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“Utilitarian” Or “Deontological”? Bertram Gawronski and Jennifer S

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“Utilitarian” Or “Deontological”? Bertram Gawronski and Jennifer S SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE, 2017 VOL. 12, NO. 6, 626–632 https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2016.1248787 COMMENTARY What makes moral dilemma judgments “utilitarian” or “deontological”? Bertram Gawronski and Jennifer S. Beer Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY The distinction between utilitarianism and deontology has become a prevailing framework for Received 6 July 2016 conceptualizing moral judgment. According to the principle of utilitarianism, the morality of an Revised 7 October 2016 action depends on its outcomes. In contrast, the principle of deontology states that the morality Published online 28 October 2016 of an action depends on its consistency with moral norms. To identify the processes underlying utilitarian and deontological judgments, research in psychology and neuroscience has investi- KEYWORDS gated responses to moral dilemmas that pit one principle against the other (e.g., trolley Deontology; measurement; dilemma). However, the interpretation of responses in this paradigm is ambiguous, because moral judgment; omission the defining aspects of utilitarianism and deontology, outcomes and norms, are not manipulated. bias; utilitarianism We illustrate how this shortcoming distorts interpretations of empirical findings and describe an alternative approach that overcomes the limitations of the traditional paradigm. Over the past 15 years, there has been a radical shift in ity). According to the principle of deontology, a given the way psychologists and neuroscientists think about action is morally acceptable if it is consistent with the mental underpinnings of moral judgments. For dec- relevant moral norms, but it is morally unacceptable if ades, moral psychology has been dominated by ration- it is inconsistent with relevant moral norms. alist theories assuming that moral judgments are the A widespread assumption in psychology and neu- product of deliberate thought processes involving the roscience is that utilitarian judgments result from a reasoned application of abstract moral principles deliberate cognitive analysis of costs and benefits, (Kohlberg, 1969). This rationalist approach has recently whereas deontological judgments are the product of given way to theories that attribute a fundamental role automatic emotional processes that do not necessarily to affective and intuitive processes in moral judgment involve a reasoned application of moral norms (Greene, (Greene & Haidt, 2002). Consistent with the latter idea, Nystrom, Engell, Darley, & Cohen, 2004; Greene, several recent theories argue that moral judgments Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley, & Cohen, 2001). To test often stem from psychological processes that do not these hypotheses, psychologists have conducted involve a reasoned application of abstract moral princi- numerous studies that involved two central compo- ples (e.g., Haidt, 2001). nents: (A) the measurement of responses to moral A prominent research program that integrates both dilemmas that pit one moral principle against the reasoned and non-reasoned processes is the work on other and (B) a comparison of responses across experi- utilitarian and deontological responses to moral dilem- mental conditions that involve different levels of cog- mas. According to the principle of utilitarianism, the nitive processing and emotional engagement (e.g., moral status of an action depends on its outcomes, Bartels, 2008; Greene, Morelli, Lowenberg, Nystrom, & more specifically its consequences for overall well- Cohen, 2008; Suter & Hertwig, 2011; Valdesolo & Downloaded by [University of Texas Libraries], [Dr Bertram Gawronski] at 07:30 18 September 2017 being (outcome-based morality). To the extent that a DeSteno, 2006). Neuroscientists have expanded on particular action increases overall well-being in a this approach by arguing that (C) neural activity in given situation, it is deemed morally acceptable from brain regions associated with different kinds of moral a utilitarian view. Yet, if the same action decreases judgments can be clearly delineated as regions overall well-being in a different situation, it is deemed involved in either emotional processing or abstract rea- morally unacceptable in that situation. In contrast to soning. Such claims about the neural underpinnings of the situation-dependent nature of utilitarian judgments, moral judgments have been based on studies using the principle of deontology emphasizes the situation- functional neuroimaging and lesions in various areas independent status of moral norms (rule-based moral- of the brain (e.g., Ciaramelli, Muccioli, Ladavas, & di