Moral appraisals affect doing/allowing judgments.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
An extensive body of research suggests that the distinction between doing and allowing plays a critical role in shaping moral appraisals. Here, we report evidence from a pair of experiments suggesting that the converse is also true: moral appraisals affect doing/allowing judgments. Specifically, morally bad behavior is more likely to be construed as actively 'doing' than as passively 'allowing'. This finding adds to a growing list of folk concepts influenced by moral appraisal, including causation and intentional action. We therefore suggest that the present finding favors the view that moral appraisal plays a pervasive role in shaping diverse cognitive representations across multiple domains.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Cushman, F; Knobe, J; Sinnott-Armstrong, W
Published Date
- July 2008
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 108 / 1
Start / End Page
- 281 - 289
PubMed ID
- 18377886
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1873-7838
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0010-0277
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.cognition.2008.02.005
Language
- eng