Journal article
Situational factors shape moral judgments in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern, and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample
Nature Human Behaviour, Vol.6, pp.880-895
2022
PMID: 35422529
Abstract
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.
Details
- Title
- Situational factors shape moral judgments in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern, and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample
- Authors
- Bence Bago (Author)Marton Kovacs (Author) - Eötvös Loránd UniversityJohn Protzko (Author) - University of California, Santa BarbaraTamas Nagy (Author) - Eötvös Loránd UniversityZoltan Kekecs (Author) - Eötvös Loránd UniversityBence Palfi (Author) - University of SussexMatus Adamkovic (Author) - University of PrešovSylwia Adamus (Author) - Jagiellonian UniversitySumaya Albalooshi (Author) - University of GroningenNihan Albayrak-Aydemir (Author) - London School of Economics and Political ScienceSee article full text for complete list of authors (Author)Barnaby J W Dixson (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
- Publication details
- Nature Human Behaviour, Vol.6, pp.880-895
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41562-022-01319-5
- ISSN
- 2397-3374
- PMID
- 35422529
- Grant note
- 31530032 / Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 950-224884 / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) 2017/01/X/HS6/01332; 2015/19/D/HS6/00641; 2019/35/B/HS6/00528 / National Science Centre, Poland APVV-18-0140; APVV-17-0418; PRIMUS/20/HUM/009; APVV-17-0596 / Slovak Research and Development Agency 88887.364180/2019-00 / CAPES; Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) FOR-2150; LA 3566/1-2 / German Research Foundation; German Research Foundation (DFG) 20178293XT / PRIN 2017 (Italian Ministry of Education and Research); Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) 2018B030335001 / Key Technological Projects of Guangdong Province ANR-17-EURE-0010 / ANR; French National Research Agency (ANR) Foundation for Polish Science (START); Austrian Science Fund (FWF); Foundation for Polish Science ANR Labex IAST; French National Research Agency (ANR) PSI2017-85159-P / AEI DGE-1839285 / National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship; National Science Foundation (NSF) 2016-T1/SOC-1395; 2020-5A/SOC-19723 / Comunidad de Madrid EXC 2126/1-390838866 / Germany's Excellence Strategy CF16-0444 / Carlsberg Foundation SFRH/BD/126304/2016; UID/PSI/03125/2019 / Portuguese National Foundation for Science and Technology; Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology 2016/23/G/HS6/01775 / DFG Beethoven; German Research Foundation (DFG) DP180102384 / Australian Research Council 7024-00057B / Independent Research Fund Denmark 11190980 / FONDECYT, CONICYT; Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT); CONICYT FONDECYT PSA 006 BRA 008 Data Collection in Support of PSADM 001 Measurement Invariance Project 2020/36/T/HS6/00256; 2019/33/N/HS6/00054 / National Science Centre; National Science Centre, Poland 2016-06793 / Swedish Research Council; European Commission 16H03079; 17H00875; 18K12015; 20H04581; 17H06342; 20K03479; 20KK0054; 20J21976 / JSPS KAKENHI; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) Polish National Science Center AUFF-E-2019-9-4 / Aarhus University Research Foundation (AUFF) UE/FEDER; European Commission 2020SJA0017 / Project of Philosophy and Social Science Research in Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province 18K03010 / JSPS; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Psychology; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99629738602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Neurosciences
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- Psychology, Experimental
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