Abstract
We tested if post-decisional emotions of regret, guilt, shame, anger, and disgust can account for individuals’ choices in moral dilemmas depicting the choice of letting some people die (non-utilitarian option) or sacrificing one person to save them (utilitarian option). We collected participants’ choices and post-decisional emotional ratings for each option using Footbridge-type dilemmas, in which the sacrifice of one person is the means to save more people, and Trolley-type dilemmas, in which the sacrifice is only a side effect. Moreover, we computed the EEG Readiness Potential to test if the neural activity related to the last phase of decision-making was related to the emotional conflict. Participants reported generally stronger emotions for the utilitarian as compared to the non-utilitarian options, with the exception of anger and regret, which in Trolley-type dilemmas were stronger for the non-utilitarian option. Moreover, participants tended to choose the option that minimized the intensity of negative emotions, irrespective of dilemma type. No significant relationship between emotions and the amplitude of the Readiness Potential emerged. It is possible that anticipated post-decisional emotions play a role in earlier stages of decision-making.
Highlights
In the last 15 years, moral dilemmas have been widely employed in psychology and neuroscience to investigate the interplay between emotional and cognitive processes in moral judgment and decision-making
Guilt and shame, the interaction was due to higher emotional intensities reported for utilitarian as compared to non-utilitarian options for both dilemma types, and to this difference being more pronounced for Footbridge-type as compared to Trolley-type dilemmas
The main aim of this study was to investigate the role of anticipated post-decisional emotions in driving decisions in moral dilemmas
Summary
In the last 15 years, moral dilemmas have been widely employed in psychology and neuroscience to investigate the interplay between emotional and cognitive processes in moral judgment and decision-making. In the Footbridge dilemma, the only way to save the five is to push a large stranger off an overpass, so that his body would stop the trolley. It is a well-known and widely replicated result that individuals usually endorse the choice to sacrifice one person to save five lives in the Trolley dilemma, but not in the Footbridge dilemmas (Greene et al, 2001; Schaich Borg et al, 2006; Hauser et al, 2007; Sarlo et al, 2012). According to Greene et al (2001, 2004) dual process model, this pattern of findings is due to the fact that moral judgments and decisions are driven by two systems in competition: a slow, deliberate, and rational system, that would perform a cost-benefit analysis and lead individuals to endorse the option that maximizes the number of spared lives – the so-called utilitarian resolution of the dilemmas – and a fast, automatic, and emotional system, that would work like
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