Judging those who judge: perceivers infer the roles of affect and cognition underpinning others' moral dilemma responses
Judging those who judge: perceivers infer the roles of affect and cognition underpinning others' moral dilemma responses
Whereas considerable research examines antecedents of moral dilemma judgments where causing harm maximizes outcomes, this work examines social consequences: whether participants infer personality characteristics from others' dilemma judgments. We propose that people infer the roles of affective and cognitive processing underlying other peoples' moral dilemma judgments, and use this information to inform personality perceptions. In Studies 1 and 2, participants rated targets who rejected causing outcome-maximizing harm (consistent with deontology) as warmer but less competent than targets who accepted causing outcome-maximizing harm (consistent with utilitarianism). Studies 3a and 3b replicated this pattern and demonstrated that perceptions of affective processing mediated the effect on warmth, whereas perceptions of cognitive processing mediated the effect on competence. In Study 4 participants accurately predicted that affective decision-makers would reject harm, whereas cognitive decision-makers would accept harm. Furthermore, participants preferred targets who rejected causing harm for a social role prioritizing warmth (pediatrician), whereas they preferred targets who accepted causing harm for a social role prioritizing competence (hospital management, Study 5). Together, these results suggest that people infer the role of affective and cognitive processing underlying others' harm rejection and acceptance judgments, which inform personality inferences and decision-making.
44-58
Rom, Sarah C.
4fc106dd-4702-45db-a639-b1cc418e1357
Weiss, Alexa
38d1177a-1f9e-44b3-b404-47eebb701257
Conway, Paul
765aaaf9-173f-44cf-be9a-c8ffbb51e286
1 March 2017
Rom, Sarah C.
4fc106dd-4702-45db-a639-b1cc418e1357
Weiss, Alexa
38d1177a-1f9e-44b3-b404-47eebb701257
Conway, Paul
765aaaf9-173f-44cf-be9a-c8ffbb51e286
Rom, Sarah C., Weiss, Alexa and Conway, Paul
(2017)
Judging those who judge: perceivers infer the roles of affect and cognition underpinning others' moral dilemma responses.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 69, .
(doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2016.09.007).
Abstract
Whereas considerable research examines antecedents of moral dilemma judgments where causing harm maximizes outcomes, this work examines social consequences: whether participants infer personality characteristics from others' dilemma judgments. We propose that people infer the roles of affective and cognitive processing underlying other peoples' moral dilemma judgments, and use this information to inform personality perceptions. In Studies 1 and 2, participants rated targets who rejected causing outcome-maximizing harm (consistent with deontology) as warmer but less competent than targets who accepted causing outcome-maximizing harm (consistent with utilitarianism). Studies 3a and 3b replicated this pattern and demonstrated that perceptions of affective processing mediated the effect on warmth, whereas perceptions of cognitive processing mediated the effect on competence. In Study 4 participants accurately predicted that affective decision-makers would reject harm, whereas cognitive decision-makers would accept harm. Furthermore, participants preferred targets who rejected causing harm for a social role prioritizing warmth (pediatrician), whereas they preferred targets who accepted causing harm for a social role prioritizing competence (hospital management, Study 5). Together, these results suggest that people infer the role of affective and cognitive processing underlying others' harm rejection and acceptance judgments, which inform personality inferences and decision-making.
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Accepted/In Press date: 16 September 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 October 2016
Published date: 1 March 2017
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Local EPrints ID: 473525
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/473525
ISSN: 0022-1031
PURE UUID: 64ad6234-3330-41ff-b6c1-44be1b833e74
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Date deposited: 20 Jan 2023 18:06
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:17
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Author:
Sarah C. Rom
Author:
Alexa Weiss
Author:
Paul Conway
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