Thou Shalt not Kill, Unless it is not a Human: Target Dehumanization May Influence Decision Difficulty and Response Patterns for Moral Dilemmas

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 657-686
Author(s):  
Hui Bai ◽  
Hyun Euh ◽  
Christopher M. Federico ◽  
Eugene Borgida
Keyword(s):  
Past Research ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Situational Variables ◽  
Decision Choices ◽  
Decision Difficulty

Past research on moral dilemmas has thoroughly investigated the roles of personality and situational variables, but the role of targets in moral dilemmas has been relatively neglected. This article presents findings from four experiments that manipulated the perceived dehumanization of targets in moral dilemmas. Findings from Studies 1, 2, and 4 suggest that dehumanized targets may render the decision easier, and with less emotion. Findings from Studies 1 and 3, though not Studies 2 and 4, showed that dehumanization of targets in dilemmas may lead participants to make less deontological judgments. Findings from Study 3, but not Study 4, suggest that the effects of dehumanization manipulation on decision choices are potentially due to reduced deontological, but not utilitarian judgments. Though the patterns are somewhat inconsistent across the studies, overall, results suggest that targets' dehumanization can play a role in how people make their decisions in moral dilemmas.

Thou Shalt Not Kill, Unless It Is Not a Human: Target Dehumanization May Influence Decision Difficulty and Response Patterns for Moral Dilemmas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Bai ◽  
Hyun Euh ◽  
Christopher Federico ◽  
Eugene Borgida
Keyword(s):  
Past Research ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Situational Variables ◽  
Decision Difficulty

Past research on moral dilemmas has thoroughly investigated the roles of personality and situational variables, but the role of targets in moral dilemmas has been relatively neglected. This paper presents findings from four experiments that manipulate the perceived dehumanization of targets in moral dilemmas. Studies 1, 2 and 4 suggest that dehumanized targets may render the decision easier, and with less emotion. Findings from Studies 1 and 3, though not Studies 2 and 4, show that dehumanization of targets in dilemmas may lead participants to make less deontological judgments. Study 3, but not Study 4, suggests that it is potentially because dehumanization has an effect on reducing deontological, but not utilitarian judgments. Though the patterns are somewhat inconsistent across studies, overall, results suggest that targets’ dehumanization can play a role in how people make their decisions in moral dilemmas.

scholarly journals Trait psychopathy and utilitarian moral judgement: The mediating role of action aversion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrajeet Patil
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Moral Judgement ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Moral Judgements ◽  
Greater Good

Although past research has established that the utilitarian bias (increased willingness to agree to personally kill someone for the greater good) in psychopathy on moral dilemmas stems from weaker negative affect at the prospect of harming others due to reduced harm aversion, it remains to be seen if this is owing to reduced aversion to witnessing harmful outcomes (outcome aversion) or performing harmful actions (action aversion). In this study, we show that trait psychopathy is associated with both reduced outcome and action aversion and that only action aversion negatively mediates the influence of trait psychopathy on utilitarian moral judgement. Thus, the increased tendency in psychopathy to make utilitarian moral judgements is in part due to reduced aversion to carrying out harmful actions.

scholarly journals Sleeping over moral dilemmas modulates utilitarian decision-making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Cellini ◽  
Marco Mercurio ◽  
Michela Sarlo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Moral Decision Making ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Moral Decisions ◽  
Decision Choices ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Over Time

AbstractMoral decision-making depends on the interaction between emotional and cognitive control processes, which are also affected by sleep. Here we aimed to assess the potential role of sleep in the modulation of moral decisions over time by testing the change in behavioral responses to moral dilemmas over time (1 week). Thirty-five young adults were tested twice, with one week between the sessions. In each session, participants were presented with 24 sacrificial (12 Footbridge- and 12 Trolley-type) and 6 everyday-type moral dilemmas. In sacrificial dilemmas, participants had to choose whether or not to kill one person to save more people (utilitarian choice), to judge how morally acceptable the proposed solution was, and how they felt in terms of valence and arousal during the decision. In everyday-type dilemmas, they had to decide whether to pursuit moral violations involving dishonest behavior. Between the sessions, the participants’ sleep pattern was assessed via actigraphy. We observed that participants reduced the utilitarian choices in the second session, and this effect was more pronounced for the Trolley-type dilemmas. We also showed that after a week participants judged the utilitarian choices as less morally acceptable, but there was no change in self-reported emotional reactivity (i.e., valence, and arousal). Moreover, sleep efficiency was mildly negatively associated with the changes in decision choices and moral acceptability for the Footbridge-type dilemmas. Taken together, our data suggest that dealing with a moral situation engages several interacting factors that seem to go beyond the competing roles of cognitive and emotional processes.

