Moral psychology
Do we tailor our moral choices to the impression we want to make?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Students preparing to interview for a caring job gave more rule-based moral answers, while those preparing for a management job gave more outcome-based answers, apparently to match what they thought the recruiter wanted.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Human experiment — Four studies: two person-perception studies (inferring traits from moral choices and vice versa), then two between-subjects experiments where students prepared for a fictional job interview for a 'warm' role (mental-health receptionist) or a 'competent' role (restaurant manager) before judging moral dilemmas.
- N
- No single N. Study 2: 45 students; pretest: 45 students; Study 3: 71 students; Study 4: 64 students. The Study 1 method section is missing from the available text, so its sample size is not stated.
- Population
- Chinese university students
- Outcome
- Ratings of how appropriate the utilitarian action is in Trolley, Footbridge and Lifeboat dilemmas; trait ratings of warmth and competence; perceived recruiter expectations (Study 4)
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Key findings
People who make deontological judgments were seen as warmer and more moral, and those making utilitarian judgments as more competent; imagined competent people were predicted to favour utilitarian choices (a large effect, Cohen's d of 1.54). Students applying for the manager role rated the utilitarian option as more acceptable than those applying for the receptionist role, in Study 3 (d = 0.64) and again in Study 4 (d = 0.98). In Study 4, the role effect ran partly through what participants believed the recruiter expected.
Methodology
First, Chinese students judged people described as making rule-based (deontological) or outcome-based (utilitarian) choices, and predicted the choices of imagined warm or competent people. Then, in two experiments, students were randomly assigned to prepare for a fictional job interview as either a mental-health-centre receptionist (a warm role) or a restaurant manager (a competent role), with pay supposedly depending on performance. They then rated classic sacrificial dilemmas such as the Footbridge case, and in the final study also said what answer they thought the recruiter wanted.
Limitations
Samples were small, all Chinese university students, and some were gender-unbalanced, so generality is unclear. Participants answered hypothetical dilemmas under an imaginary interview, so the results show strategic self-presentation of stated judgments, not what people would actually do or privately believe. The mediation in Study 4 is correlational and based on a single-dilemma measure. The available text also lacks the Study 1 method and sample size, so that study cannot be fully evaluated.
How this study connects
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