title: Elevated moral condemnation of third-party violations in multiple sclerosis patients.
abstract: Recent research has demonstrated impairments in social cognition associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). The present work asks whether these impairments are associated with atypical moral judgment. Specifically, we assessed whether MS patients are able to integrate information about intentions and outcomes for moral judgment (i.e., appropriateness and punishment judgments) in the case of third-party acts. We found a complex pattern of moral judgments in MS patients: although their moral judgments were comparable to controls' for specific types of acts (e.g., accidental or intentional harms), they nevertheless judged behaviors to be less appropriate and endorsed more severe punishment across the board, and they were also more likely to report that others' responses would be congruent with theirs. Further analyses suggested that elevated levels of externally oriented cognition in MS (due to co-occurring alexithymia) explain these effects. Additionally, we found that the distinction between appropriateness and punishment judgments, whereby harmful outcomes influence punishment judgments to a greater extent than appropriateness judgments, was preserved in MS despite the observed disruptions in the affective and motivational components of empathy. The current results inform the two-process model for intent-based moral judgments as well as possible strategies for improving the quality of life in MS patients.
authors.affiliation: a Neuroscience Sector , Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati , Trieste , Italy.
authors.forename: Indrajeet
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.affiliation: b Psychology Department , Boston College , Chestnut Hill , MA , USA.
authors.forename: Liane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: c Department of Neurology , Institute of Cognitive Neurology , Buenos Aires , Argentina.
authors.forename: Vladimiro
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sinay
authors.affiliation: d Department of Neurology , Medical University of South Carolina , Charleston , SC , USA.
authors.forename: Ezequiel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gleichgerrcht
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind
keywords: Morality; alexithymia; empathy; moral luck; multiple sclerosis; punishment