Abstract
Research in empirical moral psychology has consistently found negative correlations between morality and both risk-taking, as well as psychopathic tendencies. However, prior research did not sufficiently explore intervening or moderating factors. Additionally, prior measures of moral preference (e.g., sacrificial dilemmas) have a pronounced lack of ecological validity. This study seeks to address these two gaps in the literature. First, this study used Preference for Precepts Implied in Moral Theories (PPIMT), which offers a novel, more nuanced and ecologically valid measure of moral judgment. Second, the current study examined if risk taking moderates the relationships between psychopathic tendencies and moral judgment. Results indicated that models which incorporated risk-taking as a moderator between psychopathic tendencies and moral judgment were a better fit to the data than those that incorporated psychopathic tendencies and risk-taking as exogenous variables, suggesting that the association between psychopathic tendencies and moral judgment is influenced by level of risk-taking. Therefore, future research investigating linkages between psychopathic tendencies and moral precepts may do well to incorporate risk-taking and risky behaviors to further strengthen the understanding of moral judgment in these individuals.
Highlights
Research in empirical moral psychology has produced many findings that correlate morality, risk-taking, and psychopathic tendencies
The results suggest that prior research on moral underpinnings has been insufficient in determining intervening factors in the relationship between psychopathic tendencies and ethical decision making
The relationship between Psychopathy and both Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism is only significant in the current sample when participants reported fewer risk-taking behaviors, indicating that either those who present with more psychopathic tendencies, but show restricted risk-taking, are less likely to hold consequentialist or virtue ethics moral precepts
Summary
Research in empirical moral psychology has produced many findings that correlate morality, risk-taking, and psychopathic tendencies. Prior work has focused efforts in determining the connections between impulsivity and moral judgment, but there is paucity in the ecologically valid research in terms of the impact of risk-taking risk-taking measures on morality. The current study is the first of its kind to directly explore relationships between moral preferences, psychopathy, and risk taking. Moral psychology has suffered from a lack of standard and reliable measurement, which may contribute to the lack of evidence in supporting the connection between morality and Morality, Risk-Taking, Psychopathy psychopathic tendencies. The current study utilizes psychometrically valid instruments in attempt to explore this research gap, and generate innovation in the understanding of the impact of risk-taking on the previously found link between psychopathic tendencies and moral preferences
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