Individual differences in intuitive processing moderate responses to moral transgressions

Despite the widespread recognition that intuitive processing is integral to moral judgment, research has provided minimal support for the role of individual differences in faith in intuition (FI) in moral outcomes. We propose that reliance on intuitive processing is likely to influence moral behavior when people experience internally generated morally-relevant feelings. We conducted two studies to test this proposal, examining whether FI would moderate the effects of moral recall manipulations on morally-relevant outcomes. In Study 1 (N = 120), FI moderated the effects of condition such that after imagining telling a lie in an email, people high in FI gave increased valuations of hand cleansing products. In Study 2 (N = 197), FI moderated the effects of condition such that after recalling a past personally relevant immoral act, FI predicted less cheating on an unsolvable IQ test. Implications for moral psychology and the importance of theoretically informed methods for studying the role of individual differences in intuitive processing are discussed.     

Relations between forms and functions of aggression and moral judgments of aggressive transgressions

The present study sought to examine the influence of aggressive behavior, psychopathy, and gender on moral judgments of aggressive transgressions. A two-dimensional conceptualization of aggression was used, such that proactive relational aggression, reactive relational aggression, proactive physical aggression, and reactive physical aggression were treated as distinct subtypes of aggression and also as distinct subtypes of moral judgments of aggression. Participants were 421 emerging adults (215 women). Self-report measures of aggression, psychopathy, and moral judgments were collected. Peer-reports of aggression and psychopathy were obtained from a randomly assigned subsample of 73 participants (46 women) for validity purposes. Unique associations were found between subtypes of aggression and corresponding moral judgments of the same subtypes.     

Blind ethics: Closing one's eyes polarizes moral judgments and discourages dishonest behavior

Four experiments demonstrate that closing one’s eyes affects ethical judgment and behavior because it induces people to mentally simulate events more extensively. People who considered situations with their eyes closed rather than open judged immoral behaviors as more unethical and moral behaviors as more ethical. In addition, considering potential decisions with closed eyes decreased stated intentions to behave ethically and actual self-interested behavior. This relationship was mediated by the more extensive mental simulation that occurred with eyes closed rather than open, which, in turn, intensified emotional reactions to the ethical situation. We discuss the implications of these findings for moral psychology and ethical decision making.     

When death thoughts lead to death fears: Mortality salience increases death anxiety for individuals who lack meaning in life

Research derived from terror management theory demonstrates that subtle reminders of mortality increase strivings for meaning. It is argued that such strivings reflect efforts to prevent the anxiety that death reminders may otherwise cause. However, no research has directly tested the assertions that subtle mortality primes increase death anxiety and perceptions of meaning in life moderate this effect. The current study examined these predictions. Meaning in life was measured, death cognition primed, and death anxiety assessed. A mortality prime increased death anxiety, but only for individuals who lack perceptions of meaning in life. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

Affective responses to own violations of ingroup norms: the moderating role of norm salience

The findings from two experiments support the argument that the salience of a relevant ingroup norm may moderate the affective consequences of one's normative violations. Participants' counternormative behaviour only influenced their self‐reported affect under conditions of high norm salience. This relationship was mediated by participants' perceptions that their expression of ingroup favouritism was discrepant from a group norm of intergroup fairness. The presented evidence extends previous research in two ways. First, it qualifies prior work concerning the affective impact of normative ‘discrepancy’ on self‐directed negative affect. Second, it shows that increased self‐directed negative affect can be produced by deviations from the norms of a situationally salient and identity‐relevant reference group. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's moral evaluations of reporting the transgressions of peers: age differences in evaluations of tattling

The way children evaluate the reporting of peers' transgressions to authority figures was investigated. Participants, ages 6-11 years (N = 60), were presented with a series of vignettes, each of which depicted a child who committed either a minor transgression (such as not finishing the vegetables at lunch) or a more serious transgression (such as stealing from a classmate). Participants were asked to evaluate the decision of a child observer who either did or did not report the transgression to a teacher. Younger children considered reporting to be appropriate for both types of transgressions, but older children considered reporting to be appropriate for major transgressions only. Results are interpreted with reference to (a) a changing peer culture in which the social cost of reporting transgressions increases and (b) a developmental change in children's cognitive capabilities.     

