Goodwin Geoffrey P, Landy Justin F
Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2014 Apr;143(2):778-803. doi: 10.1037/a0032796. Epub 2013 May 6.
Do people think of the value of all human lives as equivalent irrespective of age? Affirmations of the equal value of all human lives are culturally prominent, yet much evidence points to the fact that the young are often prioritized over the old in life-and-death decision-making contexts. Studies 1-3 aimed to reconcile this tension by showing that although individuals are seen as more equal with respect to negative rights not to be harmed or killed (though not completely equal), they are seen as less equal with respect to positive rights to be aided or saved. Age exerts a large and systematic impact on decisions about who to save and about whose death is more tragic, suggesting that individuals are seen as possessing differing amounts of contingent value. These initial studies also yielded the novel finding that, although children are prioritized over adults, older children are often prioritized over younger children. Study 4 replicated this finding with a think-aloud methodology; the study showed that the preference for older children appears to be driven by their having had more invested in their lives, their better developed social relations, and their greater understanding of death. Studies 5a-5c demonstrated the independent causal effects of each of these variables on judgments of life's value. Finally, in Studies 6 and 7, mediation methods were used to show that older children's more meaningful social relations primarily explain the greater value of older than of younger children. These findings have implications for bioethics and medical policy.
人们是否认为所有人类生命的价值无论年龄大小都是等同的？宣称所有人类生命具有平等价值在文化中很突出，但大量证据表明，在生死决策情境中，年轻人往往比老年人更受优先考虑。研究1 - 3旨在调和这种矛盾，表明尽管在不被伤害或杀害的消极权利方面，个体被视为更平等（尽管并非完全平等），但在获得帮助或被拯救的积极权利方面，他们被视为不那么平等。年龄对关于拯救谁以及谁的死亡更悲惨的决策产生了巨大且系统的影响，这表明个体被视为拥有不同数量的偶然价值。这些初步研究还得出了一个新发现，即虽然儿童比成年人更受优先考虑，但年龄较大的儿童往往比年龄较小的儿童更受优先考虑。研究4采用出声思考法重复了这一发现；该研究表明，对年龄较大儿童的偏好似乎是由他们在生命中有更多投入、更好发展的社会关系以及对死亡有更深刻理解所驱动的。研究5a - 5c证明了这些变量中的每一个对生命价值判断的独立因果效应。最后，在研究6和7中，采用中介方法表明，年龄较大儿童更有意义的社会关系主要解释了年龄较大儿童比年龄较小儿童具有更大价值的原因。这些发现对生物伦理学和医疗政策具有启示意义。
