Picture Of Morality Research Articles

Is Doing Good Good Enough? A Motivation, Action, Sacrifice, and Temptation (MAST) View of Moral Praiseworthiness.

We present the Motivation, Action, Sacrifice, and Temptation (MAST) view of moral praiseworthiness and evaluate four components shaping judgments of an actor's morality: (a) How did the person act? (b) Why did the person act? (c) Did the person sacrifice something when acting? and (d) Was the person tempted to avoid the sacrifice? Across multiple moral domains, we evaluate moral impressions of hypothetical actors who acted ostensibly morally under different motivational, sacrificial, and temptational conditions. Across four studies (total N > 1,200) and 150 morally relevant scenarios, all components shaped moral impressions, with motivational purity having the strongest impact. Exploring motivation more deeply via Self-Determination Theory, we found effects of internalized (vs. externalized) motivations. Broadly speaking, judges prefer actors to act automatically and in an idealized manner rather than with deliberation and effort. This work address questions that have fascinated philosophers, psychologists, and laypeople, advancing understanding of moral impression formation.

Moral learning and positive schizotypy: Social cognitive mechanisms in psychosis- proneness

BackgroundDelusional thoughts such as paranoia and conspiratorial thinking reflect beliefs in others' intentions to do harm. Given the integral role of harm evaluation in moral cognition, a better understanding of how psychosis-prone individuals process others' moral characters may provide insights into social cognitive mechanisms of these types of delusions. MethodsAn online sample of 293 participants was drawn from the general population, using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants performed a moral inference task, where they predicted and judged the binary choices of two fictitious agents (“good” or “bad”) to impose harm under different levels of financial incentives. An investment game involving the same agents then examined participants' trust behavior. Psychosis-proneness was measured with the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale Brief Edition. ResultsA set of multiple regressions showed that positive schizotypy was associated with a lower yet more confident pre-experimental expectation of the agent's moral character, lower prediction accuracy of the agent's harm preferences, less belief revision, and undifferentiated perception of the good and bad agents' characters. Positive schizotypy was also related to higher expectations for reciprocity in the investment game, regardless of agent characters. ConclusionOur findings suggest that inflexible beliefs associated with psychosis-proneness extend beyond negative prior expectations, also reflecting difficulties in moral learning. The resulting undifferentiated moral impressions might contribute to undue suspicion of benevolent individuals and increased gullibility to malicious ones, potentially further strengthening conspiratorial beliefs.

Status cues and moral judgment: Formal attire induces moral favoritism but not for hypocrites

Status-related impressions influence important interpersonal dynamics, including moral judgments of good or bad, and right or wrong, whereas these impressions can be formed based on subtle cues (e.g., formal versus casual attire of transgressors). The current research examined how attire influences moral judgments in transgressive contexts and for different transgressions. We proposed that attire would have different effects on moral judgments depending on whether transgressions were accompanied with contradictory moral claims (i.e., hypocrisy versus non-hypocrisy), and attire and hypocrisy would influence moral judgments through perceived intentionality (i.e., whether transgressions were committed intentionally or accidentally). We tested these hypotheses in four studies (total N = 1,007; including two pre-registered), by examining both people’s moral blame of transgressive behaviors and their moral impressions (e.g., trustworthiness and compassion) of the transgressors. Findings were largely in line with hypotheses: People favored formal- over casual-attire targets when both transgressed in non-hypocritical contexts and with ambiguous intentionality (Studies 1 to 3). However, moral favoritism based on formal attire was diminished when transgressions were hypocritical and perceived as intentional (Studies 2 to 4). For various contexts where people (need to) make moral judgments, our findings suggest that cues of high status are key ingredients to moral evaluations, but signs of hypocrisy and intentionality may seriously undermine the workings of these cues.

What is the moral person like? An examination of the shared and unique perspectives on moral character.

