Moral appraisals affect doing/allowing judgments.
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.
Cushman
Fiery
F
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. cushman@wjh.harvard.edu
Knobe
Joshua
J
Sinnott-Armstrong
Walter
W
D001290:Attitude; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D009014:Morals; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires