Conceptualizations of Addiction and Moral Responsibility

Abstract

The present study explored the connection between conceptualizations of addiction and lay people’s inferences about moral responsibility. In Study 1, we investigated how natural variations in people’s views of addiction were related to judgments of responsibility in a nationwide sample of Norwegian adults. In Study 2, respondents recruited from Mechanical Turk were asked to consider different conceptualizations of addiction and report on how these would affect their judgments of moral responsibility. In Study 3, we tested whether manipulating conceptualizations through textual information and through the framing of addiction in terms of states versus behavior could influence participants’ judgments of moral responsibility. We found that attributions of moral responsibility were lower when addiction was connected to diseases and disorders, such as dysfunctional processes in the brain, and greater when addiction was associated with agency and addictive behaviors. In conclusion, different conceptualizations of addiction imply different moral judgments, and conceptualizations are malleable.

Intervention of Depression Management Among Adolescents as the Victims of Bullying: A Literature Review

“…The value achieved at the individual level is how they are able to increase self-awareness, responsibility, and relationship skills. According to a recent study, individuals' perceptions of responsibility are crucial in the process of connecting conclusions about causality and control to emotional and behavioral consequences (Rise & Halkjelsvik, 2019). This school-based concept is consistent with the holistic educational framework, which is defined as education that develops all of a student's potential in a balanced manner, including intellectual, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual potential (Musfah, 2012).…”

Autonomy and the folk concept of valid consent

“…Previous work has shown that a central component of moral responsibility is the agent's ability to choose, which is determined in part by the possession of cognitive and psychological capacities for rational decision-making (Alicke, 2000;Malle, Guglielmo, & Monroe, 2014;Schlenker et al, 1994;Shaver, 1985;Weiner, 1995). Accordingly, lacking autonomous decision-making capacities reduces judgments that an agent is morally responsible (Blakey & Kremsmayer, 2018;Daigle & Demaree-Cotton, 2021;Monroe, Brady & Malle, 2017, Study 4;Rise & Halkjelsvik 2019). Similar patterns are seen in lay judgments of criminal responsibility (e.g.…”

Measuring Personal and Social Responsibility: An Existential Positive Psychology Approach

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