral capacity to promote environmental good. The research fills the gap between moral judgment and behavior and contributes to applied implications.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Korman ◽  
Boyoung Kim

Microaggressions are subtle, offensive comments directed at minority group members that are characteristically ambiguous in meaning. In two studies, we explored how observers interpret such ambiguous statements by comparing microaggressions to faux pas, offenses caused by the speaker having an incidental false belief. In Study 1, we compared third-party observers’ blame and intentionality judgments of microaggressions with those for social faux pas. Despite judging both offenses not to be caused intentionally, participants judged microaggressions as more blameworthy. In Study 2 microaggressions without explicit mental state information exhibited a similar profile of judgments as those accompanied by explicit prejudiced or ignorant beliefs. Although they are, like faux pas, judged not to cause harm intentionally, microaggressive comments appear to be judged as more blameworthy on account of enduring prejudice thought to be lurking behind a speaker’s false or incorrect beliefs. Our studies demonstrate a distinctive profile of moral judgment for microaggressions.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrajeet Patil ◽  
Liane Young ◽  
Vladimiro Sinay ◽  
Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht

Recent research has demonstrated impairments in social cognition associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). The present work asks whether these impairments are associated with atypical moral judgment. Specifically, we assessed whether MS patients are able to integrate information about intentions and outcomes for moral judgment (i.e., appropriateness and punishment judg- ments) in the case of third-party acts. We found a complex pattern of moral judgments in MS patients: although their moral judgments were comparable to controls’ for specific types of acts (e.g., accidental or intentional harms), they nevertheless judged behaviors to be less appropriate and endorsed more severe punishment across the board, and they were also more likely to report that others’ responses would be congruent with theirs. Further analyses suggested that elevated levels of externally oriented cognition in MS (due to co-occurring alexithymia) explain these effects. Additionally, we found that the distinction between appropriateness and punishment judgments, whereby harmful outcomes influence punishment judgments to a greater extent than appropriateness judgments, was preserved in MS despite the observed disruptions in the affective and motivational components of empathy. The current results inform the two-process model for intent-based moral judgments as well as possible strategies for improving the quality of life in MS patients.


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