Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments

Recent research has emphasized emotion’s role in non-utilitarian judgments, but has not focused much on characteristics of subjects contributing to those judgments. The present article relates utilitarian judgment to individual disposition to experience various emotions. Study 1 first investigated t...

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Main Authors: So Young Choe, Kyung-Hwan Min
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2011-10-01
Series:Judgment and Decision Making
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S193029750000262X/type/journal_article
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author So Young Choe
Kyung-Hwan Min
author_facet So Young Choe
Kyung-Hwan Min
author_sort So Young Choe
collection DOAJ
description Recent research has emphasized emotion’s role in non-utilitarian judgments, but has not focused much on characteristics of subjects contributing to those judgments. The present article relates utilitarian judgment to individual disposition to experience various emotions. Study 1 first investigated the relationship among state emotions and utilitarian judgment. Diverse emotions were elicited during judgment: guilt, sadness, disgust, empathy, anger, and anxiety, etc. Using psychological scales, Study 2 found that trait emotions predict the extent of utilitarian judgments, especially trait anger, trait disgust, and trait empathy. Unlike previous research that designated emotions only as factors mitigating utilitarian judgment, this research shows that trait anger correlates positively with utilitarian judgment. On the other hand, disgust and empathy correlated negatively. Guilt and shame—though previous research argued that their absence increased utilitarian judgment—appear unrelated to the extent of utilitarian judgment. These results suggest that people’s emotional dispositions can affect their judgment. This finding might contribute to untangling the complex mechanisms of utilitarian judgments.
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spelling doaj.art-d73753ddcf284d8a8fd2e527b9cd07522023-09-03T12:44:20ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752011-10-01658059210.1017/S193029750000262XWho makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgmentsSo Young Choe0Kyung-Hwan Min1Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado at BoulderPersonality and Emotion Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Seoul National UniversityRecent research has emphasized emotion’s role in non-utilitarian judgments, but has not focused much on characteristics of subjects contributing to those judgments. The present article relates utilitarian judgment to individual disposition to experience various emotions. Study 1 first investigated the relationship among state emotions and utilitarian judgment. Diverse emotions were elicited during judgment: guilt, sadness, disgust, empathy, anger, and anxiety, etc. Using psychological scales, Study 2 found that trait emotions predict the extent of utilitarian judgments, especially trait anger, trait disgust, and trait empathy. Unlike previous research that designated emotions only as factors mitigating utilitarian judgment, this research shows that trait anger correlates positively with utilitarian judgment. On the other hand, disgust and empathy correlated negatively. Guilt and shame—though previous research argued that their absence increased utilitarian judgment—appear unrelated to the extent of utilitarian judgment. These results suggest that people’s emotional dispositions can affect their judgment. This finding might contribute to untangling the complex mechanisms of utilitarian judgments.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S193029750000262X/type/journal_articleemotionutilitarian judgmentdispositiondecision-makingpersonalitymoral judgment
spellingShingle So Young Choe
Kyung-Hwan Min
Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments
Judgment and Decision Making
emotion
utilitarian judgment
disposition
decision-making
personality
moral judgment
title Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments
title_full Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments
title_fullStr Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments
title_full_unstemmed Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments
title_short Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments
title_sort who makes utilitarian judgments the influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments
topic emotion
utilitarian judgment
disposition
decision-making
personality
moral judgment
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S193029750000262X/type/journal_article
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AT kyunghwanmin whomakesutilitarianjudgmentstheinfluencesofemotionsonutilitarianjudgments