Decision-making in everyday moral conflict situations: Development and validation of a new measure

What language does your heart speak? The influence of foreign language on moral judgements and emotions related to unrealistic and realistic moral dilemmas

Emotional attenuation in a second language is believed to be one of the main causes of the Moral Foreign Language effect (MFLe). However, evidence on the mediating role of emotion in the relationship between language and moral judgements is limited and mainly derives from unrealistic moral dilemmas. We conducted two studies to investigate (1) whether the MFLe is present in both unrealistic (Study 1) and realistic (Study 2) moral dilemmas, and (2) whether this effect can be attributed to reduced emotionality. In Study 1, the MFLe was found in the moral judgements made by Spanish-English bilinguals. However, the same pattern was not observed in Greek Cypriot-English bilinguals' moral judgements, and this result was attributed to the prominent role of English in Cyprus. In Study 2, the MFLe extended to realistic moral dilemmas when the outcome of the action entailed the violation of a social norm. Study 1 and Study 2 also revealed that these bilinguals experienced a wide range of emotions in their L1 and L2, which did not differ significantly across languages. Mediation analyses further indicated that the MFLe was not mediated by emotional blunting, which made us consider alternative explanations for the MFLe.

Moral foundations, values, and judgments in extraordinary altruists

Donating a kidney to a stranger is a rare act of extraordinary altruism that appears to reflect a moral commitment to helping others. Yet little is known about patterns of moral cognition associated with extraordinary altruism. In this preregistered study, we compared the moral foundations, values, and patterns of utilitarian moral judgments in altruistic kidney donors (n = 61) and demographically matched controls (n = 58). Altruists expressed more concern only about the moral foundation of harm, but no other moral foundations. Consistent with this, altruists endorsed utilitarian concerns related to impartial beneficence, but not instrumental harm. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find group differences between altruists and controls in basic values. Extraordinary altruism generally reflected opposite patterns of moral cognition as those seen in individuals with psychopathy, a personality construct characterized by callousness and insensitivity to harm and suffering. Results link real-world, costly, impartial altruism primarily to moral cognitions related to alleviating harm and suffering in others rather than to basic values, fairness concerns, or strict utilitarian decision-making.

The Relationship of Shopping-Related Decisions with Materialistic Values Endorsement, Compulsive Buying-Shopping Disorder Symptoms and Everyday Moral Decision Making

BACKGROUND

Compulsive buying-shopping disorder (CBSD) is associated with high materialistic values endorsement and excessive purchasing of consumer goods. A subgroup of individuals with CBSD engage in socially unacceptable behaviors to continue shopping despite negative consequences. This investigation aimed at exploring possible links between ego-oriented shopping-related decisions, materialism, symptoms of CBSD and close-to-everyday moral decision making.

METHODS

In study 1, patients with CBSD were interviewed to develop a list of conflict situations, capturing typical shopping-related dilemmas. In study 2, the shopping-related dilemmas from study 1, standardized close-to-everyday moral dilemmas, the Material Values Scale and Pathological Buying Screener were administered to a web-based convenience sample (n = 274).

RESULTS

The main effects of a moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed an association of more ego-oriented shopping-related decisions with both higher materialistic values endorsement and more CBSD symptoms, but not with everyday moral decision-making. However, a more egoistic everyday moral decision making style moderated the effect of CBSD symptoms on ego-oriented shopping related decisions.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that a more egoistic everyday moral decision making style is not directly linked to domain-specific shopping-related decision making but strengthens the link between symptoms of CBSD and ego-oriented shopping-related decisions.

Everyday moral decision-making after acute stress exposure: do social closeness and timing matter?

