Department of Psychology, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany; Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021 Feb;124:105084. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.105084. Epub 2020 Dec 1.
Exposure to acute psychosocial stress has been shown to affect moral decision-making, though little is known about potential gender differences or effects of personality. In two within-subjects design studies, 179 healthy men and women (N = 99 in Study 1, N = 80 in Study 2) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and a non-stress control condition (resting period) on two testing days in random order. After stress/resting, moral decision-making was assessed by the Everyday Moral Conflict Situations (EMCS) Scale (Singer et al., 2019), which requests altruistic versus egoistic responses to everyday moral conflict scenarios with varying closeness of target persons. We investigated effects of acute stress, social closeness, participants' gender, and the a priori selected personality traits agreeableness, empathy, and social desirability on everyday moral decision-making. Despite high statistical power, we could neither confirm the hypothesized effects of acute stress nor social closeness on EMCS scores in both samples. However, our data revealed a prosocial impact of acute stress on everyday moral decisions rather in females than males as well as effects of agreeableness and social desirability. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) levels in Study 1 and cortisol levels in females in Study 2 were significantly correlated with higher EMCS scores after acute stress exposure. Additionally, lower anticipatory subjective stress responses were associated with more altruistic decisions. Moreover, we found positive relationships between hypothetical moral decision-making and real prosocial behavior (opportunity for a charitable donation). In sum, due to methodological differences compared to previous between-subjects design studies, it might not be justified to rule out effects of acute stress on everyday moral decision-making based on the current within-subjects results. Nevertheless, the present data suggest that specific personality traits like agreeableness might have a stronger impact on everyday moral decision-making than short term-exposure to acute stress.
急性社会心理压力暴露已被证明会影响道德决策，但对于潜在的性别差异或个性的影响知之甚少。在两项内隐设计研究中，179 名健康男性和女性（研究 1 中 N=99，研究 2 中 N=80）在两天的测试中随机顺序接受了特里尔社会压力测试（TSST）和非压力对照条件（休息期）。在应激/休息后，通过日常道德冲突情境量表（EMCS）（Singer 等人，2019 年）评估道德决策，该量表要求在目标人与参与者的亲密程度不同的日常道德冲突情境中做出利他主义与利己主义的反应。我们研究了急性应激、社会亲密程度、参与者的性别以及预先选择的人格特质随和性、同理心和社交期望对日常道德决策的影响。尽管统计功效很高，但我们既不能在两个样本中确认急性应激和社会亲密程度对 EMCS 分数的假设影响。然而，我们的数据显示，急性应激对女性而非男性的日常道德决策有促进作用，并且与随和性和社交期望有关。在研究 1 中，唾液淀粉酶（sAA）水平和在研究 2 中女性的皮质醇水平与急性应激暴露后 EMCS 分数的升高显著相关。此外，较低的预期主观应激反应与更利他的决策有关。此外，我们发现假设的道德决策与实际的亲社会行为（慈善捐赠机会）之间存在正相关关系。总之，由于与之前的组间设计研究相比存在方法学差异，因此不能根据当前的内隐研究结果排除急性应激对日常道德决策的影响。尽管如此，目前的数据表明，特定的人格特质，如随和性，可能比短期急性应激暴露对日常道德决策有更强的影响。
