Abstract
Killing people is universally considered reprehensible and evokes in observers a need to punish perpetrators. Here, we explored how observers’ personality is associated with their cognitive, emotional, and punishing reactions towards perpetrators using data from 1,004 participants who responded to a set of fifteen third-party perspective moral dilemmas. Among those, four scenarios (architect, life boat, footbridge, smother for dollars) describing deliberate killings were compared to investigate the role of the content features “motive for killing” (selfish vs. utilitarian) and “evitability of victims’ death”. Participants’ moral appropriateness ratings, emotions towards perpetrators, and assigned punishments revealed complex scenario-personality interactions. Trait psychopathy was associated with harsher punishments in all scenarios but also with less concern about killing in general, an increased moral appreciation of utilitarian motives for killing, and a reduced concern about the killing of avoidable victims. Need for cognition was associated with considering a utilitarian motive for killing as a mitigating factor, while intuitive/authority-obedient thinking was linked to a strong focus on avoidability of harm as an aggravating factor when assigning punishments. Other-oriented empathy, trait anxiety, and justice sensitivity did not account for differences in third-party punishments. Our explorative findings highlight the importance of inter-individual differences for moral decision making and sense of justice.
Highlights
Monitoring compliance with rules of social coexistence and punishing their violation are essential for the stability of human societies
We explore how personality traits previously associated with moral decision making, moderate i) emotional reactions of observers, ii) their assessment of moral appropriateness, and iii) the severity of imposed punishments
We investigated the interplay of the two content factors, (1) motive for killing and, (2) avoidability of victims’ death with third parties’ personality
Summary
Monitoring compliance with rules of social coexistence and punishing their violation are essential for the stability of human societies. In growing and increasingly anonymous societies, uninvolved third parties play a central role in restoring and enforcing rule compliance [1,2]. When observing violations of socio-moral rules resulting in negative consequences for victims, third parties typically sense a strong obligation to punish perpetrators and/or try to compensate victims in order to restore justice. Publication Fund of the Technische Universitat Dresden
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