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Situational factors shape moral judgments in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern, and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Situational factors shape moral judgments in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern, and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample

Bence Bago, Marton Kovacs, John Protzko, Tamas Nagy, Zoltan Kekecs, Bence Palfi, Matus Adamkovic, Sylwia Adamus, Sumaya Albalooshi, Nihan Albayrak-Aydemir, …
Nature Human Behaviour, Vol.6, pp.880-895
2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01319-5
PMID: 35422529
Appears in  UniSC Diversity and Inclusion Research Collection
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01319-5View
Published Version
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01403-wView
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Abstract

cultural and media studies human behaviour UniSC Diversity Area - Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
The study of moral judgements often centers on moral dilemmas in which options consistent with deontological perspectives (i.e., emphasizing rules, individual rights, and duties) are in conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (i.e., following the greater good based on consequences). Greene et al. (2009) showed that psychological and situational factors (e.g., the intent of the agent or the presence of physical contact between the agent and the victim) can play an important role in moral dilemma judgements (e.g., trolley problem). Our knowledge is limited concerning both the universality of these effects outside the United States and the impact of culture on the situational and psychological factors of moral judgements. Thus, we empirically tested the universality of the effects of intent and personal force on moral dilemma judgements by replicating the experiments of Greene et al. in 45 countries from all inhabited continents. We found that personal force and its interaction with intention, exert influence on moral judgements in the US and Western cultural clusters, replicating and expanding the original findings. Moreover, the personal force effect was present in all cultural clusters, suggesting it is culturally universal. The evidence for the cultural universality of the interaction effect was inconclusive in the Eastern and Southern cultural clusters (depending on exclusion criteria). We found no strong association between collectivism/individualism and moral dilemma judgements.

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