Moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia
IntroductionPersons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can exhibit apparently antisocial behaviors. An example is their tendency to adopt utilitarian choices in sacrificial moral dilemmas, i.e. harmful actions to promote overall welfare. Moral cognition models interpret such ten...
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| Format: | Article |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Neurology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1197213/full |
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| author | Rea Antoniou Tobias Hausermann Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Kristina Celeste Fong Patrick Callahan Bruce L. Miller Bruce L. Miller Joel H. Kramer Joel H. Kramer Winston Chiong Katherine P. Rankin Katherine P. Rankin |
| author_facet | Rea Antoniou Tobias Hausermann Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Kristina Celeste Fong Patrick Callahan Bruce L. Miller Bruce L. Miller Joel H. Kramer Joel H. Kramer Winston Chiong Katherine P. Rankin Katherine P. Rankin |
| author_sort | Rea Antoniou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionPersons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can exhibit apparently antisocial behaviors. An example is their tendency to adopt utilitarian choices in sacrificial moral dilemmas, i.e. harmful actions to promote overall welfare. Moral cognition models interpret such tendencies as deriving from a lack of emotional engagement and selective impairment in prosocial sentiments.MethodsWe applied a qualitative approach to test those theoretical assumptions and to further explore the emotional experiences and values of people with bvFTD while they contemplate moral scenarios. We conducted semistructured interviews with 14 participants: 7 persons with bvFTD and 7 older healthy controls. Transcripts were coded using ATLAS.ti 5.0.ResultsDuring the moral reasoning task, persons with bvFTD reported more positive emotions than negative and showed significantly less cognitive precision in their moral reasoning compared to controls. Persons with bvFTD also organized their choices predominantly around kindness and altruism, and their responses reflected higher rule compliance. Our study showed that bvFTD persons’ utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas did not arise from an emotionally disengaged or antisocial perspective. Instead, they were underpinned by positive emotionality and prosocial values.DiscussionThese findings enrich current understandings of moral cognition and highlight the importance of incorporating mixed methods approaches in dementia research that take into consideration the viewpoint of cognitively impaired individuals |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:29:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3ae510f523564ae9a58dad54be22b466 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-2295 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T00:29:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Neurology |
| spelling | doaj.art-3ae510f523564ae9a58dad54be22b4662023-07-10T15:34:35ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neurology1664-22952023-07-011410.3389/fneur.2023.11972131197213Moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementiaRea Antoniou0Tobias Hausermann1Alissa Bernstein Sideman2Alissa Bernstein Sideman3Alissa Bernstein Sideman4Alissa Bernstein Sideman5Kristina Celeste Fong6Patrick Callahan7Bruce L. Miller8Bruce L. Miller9Joel H. Kramer10Joel H. Kramer11Winston Chiong12Katherine P. Rankin13Katherine P. Rankin14Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesMemory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesMemory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesPhilip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesDepartment of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesGlobal Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesMemory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesMemory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesMemory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesGlobal Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesMemory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesGlobal Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesMemory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesMemory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesGlobal Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United StatesIntroductionPersons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can exhibit apparently antisocial behaviors. An example is their tendency to adopt utilitarian choices in sacrificial moral dilemmas, i.e. harmful actions to promote overall welfare. Moral cognition models interpret such tendencies as deriving from a lack of emotional engagement and selective impairment in prosocial sentiments.MethodsWe applied a qualitative approach to test those theoretical assumptions and to further explore the emotional experiences and values of people with bvFTD while they contemplate moral scenarios. We conducted semistructured interviews with 14 participants: 7 persons with bvFTD and 7 older healthy controls. Transcripts were coded using ATLAS.ti 5.0.ResultsDuring the moral reasoning task, persons with bvFTD reported more positive emotions than negative and showed significantly less cognitive precision in their moral reasoning compared to controls. Persons with bvFTD also organized their choices predominantly around kindness and altruism, and their responses reflected higher rule compliance. Our study showed that bvFTD persons’ utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas did not arise from an emotionally disengaged or antisocial perspective. Instead, they were underpinned by positive emotionality and prosocial values.DiscussionThese findings enrich current understandings of moral cognition and highlight the importance of incorporating mixed methods approaches in dementia research that take into consideration the viewpoint of cognitively impaired individualshttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1197213/fullmoral reasoningbvFTDpositive emotionalitymixed method approachprosocial values |
| spellingShingle | Rea Antoniou Tobias Hausermann Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Alissa Bernstein Sideman Kristina Celeste Fong Patrick Callahan Bruce L. Miller Bruce L. Miller Joel H. Kramer Joel H. Kramer Winston Chiong Katherine P. Rankin Katherine P. Rankin Moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia Frontiers in Neurology moral reasoning bvFTD positive emotionality mixed method approach prosocial values |
| title | Moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia |
| title_full | Moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia |
| title_fullStr | Moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia |
| title_short | Moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia |
| title_sort | moral reasoning through the eyes of persons with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia |
| topic | moral reasoning bvFTD positive emotionality mixed method approach prosocial values |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1197213/full |
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