Moral Foundations Theory Among Autistic and Neurotypical Children

Morality can help guide behavior and facilitate relationships. Although moral judgments by autistic people are similar to neurotypical individuals, many researchers argue that subtle differences signify deficits in autistic individuals. Moral foundation theory describes moral judgments in terms of differences rather than deficits. The current research, aimed at assessing autistic individuals’ moral inclinations using Haidt’s framework, was co-designed with autistic community members. Our aim was to describe autistic moral thinking from a strengths-based perspective while acknowledging differences that may pose interpersonal challenges among autistic youth. We assessed 25 autistic and 23 neurotypical children’s moral judgments using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire for Kids. We used semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis with a subset of participants to describe children’s moral reasoning. Analyses suggested that autistic and neurotypical children make similar judgments about moral transgressions across all five moral foundations. General linear mixed modeling showed that the greatest predictor of recommending punishment was how bad children deemed moral transgressions to be. We also found a trend that autistic children were more likely to recommend punishment for harmless norms violations than were neurotypical children. Future research could use longitudinal methods to understand the development of moral judgments among autistic and neurotypical children.

Cultural Differences in Children’s Recommended Punishment of Moral Transgressions

The purpose of this research was to examine the severity of punishment recommended by children for moral transgressions. Using Hofstede’s (1980) distinction between individualism and collectivism, we examined the severity of punishment recommended by eight to twelve year old children for moral transgressions that violated a cultural value. Participants were children of various nationalities enrolled in a summer camp on the island of Mallorca, Spain. The children were classified as either individualist or collectivist using the Children’s Self-Construal Scale (Lewis et al. 2000). Each child reacted to nine moral transgressions, two of which were universal and seven of which reflected transgressions of either individualist or collectivist values. The results indicated that children classified as collectivists recommended harsher punishments for transgressions of collectivist values, whereas individualists did not vary in their recommended level of punishment for transgressions against both collectivist and individualist values. Keywords: individualism, collectivism, moral judgments, cultural orientation, moral transgressions

The price of prosociality in pandemic times

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has imposed widespread negative impacts (economically, psychologically, neurologically, and societally), and has changed daily behaviors on a global scale. Such impacts are more significant and pervasive in countries with higher levels of inequality and reduced Government capacity and responsiveness, such as those in the Global South (e.g., Colombia). Differences in social and moral cognitive skills may significantly impact individual attitudes and responses to the pandemic. Here, we aimed to assess the extent to which factors associated with prosociality (including empathy, theory of mind (ToM), and moral judgments) predict the perception of SARS-CoV-2 impacts and responses. Participants (N = 413) from Colombia answered factors associated with prosociality measures and judgments about SARS-CoV-2 risk, impact, and acceptance of quarantine guidelines. Results revealed that affective empathy (personal distress and empathic concern) and moral tendencies (deontological trends) predicted greater acceptance of quarantine but in turn yielded an increased perception of risks and individual impacts of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, age (older) and gender (female) also increased the risk perception and impact estimation. These results underscore the role of prosocial-related predispositions informing individual responses to the pandemic and provide an opportunity to exploit this knowledge to inform successful interventions favoring behavioral change.

Real Earnings Management: Do the Experience and Gender of Big4 Auditors Matters?

Objective - This study examines whether the experience and gender of auditors in Big4 firm in relationship of deterring Real Earnings Management (REM).Different from the majority of previous studies, this study focuses on auditors in Big4 audit firms and real earnings management within Malaysian business environment. Big4 audit firms are associated with high quality audit because of the reputation to uphold, thus adopted stringent quality control and assurance approach, systems and procedures. Once adopted, the effect of individual characteristics may become less important. Thus, it is questionable whether individual characteristics such as auditor experience and gender could still have an influence on the outcomes of an audit, in this case, REM, when the audit firms are Big 4 (assuming very stringent quality control procedures are adopted). Methodology/Technique –This study substantiates prior literature and conducted tests only on companies audited by Big4 audit firms. We also find that auditor experiences confirms to Agency Theory where REM reduces when the experience increases. Data was obtained from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), DataStream and Bursa Malaysia. Findings - The result confirms prior literature that auditor experience is still an important factor that can limit REM, even in companies audited by the Big4 firms. The results however reveal that Big4 female auditors do not have any significant effect in reducing REM. Novelty -Although female auditors are claimed by Gender Socialization Theory, to have better moral judgments than male auditors, the result shows both genders are equal, at least in limiting REM. Type of Paper: Empirical. JEL Classification: M40; M41; M42 Keywords: Big4 Auditors; Auditor Experience; Real Earnings Management; Auditor Gender; Bursa Malaysia