The psychological profile of the moral person might depend on whose perspective is being used. Here, we decompose moral impressions into three components: (a) Shared Moral Character (shared variance across self- and informant reports), (b) Moral Identity (how a person uniquely views their morality), and (c) Moral Reputation (how others uniquely view that person's morality). In two samples (total N = 458), we used an extended version of the Trait-Reputation-Identity model to examine the extent to which each perspective accounts for the overall variance in moral impressions and the degree to which social and personal outcomes were associated with each perspective, controlling for method variance (i.e., positivity and acquiescence bias). Results suggest that moral character impressions are strongly influenced by positivity and largely idiosyncratic. All components were related to higher levels of agreeableness. For the most part, however, the three components had unique correlates: people higher in Shared Moral Character tended to have higher standings on conscientiousness and honesty-humility, were more respected, and donated more during an in-lab game; people higher in Moral Identity endorsed various moral foundations to a greater extent; and people higher in Moral Reputation valued the loyalty foundation less. These results demonstrate the value of considering multiple perspectives when measuring moral character.

Attending to the Full Moral Landscape

This article explores the potential of recognizing ethical obligations to the other-than-human world. In particular, I emphasize how emotional responses to other-than-human beings reflect a proper apprehension of the moral landscape, which then allows ethical insights into our obligations towards others. Although this article overlaps with other work in environmental ethics, I specifically relate Margaret O. Little’s moral epistemology to our emotional experiences with the other-than-human to illustrate how a gestalt shift from “humans as apart from” to “humans as embedded within” complicates the moral picture of how we live with and in this world. I argue that when humans attend to our experiences with nature in an open and caring way, we can more easily and accurately ascertain the moral significance of the other-than-human parts of nature. Affective responses reveal important details of the moral landscape. Recognizing a reality of deep interrelatedness with the other-than-human world, our emotional responses to other-than-human beings enable us to appreciate moral obligations to care for the rest of nature and consider our relationality with the other-than-human world as a moral issue.

Revisiting the comparison between healthcare strikes and just war

In the UK, healthcare workers are again considering whether to strike, and the moral status of strike action is being publicly debated. Mpho Selemogo argued that we can think productively...

What’s “moral” in moral impressions? Exploring self-other agreement about the trait-specific component of moral impressions

Moral traits are considered central to interpersonal perception, but moral impressions can be difficult to interpret due to the evaluative and less observable nature of moral traits. In a sample of 266 undergraduates and their close others, we found that evaluative attitudes and method variance constitute a large part of moral impressions, but importantly, that they can be teased apart from substance. Furthermore, we found modest but significant self-other agreement only when method variance was taken into account and that moral trait variance was small compared to method variance. Taken together, we conclude that even though moral impressions in our sample were overwhelmingly explained by method variance, there was also a shared social reality based on trait variance.

PEMBENTUKAN KARAKTER GENERASI MILENIAL: UPAYA MENDIDIK DAN MENDEWASAKAN

Character education is a system of inculcating character values for millennial youth which includes knowledge, awareness, or will, and actions to implement these values both towards God and oneself and even fellow citizens and nationalities to become human beings. Christian religious education is an effort to equip young people with a source of faith. To shape the character of youth and contain the values of Christian truth in accordance with God's will, seeing the progress of digital information technology today, young people tend to lead to criminal cases, so this is a moral picture of youth where character education is very much needed. Character needs to be integrated in formal education, so that good values will be obtained from an early age. Building the character of adolescents means building a pattern of attitudes to be demonstrated in relation to one another. This attitude is the hallmark of Christian morality. In building one's character. Christian Religious Education should underline that the Bible provides a blueprint for Christian youth in the formation of moral and character development (Ps.78:1-8).

Penitence congruity effect: even murderers are seen as less immoral when expressing guilt and deontological beliefs

ABSTRACT In five experiments with a total N = 1558, we studied to which extent the perception of wrongdoers’ morality depends on wrongdoers’ cognitive and emotional penitence on the example of deontological beliefs and guilt. Both types of penitence improved the target’s moral impressions to a similar degree. We established a penitence congruity effect, whereby jointly signaling cognitive and emotional penitence amplifies the strength of each of these types of penitence. The penitence congruity effect was visible when participants compared several wrongdoers (Studies 1, 2, and 5) but disappeared when participants judged them independently (Studies 3 and 4). In a pre-registered Study 5, we showed how the credibility of the statements explained the penitence congruity effect: incongruent penitence (e.g. wrongdoer felt guilt but thought a murder could be justified) decreased the credibility of the positive statements and reduced its impact on the wrongdoer’s moral perception. Taken together, people who judge transgressors do incorporate information about their cognitive and emotional penitence and expect this information to be congruent.

