Moral judgment of Moral judgment of economic behavior under economic behavior under risk in relation to moral risk in relation to moral emotionsemotions

Tadeusz TyszkaAcademy of Entrepreneurship and Management

Tomasz ZaleskiewiczWarsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities

AgendaAgenda

1. Reference to our previous study2. Idea of the present study3. Methodology4. Results5. Discussion

The basic ideaThe basic idea

Some economic decisions are associated not only with financial outcomes (gains/losses) but also with moral outcomes (negative/positive)

EXAMPLEEXAMPLE

Person A faces severe financial problems because he has been fired, has large debts and must provide for a big family. He finds a wallet on the street, containing a substantial sum of money. The owner’s name and address are in the wallet. On the other hand, person A can easily keep the wallet instead of returning it to the owner.

Our previous studyOur previous studyFour economic scenarios that

described people facing a moral conflict (wallet, safety, product, bribe)

Participants asked to judge an immoral behavior

Immoral behavior in two scenarios (bribe, product) blamed more then in two other scenarios (wallet, safety)

Our previous studyOur previous studyHigher level of blame positively

correlated with reaction timeHigher level of blame

insensitivity to quantitative risk parameters (outcomes and probabilities) deontological judgment

Lower level of blame high sensitivity to quantitative risk parameters consequentialistic judgment

A new research questionA new research questionWhere does this difference in

moral judgment come from?Why do people behave as

deontologists in some situations and as consequentialists in other situations?

A possible solutionA possible solutionImmoral behavior can evoke

different level of negative affect. People blame immoral behavior harsher when affect is stronger (Greene et al., 2001; Haidt, 2001; 2003; Kahneman & Sunstein, 2005)

Violating some moral norms can evoke stronger negative affect than violating other moral norms

The hypothesisThe hypothesis

Violating the norm in those scenarios where moral judgments were consistent with the deontological position will evoke stronger negative emotions than violating the norm in scenarios where judgments were consistent with the consequentialist position

The fThe four scenariosour scenarios S1 introducing safety changes in

a factory;S2 returning wallet found on a

street;S3 selling a product that can be

dangerous for consumers;S4 accepting a bribe

Part 1 – self-oriented moral Part 1 – self-oriented moral emotionsemotions

Participants asked to imagine that they were evolved in the scenarios and behaved in an immoral way

P’s asked to evaluate how much guilt, shame or embarrassment they would feel (on a 100-point scale)

Part 2 – others-oriented Part 2 – others-oriented moral emotionsmoral emotions

Participants asked to imagine that they observed immoral behaviors of other people

P’s asked to evaluate how much anger, disgust and contempt they would feel (on a 100-point scale)

Part 1 – Results (self-Part 1 – Results (self-oriented moral emotions)oriented moral emotions)

W al le t S a fe ty P rodu c t B ribe

S CE N A RIO

60

65

70

75

80

85

90A

ve

rag

e a

ffe

cti

ve

ju

dg

me

nt

F(3,243) = 13.136; p < .0001

Part 2 – Results (others-Part 2 – Results (others-oriented moral emotions)oriented moral emotions)

Wallet Safety Product Br ibe

SC EN AR IO

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95A

vera

ge a

ffective judgm

ent

F(3,252) = 42.256; p < .0001

DiscussionDiscussionViolating moral norm when judgment

consistent with deontological position (fast judgment, insensitivity to basic risk parameters) stronger negative affect

Violating moral norm when judgment consistent with consequentialistic position (slower judgment, insensitivity to basic risk parameters) weaker negative affect

DiscussionDiscussionDeontological moral judgment

might be affect-based and produced mainly by the affective system of thought (S. Epstein; The risk-as-feelings hypothesis)

Consequentialistic moral judgment might be reason-based and produced mainly by the rational system of thought