The spotlight effect in social judgment: an egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one's own actions and appearance

This research provides evidence that people overestimate the extent to which their actions and appearance are noted by others, a phenomenon dubbed the spotlight effect. In Studies 1 and 2, participants who were asked to don a T-shirt depicting either a flattering or potentially embarrassing image overestimated the number of observers who would be able to recall what was pictured on the shirt. In Study 3, participants in a group discussion overestimated how prominent their positive and negative utterances were to their fellow discussants. Studies 4 and 5 provide evidence supporting an anchoring-and-adjustment interpretation of the spotlight effect. In particular, people appear to anchor on their own rich phenomenological experience and then adjust--insufficiently--to take into account the perspective of others. The discussion focuses on the manifestations and implications of the spotlight effect across a host of everyday social phenomena.     

Perceptual weight judgments when viewing one's own and others' movements under minimalist conditions of visual presentation

Across five experiments, we investigated the parameters involved in the observation and in the execution of the action of lifting an object. The observers were shown minimal information on movements, consisting of either the working-point displacement only (ie two points representing the hand and object) or additional configural information on the kinematics of the trunk, shoulder, arm, forearm, and hand, joined by a stick diagram. Furthermore, displays showed either a participant's own movements or those of another person, when different weights were lifted. The participants' task was to estimate the weight of the lifted objects. The results revealed that, although overall performance was not dependent on the visual conditions (working point versus stick diagram) or ownership conditions (self versus other), the kinematic cues used to perform the task differed as a function of these conditions. In addition, the kinematic parameters relevant for action observation did not match those relevant for action execution. This was confirmed in experiments by using artificially altered movement samples, where the variations in critical kinematic variables were manipulated separately or in combination. We discuss the implications of these results for the roles of motor simulation and visual analysis in action observation.     

Of wealth and death: materialism, mortality salience, and consumption behavior

Theoretical work suggests that feelings of insecurity produce materialistic behavior, but most empirical evidence is correlational in nature. We therefore experimentally activated feelings of insecurity by having some subjects write short essays about death (mortality-salience condition). In Study 1, subjects in the mortality-salience condition, compared with subjects who wrote about a neutral topic, had higher financial expectations for themselves 15 years in the future, in terms of both their overall worth and the amount they would be spending on pleasurable items such as clothing and entertainment. Study 2 extended these findings by demonstrating that subjects exposed to death became more greedy and consumed more resources in a forest-management game. Results are discussed with regard to humanistic and terror-management theories of materialism.     

Ageism and death: effects of mortality salience and perceived similarity to elders on reactions to elderly people

The present research investigated the hypotheses that elderly people can be reminders of our mortality and that concerns about our own mortality can therefore instigate ageism. In Study 1, college-age participants who saw photos of two elderly people subsequently showed more death accessibility than participants who saw photos of only younger people. In Study 2, making mortality salient for participants increased distancing from the average elderly person and decreased perceptions that the average elderly person possesses favorable attitudes. Mortality salience did not affect ratings of teenagers. In Study 3, these mortality salience effects were moderated by prior reported similarity to elderly people. Distancing from, and derogation of, elderly people after mortality salience occurred only in participants who, weeks before the study, rated their personalities as relatively similar to the average elderly person's. Discussion addresses distinguishing ageism from other forms of prejudice, as well as possibilities for reducing ageism.     

Effectively using death in health messages: Social loss versus physical mortality salience

Research based on the terror management health model demonstrates that highlighting death as a consequence of risky behavior can lead to unintended responses to health communications. In two studies, we investigate whether a form of social loss message frame can motivate someone to change his or her behavior to prevent negative health consequences. In Study 1, we compare social loss and physical mortality print messages in the context of “texting while driving.” Overall, social loss as opposed to physical mortality messages facilitate greater intent to reduce risky health behaviors when death‐related cognitions have been removed from conscious awareness. In Study 2, we manipulate message framing and self‐affirmation in the context of “smoking.” We find that highlighting family members' inability to cope when one dies can result in health messages that facilitate the acknowledgment of the health risk and reduce risky health behaviors. This effect is enhanced when individuals affirm on the importance of “relationships with family and friends” prior to viewing health messages. The implications for the terror management health model are discussed noting that death can be effectively used in health communication when framed as relationship protection rather than one's physical mortality.     

