Dynamic Moral Judgments and Emotions

Magda Osman

doi:10.4236/psych.2015.68090

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Psychology > Vol.6 No.8, June 2015

Dynamic Moral Judgments and Emotions ()

Magda Osman

Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2015.68090 PDF HTML XML 4,035 Downloads 4,702 Views Citations

Abstract

We may experience strong moral outrage when we read a news headline that describes a prohibited action, but when we gain additional information by reading the main news story, do our emotional experiences change at all, and if they do in what way do they change? In a single online study with 80 participants the aim was to examine the extent to which emotional experiences (disgust, anger) and moral judgments track changes in information about a moral scenario. The evidence from the present study suggests that we systematically adjust our moral judgments and our emotional experiences as a result of exposure to further information about the morally dubious action referred to in a moral scenario. More specifically, the way in which we adjust our moral judgments and emotions appears to be based on information signalling whether a morally dubious act is permitted or prohibited.

Keywords

Moral Dilemmas, Dynamic, Emotions, Updating, Dual-Processes

Share and Cite:

Osman, M. (2015) Dynamic Moral Judgments and Emotions. Psychology, 6, 922-931. doi: 10.4236/psych.2015.68090.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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