Switching Tracks? Towards a Multidimensional Model of Utilitarian Psychology. Issue 2 (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Everett, Jim A.C.; Kahane, Guy
• Is Part Of: Trends in cognitive sciences. Volume 24:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 124
• Page End: 134
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: utilitarianism -- moral psychology -- sacrificial dilemmas -- harm -- impartiality; Cognitive science -- Periodicals; Cognitive neuroscience -- Periodicals; 153.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.11.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1364-6613

Abstract

Abstract : Sacrificial moral dilemmas are widely used to investigate when, how, and why people make judgments that are consistent with utilitarianism. However, to what extent can responses to sacrificial dilemmas shed light on utilitarian decision making? We consider two key questions. First, how meaningful is the relationship between responses to sacrificial dilemmas, and what is distinctive about a utilitarian approach to morality? Second, to what extent do findings about sacrificial dilemmas generalize to other moral contexts where there is tension between utilitarianism and common-sense intuitions? We argue that sacrificial dilemmas only capture one point of conflict between utilitarianism and common-sense morality, and new paradigms will be necessary to investigate other key aspects of utilitarianism, such as its radical impartiality. Highlights: Nearly two decades of research have used sacrificial dilemmas to shed light on utilitarian decision making. This paradigm has conceptual and empirical limitations which suggest that it is a mistake to treat utilitarian decision making as a single, unitary psychological phenomenon. There are at least two key ways that utilitarianism departs from common-sense morality, and according to the 2D model these are distinct not only conceptually but also psychologically, and thus have different psychological correlates and likely different underlying psychological processes. A wider range of ways in which people can depart from common-sense morality in a utilitarian direction needs to be studied. Doing so will help researchers come to a more complete picture of both common-sense and utilitarian moral thinking.