title: Ignorance is no excuse: moral judgments are influenced by a genetic variation on the oxytocin receptor gene.
abstract: Perspective-taking has become a main focus of studies on moral judgments. Recent fMRI studies have demonstrated that individual differences in brain activation predict moral decision making. In particular, pharmacological studies highlighted the crucial role for the neuropeptide oxytocin in social behavior and emotional perception. In the present study N=154 participants were genotyped for a functional polymorphism (rs2268498) in the promoter region of the OXTR gene. We found a significant difference between carriers and non-carriers of the C-allele in exculpating agents for accidental harms (F((1,152))=11.49, p=.001, η(2)=.07) indicating that carriers of the C-allele rated accidentally committed harm as significantly more blameworthy than non-carriers. This is the first study providing evidence for a genetic contribution to moral judgments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Kaiser-Karl-Ring 9, 53111 Bonn, Germany. nora.walter@uni-bonn-diff.de
authors.forename: Nora T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Montag
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Markett
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Felten
authors.forename: Gesine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reuter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000235:genetics; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D018045:Receptors, Oxytocin / Q000235:genetics*; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D018045:Receptors, Oxytocin; D010121:Oxytocin