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Patterns of Moral Judgment Derive From Nonmoral Psychological Representations
Open accessAbstract
Ordinary people often make moral judgments that are consistent with philosophical principles and legal distinctions. For example, they judge killing as worse than letting die, and harm caused as a necessary means to a greater good as worse than harm caused as a side-effect (Cushman, Young, & Hauser, 2006). Are these patterns of judgment produced by mechanisms specific to the moral domain, or do they derive from other psychological domains? We show that the action/omission and means/side-effect distinctions affect nonmoral representations and provide evidence that their role in moral judgment is mediated by these nonmoral psychological representations. Specifically, the action/omission distinction affects moral judgment primarily via causal attribution, while the means/side-effect distinction affects moral judgment via intentional attribution. We suggest that many of the specific patterns evident in our moral judgments in fact derive from nonmoral psychological mechanisms, and especially from the processes of causal and intentional attribution.
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“Harmful actions are judged more harshly than harmful inactions 179,180 ,”
From Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response (2020) · cites this paper as [179]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Cushman, F., & Young, L.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cushman, Fiery
- Venue
- Cognitive Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-01-31
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1052-1075
- ISSN
- 0364-0213 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2133646840
- Cited by
- 179
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 7.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cognitive Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Harvard University
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophical Ethics and Theory
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Ethics in Business and Education
- Keywords
- moral judgment, causal attribution, intentional attribution, killing versus letting die, moral intuitions
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Humans, Judgment, Morals, Social Perception, Intention, Theory of Mind
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