Abstract
In the trolley problem, a well-known moral dilemma, the intuitive process is believed to increase deontological judgments, while deliberative reasoning is thought to promote utilitarian decisions. Therefore, based on the dual-process model, there seems to be an attempt to save several lives at the expense of a few others in a deliberative manner. This study examines the validity of this argument. To this end, we manipulate decision-making time in the standard trolley dilemma to compare differences among 119 Japanese female undergraduates under three conditions: intuitive judgment, deliberative judgment, and judgment after a group discussion. The current results demonstrate that utilitarian judgments decreased from 52.9% in the intuition condition to 43.7% in the deliberation condition and 37.0% after the discussion. Additional analysis suggests that the decrease in utilitarian judgments may be related to psychological unwillingness to assume responsibility for the lives of others rather than to an increase in deontological judgments. Finally, these results are discussed from an adaptationist perspective.
Highlights
In ethics, deontology and utilitarianism are understood as principles for the rightness of moral decision-making
The results demonstrate that utilitarian judgments decreased from 52.9% in the intuition condition to 43.7% in the deliberation condition, and to 37.0% in the group discussion condition
Previous studies based on the dual-process model have assumed that the intuitive process increases deontological judgments
Summary
Deontology and utilitarianism are understood as principles for the rightness of moral decision-making. Utilitarianism is a principle that emphasizes the consequences that actions have on people and posits that actions that lead to the greatest happiness for the greatest number are ethically right. Deontology, espoused by Immanuel Kant, focuses on duties defined by right and wrong. It posits that the ethical rightness of an action depends not on what consequences it brings but on the rightness of the act itself, that is, whether it is done in accordance with duty. In the “trolley problem” (Foot, 1978; Thomson, 1985), a well-known moral dilemma, people are forced to make a moral decision between these two ethical judgments, that is, harming one person (utilitarian judgments) or letting many people die (deontological judgments).
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