CONTACT Bertram Gawronski [email protected] Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE 627 Pellegrino, 2007; Greene et al., 2004, 2001; Koenigs being, and it should be judged as unacceptable if it et al., 2007; Mendez, Anderson, & Shapira, 2005). leads to a decrease overall well-being. Thus, utilitarian In the current article, we argue that the data obtained responses can be identified as those that are sensitive in (B) and (C) are theoretically ambiguous, because the to the outcomes of morally relevant actions. Yet, some- measurement approach of (A) does not allow for an what surprisingly, the specific outcomes of a given unambiguous identification of utilitarian and deontologi- action have hardly ever been manipulated in moral cal responses. Our main argument is that outcomes and dilemma research (for some notable exceptions, see norms, the central determinants of utilitarian and deon- Conway & Gawronski, 2013; Nichols & Mallon, 2006; tological responses, are not manipulated in the traditional Piazza, Sousa, & Holbrook, 2013; Trémolière & paradigm. Therefore, any interpretations of the observed Bonnefon, 2014). The failure to manipulate outcomes judgments in terms of utilitarian and deontological makes the interpretation of traditional dilemma responses are premature and prone to inaccurate conclu- responses ambiguous. On the one hand, it is possible sions about the psychological underpinnings of moral that participants accept the described action because it judgments and their neural correlates. serves as a means to achieve the described outcome (e.g., they are willing to sacrifice the life of one to save the lives of five). On the other hand, it is possible that The moral dilemma paradigm participants accept the described action regardless of The traditional moral dilemma paradigm is based on the the outcome (e.g., they are willing to sacrifice the life of idea that utilitarian and deontological responses can be one even if no lives are saved). In the latter case, it measured with scenarios that pit one principle against the would be ill-founded to call the observed responses other. The most well-known example is the so-called trolley “utilitarian” in the moral sense. problem in which a runaway trolley would kill a group of To illustrate this concern, consider evidence from five workers unless participants engage in actions to redir- research using trolley dilemmas showing that partici- ect or stop the trolley. In theoriginalswitchdilemma, pants with subclinical levels of psychopathy are more participants could pull a lever to redirect the trolley to likely to accept the killing of one person to save the another track, where it would kill only one person instead lives of five than nonpsychopathic participants (Bartels of five (Foot, 1967). Other variants of the trolley problem & Pizarro, 2011; Kahane, Everett, Earp, Farias, & include the footbridge dilemma, in which the five workers Savulescu, 2015; Patil, 2015). These findings have been could be saved by pushing a man of a bridge to stop the described as showing increased utilitarian responses trolley (Thomson, 1976). According to the principle of uti- among psychopaths. Yet, psychopaths might be willing litarianism, pulling the lever or pushing the man would be to sacrifice the life of one person even if it does not morally acceptable, because either action maximizes over- save the lives of many more people (cf. Patil, 2015). In all well-being (i.e., it is acceptable to kill one person, if it this case, their judgments would not qualify as utilitar- helps to save the lives of five). According to the principle of ian, because their response is not sensitive to morally deontology, both actions are morally unacceptable, relevant outcomes. Thus, acceptance of harmful action because they are in conflict with the moral norm that one in trolley dilemmas (and structurally similar dilemmas) should not kill other people (i.e., it is unacceptable to kill may reflect either (A) a genuine sensitivity to outcomes another person, regardless of the outcome). Thus, partici- or (B) a general willingness to accept harmful actions pants who view these actions as acceptable are usually independent of their outcomes. A clear distinction claimed to have made a utilitarian judgment, whereas between the two possibilities requires experimental participants who view them as unacceptable are claimed manipulations of outcomes, which tend to be absent to have made a deontological judgment. Although such in traditional moral dilemma research. Downloaded by [University of Texas Libraries], [Dr Bertram Gawronski] at 07:30 18 September 2017 interpretations are widely accepted in psychology and A similar ambiguity is inherent in interpretations of neuroscience, we argue that they are theoretically proble- deontological judgments.
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