Toward Implementing the Agent-Deed-Consequence Model of Moral Judgment in Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous Vehicles and the Attribution of Moral Responsibility

Social Psychological and Personality Science ◽

10.1177/1948550618755875 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 345-352 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ryan M. McManus ◽

Abraham M. Rutchick

Keyword(s):

Moral Responsibility ◽

Moral Judgment ◽

Autonomous Vehicles ◽

Moral Dilemma ◽

Fatal Accident ◽

Attributions Of Blame ◽

Influence Perceptions

With the imminent advent of autonomous vehicles (AVs) comes a moral dilemma: How do people assign responsibility in the event of a fatal accident? AVs necessarily create conditions in which “drivers” yield agency to a machine. The current study examines how people make attributions of blame and praise in this context. Varying the features of AV technology affected how responsible a “driver” (who purchased the vehicle) is perceived to be following a deadly crash. The findings provide support for agency and commission as crucial bases of moral judgment. They also raise questions about how morally contradictory actions are perceived and underscore the need for research examining how moral responsibility is distributed among multiple potentially culpable agents. Pragmatically, these findings suggest that regulating (or declining to regulate) how AVs are programmed may strongly influence perceptions of moral and legal culpability.

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Toward Implementing the ADC Model of Moral Judgment in Autonomous Vehicles

Science and Engineering Ethics ◽

10.1007/s11948-020-00242-0 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 2461-2472 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Veljko Dubljević

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Autonomous Vehicles

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What sentimentalists should say about emotion

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x18002601 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Author(s):

Charlie Kurth

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Recent Work ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Moral Cognition ◽

Multilevel Structure

Abstract Recent work by emotion researchers indicates that emotions have a multilevel structure. Sophisticated sentimentalists should take note of this work – for it better enables them to defend a substantive role for emotion in moral cognition. Contra May's rationalist criticisms, emotions are not only able to carry morally relevant information, but can also substantially influence moral judgment and reasoning.

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Policy Implications of Autonomous Vehicles

10.1016/s2543-0009(20)x0002-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Autonomous Vehicles ◽

Policy Implications

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Commentaries and Rejoinder on

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000206 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 327-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Han Gong ◽

Douglas L. Medin ◽

Tal Eyal ◽

Nira Liberman ◽

Yaacov Trope ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Psychological Distance ◽

Temporal Distance ◽

Moral Cognition ◽

Cultural Systems ◽

Moral Condemnation ◽

Construal Levels

In the hope to resolve the two sets of opposing results concerning the effects of psychological distance and construal levels on moral judgment, Žeželj and Jokić (2014) conducted a series of four direct replications, which yielded divergent patterns of results. In our commentary, we first revisit the consistent findings that lower-level construals induced by How/Why manipulation lead to harsher moral condemnation than higher-level construals. We then speculate on the puzzling patterns of results regarding the role of temporal distance in shaping moral judgment. And we conclude by discussing the complexity of morality and propose that it may be important to incorporate cultural systems into the study of moral cognition.

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Replication of Experiments Evaluating Impact of Psychological Distance on Moral Judgment

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000188 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 223-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Iris L. Žeželj ◽

Biljana R. Jokić

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Social Distance ◽

Psychological Distance ◽

Temporal Distance ◽

Construal Level ◽

Systematic Effect ◽

Replication Studies ◽

Opposite Conclusion ◽

Moral Transgressions ◽

Replication Of Experiments

Eyal, Liberman, and Trope (2008) established that people judged moral transgressions more harshly and virtuous acts more positively when the acts were psychologically distant than close. In a series of conceptual and direct replications, Gong and Medin (2012) came to the opposite conclusion. Attempting to resolve these inconsistencies, we conducted four high-powered replication studies in which we varied temporal distance (Studies 1 and 3), social distance (Study 2) or construal level (Study 4), and registered their impact on moral judgment. We found no systematic effect of temporal distance, the effect of social distance consistent with Eyal et al., and the reversed effect of direct construal level manipulation, consistent with Gong and Medin. Possible explanations for the incompatible results are discussed.

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