Reframing of moral dilemmas reveals an unexpected “positivity bias” in updating and attributions

People make moral judgments about others, and new information can cause those judgments to change. Prior work examined moral impression updating after observing additional behaviors, but less is known about moral updating when prior behaviors are reframed, either as more or less moral than on first impression. The present work compared moral updating as scenarios were reframed from moral-to-immoral, or immoral-to-moral. Three studies show that the negativity bias, well-documented by prior work, can be reversed when first impressions are reframed, and partially reinstated if new information is irrelevant. Further, this “positivity bias” is partly explained by the extent to which reframing information elicits external causal attributions. Future research on moral updating may benefit from a sensitivity to such qualitative features of new information.

Précis: Concern, Respect, and Cooperation

Précis: <i>Concern, Respect, and Cooperation</i>

Axiology of Transbaikal Territory Media Image

Region’s media image modelling is a very topical problem of the information age from the view of productive functioning of territories, their socio-economic and political status. The article presents the role of values in the media image structure, analyzes axiological components of the Transbaikal Territory media image, and shows its cultural and content characteristics. Research findings are based on some data from a sociological survey carried out in 2021, where 911 residents of the region of different ages (20 to 68) took part, as well as the results of a survey of 48 regional journalists from different communication channels. The attention is paid to the conceptual component of the Region Media Image, as well as to the special role of the actor of multimedia content.Typological and cognitive analyses allowed us to identify the empirical material and present it as a system of cultural and historical dominant ideas. Major characteristics of media image axiology are based on linguocultural approach, emphasizing the values of traditional culture. Media image axiology presents a triple-stage system with its regional specific features, distinct content including spiritual and moral, cultural and historical, and natural values. Spiritual and moral priorities reflect region’s mental view of the world and focus on the values of labour, kindness, grace, sincerity and patriotism, preservation of family values, faith in justice. Cultural and historical context is enriched by the folk heroes of the past and present, traditions, beliefs and customs. Coronavirus pandemic made actors of information flows focus on natural resources of Transbaikalia. During the study, we revealed a correlation between the axiological instrumentation of designing the media image of the region and the level of influence of the media discourse on the consumer, between the spiritual and moral picture of the author’s view of the world and the demand for media products by the audience. We justify the need to adjust the work of regional journalists with a texture inherent in modelling the media image of the region.The authors make a conclusion that, on the one hand, a productive media image is designed using values and ideals characteristic of the territory, on the other hand, the cultural and historical space of the region is a tool for necessary identification with a place of residence, a link between generations and residents of the region.

В мире ускользающих смыслов

The article discusses the topic of spiritual substitutions and their relationship to symbolic reality. Substitutions can occur both at the level of value hierarchy, up to substitution of the hierarchy itself, and in the ways of symbolic reality embodiment in the concrete reality. The author analyzes the phenomenon of symbol transformation into an emblem, which, in fact, is a form of symbol substitution. Unlike the symbol that provides communication of consciousness with the transcendental, with the spiritual foundations of man’s existence, the emblem is deprived of such communication and is only able to simulate such communication, being just an imitation of simbolic meanings. The process of replacing the symbol with the emblem is considered in the modern socio-cultural circumstances. An attempt is made to find an answer to the question why, stimulated by the highest motives of goodness statement, achievement of truth, realization of freedom and justice, a person seeking to embody these ideals in its activities, as a result often comes to the opposite, namely multiplies evil reigning in the world. The author of the article considers the problems of freedom and truth and the ways of their search in the context of modernity. In the optics of philosophy of I. Kant freedom belongs to the nominal world. However, today the problem of freedom is reduced to the problem of freedom of choice. The author proceeds from the statement that freedom is a metaphysical category. It is rooted in spiritual fundamentals of man’s existence where it is inextricably linked with the categories of truth, beauty and goodness. It is claimed that freedom as such is attainable only at the highest levels of consciousness. According to N.A.&nbsp;Ber­dyaev, freedom is a way of discovering the universe in oneself. The article analyzes the role of intellectual elite as the main creator and propagandist of symbolic values in the formation of sociopolitical, spiritual and moral picture of the world.

