Affective basis of judgment-behavior discrepancy in virtual experiences of moral dilemmas

Patil, Indrajeet; Cogoni, Carlotta; Zangrando, Nicola; Chittaro, Luca; Silani, Giorgia

doi:10.1080/17470919.2013.870091

Cited by 165 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(52 reference statements)

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“…over appropriateness of action ("Is it appropriate for you to do it?") because: (i) it tends to be more emotionally arousing 102 , (ii) it tends to elicit more egocentric/self-focused (versus allocentric/other-focused) frame of reference because of potential self-relevant consequences 103 , and (iii) perceived appropriateness of utilitarian course of action on moral dilemmas does not differ in ASD 11 (as compared to healthy controls). Thus, the behavioural choice of action provides a more sensitive measure to tap into moral cognition in autism.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and found that alexithymia was predictive of acceptability judgments only in controls but not in ASD and concluded that autistics' judgments were based on complying with social rules and were less susceptible to emotional biases. It is possible that these differences stem from emotional saliency of the stimuli used across studies; moral dilemmas involve situations where the individuals have to mull over behavioural choice of directly harming or even killing someone for the benefit of the many and are, thus, inherently highly emotionally evocative 49 , while providing more objective acceptability judgments about emotional sentences may not engage emotional processes to the same extent 102,103 . Another possibility is that there was not enough variation in alexithymia scores in their ASD group to detect an effect (indeed, variance in alexithymia scores in the control group was higher than in the ASD group in the previous study 6 ).…”

Section: Dissociable Empathy-utilitarianism Associations Between Autimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism

Patil¹,

Melsbach²,

Hennig-Fast³

et al. 2017

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This study investigated hypothetical moral choices in adults with high-functioning autism and the role of empathy and alexithymia in such choices. We used a highly emotionally salient moral dilemma task to investigate autistics' hypothetical moral evaluations about personally carrying out harmful utilitarian behaviours aimed at maximizing welfare. Results showed that they exhibited a normal pattern of moral judgments despite the deficits in social cognition and emotional processing. Further analyses revealed that this was due to mutually conflicting biases associated with autistic and alexithymic traits after accounting for shared variance: (a) autistic traits were associated with reduced utilitarian bias due to elevated personal distress of demanding social situations, while (b) alexithymic traits were associated with increased utilitarian bias on account of reduced empathic concern for the victim. Additionally, autistics relied on their non-verbal reasoning skills to rigidly abide by harm-norms. Thus, utilitarian moral judgments in autism were spared due to opposite influences of autistic and alexithymic traits and compensatory intellectual strategies. These findings demonstrate the importance of empathy and alexithymia in autistic moral cognition and have methodological implications for studying moral judgments in several other clinical populations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dissociable Empathy-utilitarianism Associations Between Autimentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism

Patil¹,

Melsbach²,

Hennig-Fast³

et al. 2017

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In short, our project sought to interrogate and prioritize the physicality of the footbridge dilemma. While previous research had attempted to depart from theoretical instances of these moral dilemmas by generating visually salient scenarios using virtual reality (VR; see Figure 2; e.g., Francis et al, 2016;Patil, Cogoni, Zangrando, Chittaro, & Silani, 2014), this research has yet to consider the significance of physical salience in moral dilemmas; what would happen if making a moral decision felt real? 6 This is where a practice-based methodology can offer insights.…”

Section: Dilemmas Of Morality and Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Firstly, the mechanics of the sculpture were designed for interaction, allowing the sculpture to replace typical testing tools such as joystick controllers (Francis et al, 2016;Patil et al, 2014). Secondly, aesthetic realism and tactile sensation were simulated through expandable foam and platinum grade silicone.…”

Section: Distorted Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2017

AVANT

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“…The design of the sculpture or testing tool, which was the focal point of Distorted Dimensions, pivoted around three central aims. Firstly, the mechanics of the sculpture were designed for interaction, allowing the sculpture to replace typical testing tools such as joystick controllers (Francis et al, 2016;Patil et al, 2014). Secondly, aesthetic realism and tactile sensation were simulated through expandable foam and platinum grade silicone.…”

Section: Distorted Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinkering through Experiments: Nurturing Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Design of Testing Tools

Francis

Haines²,

Briazu

2017

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In order to assess and understand human behavior, traditional approaches to experimental design incorporate testing tools that are often artificial and devoid of corporeal features. Whilst these offer experimental control in situations in which, methodologically, real behaviors cannot be examined, there is increasing evidence that responses given in these contextually deprived experiments fail to trigger genuine responses. This may result from a lack of consideration regarding the material makeup and associations connected with the fabric of experimental tools. In a twoyear collaboration, we began to experiment with the physicality of testing tools using the domain of moral psychology as a case study. This collaboration involved thinkering and prototyping methods that included direct contact and consideration of the materials involved in experimentation. Having explored the embodied nature of morality, we combined approaches from experimental psychology, moral philosophy, design thinking, and computer science to create a new testing tool for simulated moral behavior. Although the testing tool itself generated fruitful results, this paper considers the collaborative methodology through which it was produced as a route to highlight material questions within psychological research.Keywords: collaboration; embodiment; methodology; moral psychology; prototyping; thinker ing. Kathryn B. Francis, Agi Haines, & Raluca A. Briazu 108In this paper, we suggest that prototyping techniques from arts and design practice can enrich ideation when developing fresh or novel research questions. The act of prototyping discussed here has offered insights arising through an on-going collaboration that explored thinking through making 1 to create a physical tool for psychology experimentation. Thinking through MakingThinking through writing is part and parcel of many academic disciplines. However, in the sciences, thinking through making is less explored. This is somewhat surprising, given that in the experimental sciences, the process of designing methodology is integral to the research process. For a psychologist, designing a questionnaire, for example, will involve the formulation and psychometric assessment of items (i.e., questions) designed to measure a particular construct (Kline, 2015). For a graphic designer on the other hand, designing a questionnaire will involve the consideration of font, paper, layout, and coloring. Both the design of the questions and the design of the physical page can have an effect on the outcome (e.g., Christensen, Flexas, Calabrese, Gut, & Gomila, 2014). 2 The process of "mak ing" 3 experimental materials, in terms of its ability to engender new ideas for research, is particularly uncommon in the social sciences. Although psychology acknowledges that interacting with the materiality of our environment is crucial to the way we develop our ability to think and act (e.g., see Piaget, 1976), the integration of material culture in psychology research is still "terra incognita" (Moro, 2015). W...

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Affective basis of judgment-behavior discrepancy in virtual experiences of moral dilemmas

Cited by 165 publications

References 32 publications

Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism

Divergent roles of autistic and alexithymic traits in utilitarian moral judgments in adults with autism

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Thinkering through Experiments: Nurturing Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Design of Testing Tools

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