Wykładnia pojęcia „dobrej wiary” w orzecznictwie w kontekście dokonywanych w okresie PRL naruszeń prawa własności

The article aims to asses the jurisprudence of the first decades of the 21st century regarding the good faith of stateowned enterprises that began, without a legal title, to use private land in the communist period, placing on them the infrastructure used to transmit electric energy. Courts interpreting general clauses referring to concepts and systems of values lying outside the legal system gain the ability to influence the decision of the case based on their own moral judgments. Therefore, the case where Polish courts operating in a state that respects the principle of equal property protection regardless if the entitled entity had the opportunity to assess the conduct of entities representing the state operating on the basis of a completely different system of values, should be considered particularly interesting. It is typical for totalitarian and authoritarian regimes to formally grant broad protection to individual rights and, at the same time ignore their existence in the activities of the state. It can be seen in the practice of carrying out some infrastructure investments in the communist period. Electricity networks were often built on private land. At that time, there were regulations allowing to obtain a legal title to use the land, both in private law (contract) and of an administrative (expropriation) nature. The state and state-owned enterprises, however, mostly did not use them, focusing on planning investments to obtain permits related to technical issues. The reasons for this behavior can be seen primarily in the basic assumptions of the socialist system. The described practice testified to the real attitude of the state to private property as a type of property that was ultimately to be ousted in the socialist system. The role of economic plans in the Polish People’s Republic was also significant. State bodies and state-owned enterprises primarily aimed at executing plans, regardless of whether or not they violated the individual’s interests in this way. After 1989, the legal status of many power grids, overhead lines, and other devices was therefore not regulated. State-owned enterprises, and the companies resulting from their transformation, used many properties without a legal title. Changes in the legal awareness of society and the grow-ing understanding of economic mechanisms based on the principles of responsibility for one’s own actions and protection of subjective rights, led to many court disputes between owners and entrepreneurs. The most common claims addressed to transmission companies were remunerations for the use of land without legal title and actio negatoria. The case law reacted to the increase in the number of disputes by creating a concept of usucaption of land easement for the benefit of the transmission entrepreneur. Its legitimacy from the beginning raised fundamental doubts in the legal doctrine, but it gained the full support of the courts. Many statements of the Supreme Court assessed the correctness of the state-owned enterprises’ conduct. The relatively numerous statements approving the omission of obtaining a legal title to seize someone else’s real estate in the investment preparation process ought to be considered inter-esting and surprising. They significantly influenced the practice of common courts, causing many claims of property owners against entrepreneurs to be dismissed. Moreover, by expressly praising unlawful interference with the right to property, carried out during the Polish Peopleʼs Republic, they probably also deepened the sense of harm and injustice — caused mainly by a surprising in-terpretation that allowed for the acquisition by prescription of a right unknown to the Act — and above all the belief that courts treated trade participants unequally and that courts granted significant privileging to the state and entities representing its interests.

How AI Can Aid Bioethics

This paper explores some ways in which artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to improve human moral judgments in bioethics by avoiding some of the most common sources of error in moral judgment, including ignorance, confusion, and bias. It surveys three existing proposals for building human morality into AI: Top-down, bottom-up, and hybrid approaches. Then it proposes a multi-step, hybrid method, using the example of kidney allocations for transplants as a test case. The paper concludes with brief remarks about how to handle several complications, respond to some objections, and extend this novel method to other important moral issues in bioethics and beyond.

Familial Guilt: Judgments of Collective Family Responsibility in the United States and South Korea

When a group member commits wrongdoing, people sometimes assign responsibility and blame not only to the wrongdoer but also to other members of the same group. We examined such assignment of collective responsibility in the context of exploitation of one family by another. Participants were recruited from an individualistic society (United States) and a more collectivistic society (South Korea) to assess differences in assignment of collective responsibility. Participants in both countries rated the degree to which an agent (grandson) should be held responsible for his grandfather’s exploitation of a victimized family, while varying the closeness of familial connection. Participants’ responsibility judgments showed sensitivity to whether the grandson received financial benefit from the wrongdoer and to the perceived closeness between the grandson and the wrongdoer. Korean participants imposed greater responsibility on the agent than did American participants. Implications for understanding the influence of social norms on moral judgments are discussed.