Moral impressions and presumed moral choices: Perceptions of how moral exemplars resolve moral dilemmas

Previous research suggests that individuals who prefer deontological over utilitarian choices in moral dilemmas are perceived to have stronger moral character than individuals who show the reverse preference. To gain deeper insights into the link between moral choices and moral impressions, the current research used a formal modeling approach to examine whether morally exceptional figures are perceived to differ from others in their sensitivity to consequences, sensitivity to moral norms, or general action tendencies when resolving moral dilemmas. Findings from four studies (N = 980) suggest that perceived morality is associated with greater presumed adherence to moral norms in the resolution of moral dilemmas. For sensitivity to consequences and general action tendencies, findings were mixed and attributable to characteristics confounded with perceived morality. The findings suggest a hitherto unexplored mechanism underlying moral-dilemma judgments by which moral judgments are based on mental simulations of decisions by morally exceptional figures.

A critique of the \u2018as\u2013if\u2019 approach to machine ethics

In this paper, I argue that the replication of the effect of ethical decision-making is insufficient for achieving functional morality in artificial moral agents (AMAs). This approach is named the “as–if” approach to machine ethics. I object to this approach on the grounds that the “as if” approach requires one to commit to substantive meta-ethical claims about morality that are at least unwarranted, and perhaps even wrong. To defend this claim, this paper does three things: 1. I explain Heidegger’s Enframing [Gestell] and my notion of “Ready-Ethics,” which, in combination, can hopefully provide a plausible account for the motivation behind the “as if” approach; 2. I go over specific examples of Ethical AI projects to show how the “as if” approach commits these projects to versions of moral generalism and moral naturalism. I then explain the flaws of the views that the “as if” approach necessitates, and suggest that they cannot account for the justificatory process crucial to human moral life. I explain how Habermas’ account of the justificatory process could cast doubt on the picture of morality that the meta-ethical views of the “as if” approach proposes; 3. Finally, I defend the relevance of discussing these topics for the purpose of functional morality in AMAs.

The Effect of Impression Formation on Rejection in the Ultimatum Game

Previous studies have attempted to elucidate people’s motives for rejecting unfair offers in the ultimatum game. One approach assumes that people reject unfair offers to punish ill intentions behind the offers, motivated by retribution and/or deterrence. To disentangle these two motives and investigate when each motive drives rejection, we focused on people’s tendency to form moral impressions rapidly. We hypothesized that the deterrence motive would drive rejection when the negative impression of those who have made unfair offers is uncertain, while the retribution motive would drive rejection when the impression is certain. The result of an online experiment (N = 199) of a repeated mini-ultimatum game did not support our hypothesis; the certainty of the negative impression did not have significant effects on rejection of unfairness. We discuss the implications of this result, incorporating the results of exploratory analyses regarding self-reported motives.

Legal Principles, Law, and Tradition

Legal reasoning and legal discourse take place within historical traditions that develop over time. Moreover, law is characterized by the past’s authoritative presence. This observation vindicates the basic positivist insight that law is ultimately grounded in social facts. Yet these social facts include the history of the legal tradition, the work and shared understanding of legal scholars, and the ostensibly moral reflections of legal participants. These aspects have been mistakenly left aside by legal positivists and their usual focus on coercive institutions. I use the Hart-Dworkin debate as a starting point for reclaiming the notion of law as a historically grounded practice. The debate highlights that philosophical reflection about law becomes impoverished without history. A closer look at history shows that both Dworkin and Hart were partially right. As Dworkin argued, law is not only a matter of purely source-based legal rules, but also incorporates principles with weight and a less straightforward connection to social facts. However, the ubiquity of legal principles and their operation show that a socially grounded conception of law, as the one defended by legal positivism, is entirely consistent with the existence of legal principles. At a deeper level, positivism is entirely consistent with moral argument taking place within legal institutions. But realizing this requires seeing law as a traditional and backward-looking practice that is partially constituted by the work of legal scholars, that depends on genealogy, and that constitutes a depository of human societies’ moral reflection. It also requires questioning the usual picture of morality in contemporary jurisprudence. Taking the historicity of law seriously, the Essay focuses on recent jurisprudential debates regarding the rule of recognition and eliminativism. While law is not a model of rules that rests on a simple master criterion of legal validity, and legal reasoning is not discontinuous with moral reflection, it nevertheless is, as Hart argued, ultimately grounded in social facts.