The nature of death and the death of nature: The impact of mortality salience on environmental concern

According to terror management theory, individuals are motivated to distinguish themselves from the rest of nature because doing so facilitates the denial of human mortality. However, based on an integration of terror management and contingencies of self-worth perspectives, the present research hypothesized that existential insecurities about death may differentially influence environmental concern depending on whether or not an individual derives self-esteem from environmental action. Results demonstrated that heightened mortality awareness led to less concern for the environment among those not deriving self-esteem from an environmental domain, but fostered environmental concern among those who do acquire self-esteem from environmental action. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Taking care of one's own: justice and family caregiving

This paper asks whether adult children have aduty of justice to act as caregivers for theirfrail, elderly parents. I begin (Sections I.and II.) by locating the historical reasons whyrelationships within families were not thoughtto raise issues of justice. I argue that thesereasons are misguided. The paper next presentsspecific examples showing the relevance ofjustice to family relationships. I point outthat in the United States today, the burden ofcaregiving for dependent parents fallsdisproportionately on women (Sections III. andIV.). The paper goes on to use Rawls'theoretical tool of the veil of ignorance toargue that caring for parents should not belinked to a person's sex and more generally,that there is no duty of justice to assume therole of caregiver for dependent parents(Sections V.). Although justice does notprovide the moral foundations for parent care,I show that it nonetheless places importantlimits on the instinct to care. I concludethat the voice of justice should be audible,and is intrinsically present, withinfamilies.     

Emotional and behavioural reactions to moral transgressions: cross-cultural and individual variations in India and Britain

Reactions to moral transgressions are subject to influence at both the cultural and individual levels. Transgressions against an individual's rights or against social conventions of hierarchy may elicit different reactions in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. In the current study, affective and behavioural reactions to transgressions of autonomy (rights) and community (hierarchy) were examined in India and Britain. Results revealed that although reactions to autonomy transgressions are similar in India and Britain, Indian participants express more moral outrage than do Britons in response to transgressions of community. Results also supported the contention of emotion‐specificity in affective moral reaction: Participants in both India and Britain reported anger in response to autonomy transgressions, but contempt in response to violations of community. Importantly, these results extend previous research by demonstrating the importance of emotion specificity in moral reactions, as opposed to categorization or dilemma resolution. In addition, an individual difference measure of respect for persons was shown to moderate reactions to moral transgressions. Specifically, participants with high respect for persons were less negative to violators of the community ethic, but not the autonomy ethic. These findings highlight the importance of examining emotion‐specific responses in the moral domain and introduce a significant individual difference variable, respect for persons, into the psychology of morality.     

Agency and observation in knowledge of one's own thinking

This essay addresses the question how we know our conscious thinking. Conscious thinking typically takes the form of a series of discrete episodes that constitute a complex cognitive activity. We must distinguish the discrete episodes of thinking in which a particular content is represented in phenomenal consciousness and is present “before the mind's eye” from the extended activities of which these episodes form a part. The extended activities are themselves contentful and we have first‐person access to them. But because their content is not represented in phenomenal consciousness, this access cannot be broadly observational. Instead, I argue, it is agential. Furthermore, that extended activities are intentional explains the possibility of a nonobservational form of introspective access to the discrete episodes in consciousness.     

A response set analysis of developmental differences in children's moral judgments

The study tested the hypotheses that 1) children may not adopt a moral response set when faced with moral dilemmas and 2) their knowledge of what constitutes a moral constellation of behaviors may differ from that of adults and may lead to developmental differences. To test these hypotheses, the study examined children's responses to a multiple choice moral dilemmas questionnaire under neutral instructions, instructions to answer as a good child or as a bad child. Subjects in fourth and seventh grade were asked whether a story hero would transgress and were required to justify their answers. In addition, questions regarding affective reactions to transgressions, confessions, and due punishment were asked. Fourth grade children answering in the good child instructions condition tended to give significantly different responses than under neutral instructions, while seventh grade subjects did not tend to differentiate between these two instruction conditions. While adult theories of morality would predict a differentiation between good and bad child instructions, on some of the measures no differences were found between good and bad child instructions. The implications of these results for cognitive-developmental theory were discussed and a general framework for interpreting the data was offered.     

Gender-typical responses to sexual and emotional infidelity as a function of mortality salience induced self-esteem striving

The authors propose that gender-differentiated patterns of jealousy in response to sexual and emotional infidelity are engendered by the differential impact of each event on self-esteem for men and women. Study 1 demonstrated that men derive relatively more self-esteem from their sex lives, whereas women's self-esteem is more contingent on romantic commitment. Based on terror management theory, it is predicted that if gender-differentiated responses to infidelity are motivated by gender-specific contingencies for self-esteem, they should be intensified following reminders of mortality. In Study 2, mortality salience (MS) increased distress in response to sexual infidelity for men and emotional infidelity for women. Study 3 demonstrated that following MS, men who place high value on sex in romantic relationships exhibited greater distress in response to sexual infidelity, but low-ex-value men's distress was attenuated. The authors discuss the implications for evolutionary and self-esteem-based accounts of jealousy as well as possible integration of these perspectives.