There is increasing empirical evidence that social distance and timing affect prosocial behavior after acute stress exposure. The present study focused on everyday moral decision-making after acute psychosocial stress and how it is influenced by effects of social closeness and timing. We exposed 40 young healthy men to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST, n = 20) or its non-stressful placebo version (PTSST, n = 20). Moral decision-making was assessed early (+10 until +30 min) and late (+75 until +95 min) after (P)TSST exposure by the Everyday Moral Conflict Situations (EMCS) Scale. The EMCS Scale requests altruistic versus egoistic responses to everyday moral conflict situations with varying closeness of target persons. Results revealed significantly higher total percentages of altruistic decisions in the stress than in the control condition and for scenarios involving socially close (e.g., mother) versus socially distant (e.g., stranger) protagonists, while the main effect of timing was nonsignificant. Only secondary analyses showed increased altruistic decision-making after acute stress exposure toward socially close but not toward distant protagonists at the early but not at the late point of measurement. Moreover, psychological stress responses and personality traits were significantly associated with EMCS scores. Positive correlations between cortisol levels and altruistic decision-making were descriptively observable, but did not reach statistical significance. In sum, our findings suggest increased altruistic decision-making toward socially close compared to socially distant protagonists and provide further evidence that acute stress influences decision-making in everyday moral conflict scenarios in a prosocial manner.Lay summaryIn order to investigate the effects of acute stress on everyday moral decision-making, 40 young healthy men were exposed to moderate psychosocial stress by the use of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or its non-stressful placebo version and then completed a hypothetical everyday moral decision-making paradigm. Our findings provide evidence that acute stress exposure influences decision-making in everyday moral conflict situations in a prosocial manner. Furthermore, participants decided more altruistically in scenarios involving socially close (e.g., mother) versus socially distant (e.g., stranger) protagonists.

Effects of gender and personality on everyday moral decision-making after acute stress exposure

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.

The effects of acute stress and stress hormones on social cognition and behavior: Current state of research and future directions

Stress encompasses profound psychological and physiological changes that are observable on all levels, from cellular mechanisms, humoral changes, and brain activation to subjective experience and behavior. While the impact of stress on health has already been studied for decades, a more recent field of research has revealed effects of stress on human social cognition and behavior. Initial studies have attempted to elucidate the underlying biological mechanisms of these stress-induced effects by measuring physiological responses or by using pharmacological approaches. We provide an overview of the current state of research on the effects of acute stress induction or pharmacological manipulations of stress-related neuro circuitry on social cognition and behavior. Additionally, we discuss the methodological challenges that need to be addressed in order to gain further insight into this important research topic and facilitate replicability of results. Future directions may help to disentangle the complex interplay of psychological and biological stress variables and their effects on social cognition and behavior on health and in disorders with social deficits.

Desire thinking promotes decisions to game: The mediating role between gaming urges and everyday decision-making in recreational gamers

INTRODUCTION

Desire thinking is a voluntary cognitive process that involves the imaginal forecast of a desired activity and the verbal perseveration with plans and good reasons for engaging in it. Considering theoretical models arguing that specific decision-making processes may be involved in the development of gaming disorder, we hypothesized that an initial urge to game might be accelerated by desire thinking, leading to the decision to game in an everyday setting although the gaming behavior may conflict with another activity or certain other goals.

METHODS

A pre-study helped developing a catalogue of situations that provides forced-choice scenarios warranting a decision for or against gaming. To explore the postulated sequence of cognitive and affective events, a serial mediation model with urge to game as predictor, decision to game as dependent variable, and imaginal prefiguration and verbal perseveration as mediators was tested in a sample of 118 recreational gamers with varying degrees of gaming intensity.

RESULTS

The pre-study revealed a catalogue of 18 conflicting situations that likely happen in the daily life of gamers, containing conflicting activities such as job/educational performance and meeting friends/family/acquaintances. In the sequential mediation model, the desire thinking facets imaginal prefiguration and verbal perseveration fully mediated the relation between an initial urge and the decision to game.

CONCLUSIONS

The mediation model emphasizes the serial ordinance of desire thinking facets and their role in motivating decisions to game after an initial urge has been experienced. Results may indicate that desire thinking plays a considerable role in problematic gaming tendencies.