Effects of gender and personality on everyday moral decision-making after acute stress exposure

Nina Singer,Monika Sommer,Stefan Wüst,Brigitte M Kudielka

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.105084

Nina Singer, Monika Sommer + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.105084

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Abstract

Exposure to acute psychosocial stress has been shown to affect moral decision-making, though little is known about potential gender differences or effects of personality. In two within-subjects design studies, 179 healthy men and women (N = 99 in Study 1, N = 80 in Study 2) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and a non-stress control condition (resting period) on two testing days in random order. After stress/resting, moral decision-making was assessed by the Everyday Moral Conflict Situations (EMCS) Scale (Singer et al., 2019), which requests altruistic versus egoistic responses to everyday moral conflict scenarios with varying closeness of target persons. We investigated effects of acute stress, social closeness, participants’ gender, and the a priori selected personality traits agreeableness, empathy, and social desirability on everyday moral decision-making. Despite high statistical power, we could neither confirm the hypothesized effects of acute stress nor social closeness on EMCS scores in both samples. However, our data revealed a prosocial impact of acute stress on everyday moral decisions rather in females than males as well as effects of agreeableness and social desirability. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) levels in Study 1 and cortisol levels in females in Study 2 were significantly correlated with higher EMCS scores after acute stress exposure. Additionally, lower anticipatory subjective stress responses were associated with more altruistic decisions. Moreover, we found positive relationships between hypothetical moral decision-making and real prosocial behavior (opportunity for a charitable donation). In sum, due to methodological differences compared to previous between-subjects design studies, it might not be justified to rule out effects of acute stress on everyday moral decision-making based on the current within-subjects results. Nevertheless, the present data suggest that specific personality traits like agreeableness might have a stronger impact on everyday moral decision-making than short term-exposure to acute stress.

Highlights

AND OUTLINE OF THIS DISSERTATIONThe last year 2020 started with an unpredictable and still ongoing challenge – the COVID-19 pandemic
A higher percentage of hypothetical altruistic decisions was associated with more money donated to Strohhalm Regensburg e.V., which can be interpreted as further proof of external and ecological validity of the Everyday Moral Conflict Situations (EMCS) Scale. This computer version of the EMCS Scale was used in Studies II and III, where we investigated the effects of acute stress exposure on everyday moral decision-making in laboratory settings
The Studies I, II, and III included in this dissertation contribute to the investigation of the effects of acute stress exposure on decision-making in everyday moral conflict situations

Summary

Introduction

AND OUTLINE OF THIS DISSERTATIONThe last year 2020 started with an unpredictable and still ongoing challenge – the COVID-19 pandemic. The present dissertation aims at contributing to this research endeavor by empirically examining the impact of the situational factor acute stress exposure on moral decision-making in laboratory settings. Building on the presented literature and especially on my master’s thesis (Singer et al, 2017; see Section 2.3.2), the overarching aim of my PhD project was to experimentally investigate the effects of acute stress exposure on decision-making in everyday moral conflict situations. The rationale behind this supplementary analysis was to rule out the actual (non-)existence of the respective target persons in the lives of participants as a potentially confounding factor

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