title: The mismeasure of morals: antisocial personality traits predict utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas.
abstract: Researchers have recently argued that utilitarianism is the appropriate framework by which to evaluate moral judgment, and that individuals who endorse non-utilitarian solutions to moral dilemmas (involving active vs. passive harm) are committing an error. We report a study in which participants responded to a battery of personality assessments and a set of dilemmas that pit utilitarian and non-utilitarian options against each other. Participants who indicated greater endorsement of utilitarian solutions had higher scores on measures of Psychopathy, machiavellianism, and life meaninglessness. These results question the widely-used methods by which lay moral judgments are evaluated, as these approaches lead to the counterintuitive conclusion that those individuals who are least prone to moral errors also possess a set of psychological characteristics that many would consider prototypically immoral.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, Uris Hall 502, 3022 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA. dmb2199@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bartels
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pizarro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D028663:Ethical Theory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D010551:Personality