Problematic Political Consumerism

2018 ◽  
pp. 698-720
Author(s):  
Michele Micheletti ◽  
Didem Oral
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Ideal Type ◽  
Type Model ◽  
Political Consumerism ◽  
Research Challenges ◽  
Moral Claims

Typically, political consumerism is portrayed in straightforward, unproblematic ways. This chapter discusses how and why political consumerism—and particularly boycotts—can be confusing and problematic. Theoretically it focuses on moral dilemmas within political consumerism and the key role of overriding moral claims in the motivations for and actions of political consumer causes. An ideal type model, constructed for analyzing unproblematic and problematic political consumerism, is applied to cases of more unproblematic political consumerism (e.g., the Nestlé, Nike, and South African boycotts) and more problematic political consumerism (e.g., the Disney boycott and the movement against Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestine territories). The chapter also addresses why other forms of political consumerism (buycotts and discursive actions) seem less vulnerable to moral dilemmas as well as the research challenges in studying more problematic cases of political consumerism.

scholarly journals “When” Does It Pay to Be Good? Attributions Mediate the Way CSR Elements Impact on Consumer Responses, and Are Controllable

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5869
Author(s):  
Athanasios Krystallis ◽  
Vlad Zaharia ◽  
Antonis Zairis
Keyword(s):  
Past Research ◽  
Consumer Response ◽  
Multiple Mediation ◽  
Consumer Responses ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Consumer Attributions ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Experimental Survey

Responding to the appeal for more research on the contingencies that shape the relationship between CSR and corporate performance, this paper incorporates environmental CSR, sets up an experimental survey and employs multiple mediation analysis with the aim to test the mediating role of consumer attributions on the CSR elements–consumer responses relationship; and further to examine the degree to which attributions are controllable, i.e., specific CSR elements activate specific type of attributions. Results support that attributions have a strong predicting power on consumer outcomes. The right time of appearance and the appropriate amount of resources committed to a CSR campaign, through the dual type of attributions they activate (more positive, i.e., values-driven and less negative, i.e., egoistic), impact positively on consumer reactions. In this respect, the study adds to past research showing that attributions are controllable, i.e., specific CSR initiative characteristics of a impact on the dimensionality of attributions and, through that, on specific target-types of consumer responses. This study thus shows that the activation of a dual-level attributions’ system is ambivalent, dependent on the character of the CSR campaign. The fact that specific CSR elements (i.e., CSR Timing) activate dual-level CSR motives that act complementarily indicates that managers should be clear about the capabilities of the elements of their CSR initiatives and how much impact they expect those elements to have on consumer response.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Alcohol and Drug Misuse Among IPV-Victimized Women: Exploring the Role of Difficulties Regulating Positive Emotions

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052094373
Author(s):  
Nicole H. Weiss ◽  
Melissa R. Schick ◽  
Ateka A. Contractor ◽  
Miranda E. Reyes ◽  
Nazaret C. Suazo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Emotional Dysfunction ◽  
Culturally Sensitive Interventions ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Alcohol and drug misuse is prevalent and problematic among women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Emotional dysfunction has been identified as a key mechanism in the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of alcohol and drug misuse. However, existing research has not considered the role of race/ethnicity in the relations between emotional dysfunction and alcohol and drug misuse. Furthermore, past research in this area has focused almost exclusively on emotional dysfunction stemming from negative (vs. positive) emotions. The goals of the current study were as follows: (a) to explore whether levels of difficulties regulating positive emotions differ among Latina, African American, and White IPV-victimized women, and (b) to examine the moderating role of race/ethnicity in the relations between difficulties regulating positive emotions and alcohol and drug misuse. Participants were 197 IPV-victimized women recruited through the criminal justice system ( Mage = 36.14; 51.8% African American, 31.5% White, and 16.8% Latina). Difficulties regulating positive emotions did not differ as a function of race/ethnicity. However, relations among difficulties regulating positive emotions and alcohol and drug misuse were significant for Latina and White but not African American IPV-victimized women. Moreover, race/ethnicity moderated an association between difficulties regulating positive emotions and drug misuse; this relation was significant and positive for White (compared with African American) IPV-victimized women. While preliminary, these results may inform culturally sensitive interventions for alcohol and drug misuse that are tailored to the unique needs of Latina, African American, and White IPV-victimized women.

Touring for peace: the role of dual-narrative tours in creating transnational activists

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Maureen Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Attitude Change ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Host Population ◽  
Contact Hypothesis ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Peace And Justice

Purpose Scholarship on the contact hypothesis and peacebuilding suggests that contact with marginalized ethnic and racial groups may reduce prejudice and improve opportunities for conflict resolution. Through a study of dual-narrative tours to Israel/Palestine, the purpose of this paper is to address two areas of the debate surrounding this approach to social change. First, past research on the effectiveness of contact-based tourism as a method to change attitudes is inconclusive. Travel to a foreign country has been shown to both improve and worsen tourists’ perceptions of a host population. Second, few scholars have attempted to link contact-based changes in attitudes to activism. Design/methodology/approach Through an analysis of 218 post-tour surveys, this study examines the role of dual-narrative tours in sparking attitude change that may facilitate involvement in peace and justice activism. Surveys were collected from the leading “dual-narrative” tour company in the region, MEJDI. Dual-narrative tours uniquely expose mainstream tourists in Israel/Palestine to Palestinian perspectives that are typically absent from the majority of tours to the region. This case study of dual-narrative tours therefore provides a unique opportunity to address the self-selecting bias, as identified by contact hypothesis and tourism scholars, in order to understand the potential impacts of exposure to marginalized narratives. Findings The findings of this study suggest that while these tours tend to engender increased support for Palestinians over Israelis, their most salient function appears to be the cultivation of empathy for “both sides” of the conflict. Similarly, dual-narrative tours often prompt visitors to understand the conflict to be more complex than they previously thought. In terms of activism, tourists tend to prioritize education-based initiatives in their plans for post-tour political engagement. In addition, a large number of participants articulated commitments to support joint Israeli–Palestinian non-governmental organizations and to try to influence US foreign policy to be more equitable. Originality/value These findings complicate debates within the scholarship on peacebuilding as well as within movements for social justice in Israel/Palestine. While programs that equate Israeli and Palestinian perspectives are often criticized for reinforcing the status quo, dual-narrative tours appear to facilitate nuance and universalism while also shifting tourists toward greater identification with an oppressed population. Together, these findings shed light on the ability of tourism to facilitate positive attitude change about a previously stigmatized racial/ethnic group, as well as the power of contact and exposure to marginalized narratives to inspire peace and justice activism.

scholarly journals Daytime REM sleep affects emotional experience but not decision choices in moral dilemmas

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Cellini ◽  
Lorella Lotto ◽  
Carolina Pletti ◽  
Michela Sarlo
Keyword(s):  
Rem Sleep ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Decision Choices

An initial investigation of the role of death concerns in evaluations of metaphoric language about God

2021 ◽  
pp. 008467242110316
Author(s):  
Lucas A Keefer ◽  
Faith L Brown ◽  
Thomas G Rials
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Correlational Study ◽  
Initial Investigation ◽  
Metaphoric Language ◽  
Religious Worldviews

Past research suggests that death pushes some individuals to strongly promote religious worldviews. The current work explores the role of conceptual metaphor in this process. Past research shows that metaphors can provide meaning and certainty, suggesting that death may therefore cause people to be more attracted to epistemically beneficial metaphoric descriptions of God. In three studies, we test this possibility against competing alternatives suggesting that death concerns may cause more selective metaphor preferences. Using both correlational (Study 1 and pre-registered replication) and experimental (Study 2) methods, we find that death concern is generally associated with embracing metaphors about God.

Finding Brands and Not Losing Your Religion? Exploring the Relationship Between Brand Engagement in Self-Concept and Religious Commitment

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-217
Author(s):  
Wiktor Razmus ◽  
Beata Zarzycka
Keyword(s):  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Grandiose Narcissism ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Brand Engagement ◽  
The Relationship

Past research links a decrease in religiosity with the development of marketing and, in particular, with the growing role of brands in consumers’ lives. Building on James's (1920) theory of the self, we propose that focusing on brands as a strategy for self-expression (brand engagement in self-concept; BESC) does not exclude religious commitment and may even be related with higher levels of religious commitment. We also suggest that this relationship is moderated by grandiose narcissism. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 306 individuals in a cross-sectional study. The findings provide evidence that BESC is positively related to religious commitment and the higher an individual’s narcissism is, the stronger the positive relationship between BESC and religious commitment. These findings suggest that using brands as a strategy for self-expression is not a substitute for religious commitment.

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