Influence of negative mood states on moral decision-making

Abstract

Utilitarian behaviours sometimes require harmful actions be performed to benefit the perceived ‘greater good’. Humans are often averse to such actions when they involve inflicting direct harm upon others, regardless of the positive outcomes that are achieved. Predominant theory proposes that anti-utilitarian biases stem from negative emotions evoked by moral dilemmas, which override considerations of the ‘greater good’ produced by utilitarian behaviour. This study examined associations between utilitarian judgment and common domains of negative mood. Participants ( N ​= ​73) responded to self-report measures of depression, anxiety and stress-tension, followed by a moral dilemma paradigm. The dilemmas involved a series of ethically challenging scenarios, including the canonical ‘trolley problem’. Depression scores were robustly associated with increased utilitarian responses, while no associations were identified for anxiety or stress-tension. Depression was selectively associated with utilitarianism in ‘personal’ moral dilemmas invovling emotionally-salient elements, such as directly sacrificing one life to save five. These findings suggest a preliminary link between depressive mood and utilitarian moral judgement. We discuss the nature of these findings regarding conventional theories, including the role of altered emotion in moral cognition and implications for the study of clinical mood disorders. • On average, non-utilitarian responses were preferred, especially in emotionally-salient dilemmas. • Depression was associated with utilitarian judgement in emotionally-salient moral dilemmas. • Other mood domains (anxiety, stress-tension) showed no association with moral judgement. • Age and sex were also associated with utilitarian judgement.