COVID-19 calls for virtue ethics.

The global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has led to the imposition of severely restrictive measures by governments in the Western hemisphere. We feel a contrast between these measures and our freedom. This contrast, we argue, is a false perception. It only appears to us because we look at the issue through our contemporary moral philosophy of utilitarianism and an understanding of freedom as absence of constraints. Both these views can be substituted with more sophisticated alternatives, namely an ethics of virtue and a notion of freedom of the will. These offer a fuller picture of morality and enable us to cooperate with the current restrictions by consciously choosing to adhere to them instead of perceiving them as draconian and immoral. We ask whether we should collaborate with the restrictions and argue that considerations of virtue will lead to an affirmative answer. More broadly, virtue ethics permits to deal with the practical concerns about how an individual should behave during this pandemic, given the current lockdown measures or lack thereof.In section 1, we present how utilitarianism and a notion of freedom as negative liberty support the opposition to restrictive measures. In section 2, we outline an alternative based on an ethics of virtue and a more elaborated notion of free will. In the concluding section 3, we argue that considerations of virtue should guide the individual and public response to the emergency.

EXPRESSIVE SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES IN M.E. SALTYKOV-SHCHEDRIN'S ARTISTIC DISCOURSE

The article is dedicated to the research of expressive syntactic structures in M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s artistic discourse that received major or minor types and phraseological statuses. By strikingly combining and synthesizing real and fictional things, writer reaches the heights of satirical imagery. It should be noted that, judging by the satirical nature of his works, the intensity semantics (exaggeration or hyperbole) carries a strong importance, while the wide specter of hypotaxis-based sentences is used as a means of its realization. Syntactic units of idiomatic structure that express intensity-consequential, concession-amplification, temporal-concession and other relations are differentiated by their semantic diversity, merging of informative and connotative meanings, combination of real and surreal contents, combination of stable and variable components. The expressions created by the tak/takoj/nastol'ko/do togo/do takoj stepeni…chto; slishkom/chereschur…chtoby; chto (by) ni/kak (by) ni…a; uzh na chto…a; ne uspeet…a (kak); eshche ne..., a uzh scheme are related to the phrase models mentioned above. They are formed on the base of constant components that make up sentence’s carcass, which provides free lexical filling. Meanwhile, the sphere of relational meanings is complicated by the modus-expressive meanings. Semantics of contrast, unusualness, suddenness (subjective hyperbolization that does not match the objective state of affairs, combining of incompatible, shift of moral orientations, combination of real and potential plans etc.) contributes to the appearance of the comical or sarcastic effect. In the functional and textual aspect, the analyzed phrase models become the leading means of presenting speaker’s position in the comprehension of world’s moral picture

The Significance of Love and Selflessness in Iris Murdoch’s Moral Philosophy

As a distinguished philosopher and novelist in the second half of the twentieth century, Iris Murdoch addressed the significance of ethics in her framework of thought. Murdoch’s moral philosophy was widely acknowledged as a challenge to the prevailing ethical traditions which, she asserted, had failed to present an accurate picture of morality. As a philosopher and literary figure, Murdoch maintained that not only moral philosophy but also literature should depict perceptible pictures of man’s morality. The purpose of this paper is to closely explore Murdoch’s perspective towards the weight of love in moral philosophy. Since she was concerned with ethical issues and man’s confrontation with ethical questions in a world in which religious values and beliefs had been shattered, Murdoch deployed literature to convey the concepts she advocated in her moral philosophy. She contended that literature was capable of sustaining and improving man’s morality. Murdoch was a prolific novelist and playwright authoring 26 novels and 6 plays in which she developed and reflected her philosophical arguments through the portrayal of her intended ethical behavior. This tendency is mostly highlighted in The Flight from the Enchanter (1956), and The Severed Head (1961) in which Murdoch resorts to Plato’s theory of Forms and his idea of the Good to combat the conventional moral philosophy of the twentieth century. Based on the findings of this article, Murdoch intends to depict the significance of freedom and love as the prerequisites of morality in any philosophical system.