Gouiran Manon D, Cova Florian
Philosophy Department, University of Geneva.
Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva.
Cogn Sci. 2024 Dec;48(12):e70024. doi: 10.1111/cogs.70024.
Past research on people's moral judgments about moral dilemmas has revealed a connection between utilitarian judgment and reflective cognitive style. This has traditionally been interpreted as reflection is conducive to utilitarianism. However, recent research shows that the connection between reflective cognitive style and utilitarian judgments holds only when participants are asked whether the utilitarian option is permissible, and disappears when they are asked whether it is recommended. To explain this phenomenon, we propose that reflective cognitive style is associated with a greater moral leniency-that is, a greater tendency to be tolerant of moral violations, and that moral leniency predicts utilitarian judgment when utilitarian judgment is measured through permissibility. In Study 1 (N = 192), we design a set of vignettes to assess moral leniency. In Studies 2 and 3 (N = 455, 428), we show that reflective cognitive style is indeed associated with greater moral leniency, and that moral leniency mediates the connection between cognitive style and utilitarian judgment. We discuss the implication of our results for the interpretation of the relationship between utilitarianism and reflective cognitive style.
过去关于人们对道德困境的道德判断的研究揭示了功利主义判断与反思性认知风格之间的联系。传统上，这被解释为反思有利于功利主义。然而，最近的研究表明，反思性认知风格与功利主义判断之间的联系仅在参与者被问及功利主义选项是否被允许时成立，而当被问及是否被推荐时则消失。为了解释这一现象，我们提出反思性认知风格与更大的道德宽容度相关——也就是说，更倾向于容忍道德违规行为，并且当通过可允许性来衡量功利主义判断时，道德宽容度能够预测功利主义判断。在研究1（N = 192）中，我们设计了一组小故事来评估道德宽容度。在研究2和3（N = 455、428）中，我们表明反思性认知风格确实与更大的道德宽容度相关，并且道德宽容度在认知风格与功利主义判断之间的联系中起中介作用。我们讨论了我们的结果对解释功利主义与反思性认知风格之间关系的意义。
