The motivated use of moral principles
Five studies demonstrated that people selectively use general moral principles to rationalize preferred moral conclusions. In Studies 1a and 1b, college students and community respondents were presented with variations on a traditional moral scenario that asked whether it was permissible to sacrific...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2009-10-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sjdm.org/9616/jdm9616.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827887773750657024 |
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| author | Eric Luis Uhlmann David A. Pizarro David Tannenbaum Peter H. Ditto |
| author_facet | Eric Luis Uhlmann David A. Pizarro David Tannenbaum Peter H. Ditto |
| author_sort | Eric Luis Uhlmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Five studies demonstrated that people selectively use general moral principles to rationalize preferred moral conclusions. In Studies 1a and 1b, college students and community respondents were presented with variations on a traditional moral scenario that asked whether it was permissible to sacrifice one innocent man in order to save a greater number of people. Political liberals, but not relatively more conservative participants, were more likely to endorse consequentialism when the victim had a stereotypically White American name than when the victim had a stereotypically Black American name. Study 2 found evidence suggesting participants believe that the moral principles they are endorsing are general in nature: when presented sequentially with both versions of the scenario, liberals again showed a bias in their judgments to the initial scenario, but demonstrated consistency thereafter. Study 3 found conservatives were more likely to endorse the unintended killing of innocent civilians when Iraqis civilians were killed than when Americans civilians were killed, while liberals showed no significant effect. In Study 4, participants primed with patriotism were more likely to endorse consequentialism when Iraqi civilians were killed by American forces than were participants primed with multiculturalism. However, this was not the case when American civilians were killed by Iraqi forces. Implications for the role of reason in moral judgment are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T20:23:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5ef2504f4875401eb4de85c30dc6d393 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T20:23:21Z |
| publishDate | 2009-10-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-5ef2504f4875401eb4de85c30dc6d3932023-08-02T00:44:29ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752009-10-0146479491The motivated use of moral principlesEric Luis UhlmannDavid A. PizarroDavid TannenbaumPeter H. DittoFive studies demonstrated that people selectively use general moral principles to rationalize preferred moral conclusions. In Studies 1a and 1b, college students and community respondents were presented with variations on a traditional moral scenario that asked whether it was permissible to sacrifice one innocent man in order to save a greater number of people. Political liberals, but not relatively more conservative participants, were more likely to endorse consequentialism when the victim had a stereotypically White American name than when the victim had a stereotypically Black American name. Study 2 found evidence suggesting participants believe that the moral principles they are endorsing are general in nature: when presented sequentially with both versions of the scenario, liberals again showed a bias in their judgments to the initial scenario, but demonstrated consistency thereafter. Study 3 found conservatives were more likely to endorse the unintended killing of innocent civilians when Iraqis civilians were killed than when Americans civilians were killed, while liberals showed no significant effect. In Study 4, participants primed with patriotism were more likely to endorse consequentialism when Iraqi civilians were killed by American forces than were participants primed with multiculturalism. However, this was not the case when American civilians were killed by Iraqi forces. Implications for the role of reason in moral judgment are discussed.http://journal.sjdm.org/9616/jdm9616.pdfmoral judgmentmotivated reasoningconsequentialismdeontology.NAKeywords |
| spellingShingle | Eric Luis Uhlmann David A. Pizarro David Tannenbaum Peter H. Ditto The motivated use of moral principles Judgment and Decision Making moral judgment motivated reasoning consequentialism deontology.NAKeywords |
| title | The motivated use of moral principles |
| title_full | The motivated use of moral principles |
| title_fullStr | The motivated use of moral principles |
| title_full_unstemmed | The motivated use of moral principles |
| title_short | The motivated use of moral principles |
| title_sort | motivated use of moral principles |
| topic | moral judgment motivated reasoning consequentialism deontology.NAKeywords |
| url | http://journal.sjdm.org/9616/jdm9616.pdf |
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