Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA.
Computer Science Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
Behav Res Methods. 2018 Jun;50(3):922-936. doi: 10.3758/s13428-017-0917-3.
Humans make moral judgments every day, and research demonstrates that these evaluations are based on a host of related event features (e.g., harm, legality). In order to acquire systematic data on how moral judgments are made, our assessments need to be expanded to include real-life, ecologically valid stimuli that take into account the numerous event features that are known to influence moral judgment. To facilitate this, Knutson et al. (in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(4), 378-384, 2010) developed vignettes based on real-life episodic memories rated concurrently on key moral features; however, the method is time intensive (~1.4-3.4 h) and the stimuli and ratings require further validation and characterization. The present study addresses these limitations by: (i) validating three short subsets of these vignettes (39 per subset) that are time-efficient (10-25 min per subset) yet representative of the ratings and factor structure of the full set, (ii) norming ratings of moral features in a larger sample (total N = 661, each subset N = ~220 vs. Knutson et al. N = 30), (iii) examining the generalizability of the original factor structure by replicating it in a larger sample across vignette subsets, sex, and political ideology, and (iv) using latent profile analysis to empirically characterize vignette groupings based on event feature ratings profiles and vignette content. This study therefore provides researchers with a core battery of well-characterized and realistic vignettes, concurrently rated on key moral features that can be administered in a brief, time-efficient manner to advance research on the nature of moral judgment.
人们每天都会做出道德判断，研究表明这些评估是基于一系列相关的事件特征（例如，伤害、合法性）。为了获取关于道德判断是如何做出的系统数据，我们的评估需要扩展到包括现实生活中具有生态有效性的刺激物，这些刺激物需要考虑到许多已知会影响道德判断的事件特征。为了实现这一目标，Knutson 等人（在《社会认知与情感神经科学》杂志，第 5 卷，第 4 期，第 378-384 页，2010 年）根据同时根据关键道德特征进行评分的现实生活中的情景记忆来开发短文；然而，这种方法耗时（约 1.4-3.4 小时），并且刺激物和评分需要进一步验证和描述。本研究通过以下方式解决了这些限制：（i）验证三个简短的短文子集（每个子集 39 个短文），这些子集时间效率高（每个子集 10-25 分钟），但代表了完整集合的评分和因素结构；（ii）在更大的样本中对道德特征的评分进行标准化（总 N=661，每个子集 N=~220 与 Knutson 等人的 N=30）；（iii）通过在更大的样本中跨短文子集、性别和政治意识形态复制原始因素结构来检验其可推广性；（iv）使用潜在剖面分析根据事件特征评分剖面和短文内容对短文分组进行实证描述。因此，本研究为研究人员提供了一组经过良好描述和现实的短文核心电池，这些短文同时根据关键道德特征进行评分，可以以简短、高效的方式进行管理，以推进关于道德判断本质的研究。
