More utilitarian judgment in Internet addiction? An exploration using process dissociation and the CNI model

Background: Internet addiction (IA), which is disadvantageous for decision making, such as moral judgment, is a pernicious threat to contemporary societies. However, few studies consider social cognition abilities as an important variable in IA.Objectives: This study explores the psychological mechanism of IA facing the moral dilemma.Methods: Forty participants with IA and 89 healthy participants were recruited. They finished the Internet Addiction Test and completed the moral judgment task. The process dissociation (PD) method and the consequences, norms, and generalized inaction (CNI) model were used to analyze moral judgment data.Results: Compared with the healthy control (HC) group, the traditional analysis showed that the IA group made more utilitarian judgment regarding moral dilemmas. PD analysis showed that the IA group had decreased deontological inclination, without utilitarian inclination. The CNI model further showed that the sensitivity of the IA group to moral rules was significantly lower than that of the HC group, while there was no significant difference between groups in the sensitivity to the consequences and the general preference for action.Conclusions: Individuals with IA make more utilitarian judgment when faced with a moral dilemma, which is related to their weak sensitivity to moral norms.

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More utilitarian judgment in Internet addiction? An exploration using process dissociation and the CNI model

Lü

Xie

Jin

et al. 2022

Brain and Behavior

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Exploring cultural and gender differences in moral judgment: A cross-cultural study based on the CNI model

et al. 2023

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Recently, researchers have proposed a polynomial model called the “consequences, norms, generalized inaction” (CNI) model for researching moral judgment. However, it is unclear whether the model can be used to explore cultural differences in moral judgment. In this study, we investigated the applicability of the CNI model of moral judgment to East Asian groups, and subsequently explored cultural and gender differences in moral judgment between East Asian (i.e., Japan, n = 211; China, n = 200) and Western (i.e., USA, n = 201) groups. The CNI model was proposed by Gawronski et al., and it can quantify individuals’ sensitivity to moral consequence, sensitivity to moral norms, and their general preference for inaction or action in moral dilemmas. Our results indicate that the CNI model fits well for Japanese and Chinese individuals. Both East Asian women and Western women were significantly more sensitive to moral norms than men in their respective countries. In the international comparison, Westerners were more sensitive to moral norms. The Japanese groups, for both men and women, were most biased towards inaction. Regarding sensitivity towards consequences, no differences were observed in the comparison between Eastern and Western male groups, whereas poor sensitivity was observed among women. By using this new model, this study provides new insights into the differences of cultural and gender in moral judgment. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04662-6.

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Beyond Trolleyology: The CNI Model of Moral-Dilemma Responses

Gawronski,

2024

Pers Soc Psychol Rev

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A large body of research has investigated responses to artificial scenarios (e.g., trolley problem) where maximizing beneficial outcomes for the greater good (utilitarianism) conflicts with adherence to moral norms (deontology). The CNI model is a computational model that quantifies sensitivity to consequences for the greater good ( C), sensitivity to moral norms ( N), and general preference for inaction versus action ( I) in responses to plausible moral dilemmas based on real-world events. Expanding on a description of the CNI model, the current article provides (a) a comprehensive review of empirical findings obtained with the CNI model, (b) an analysis of their theoretical implications, (c) a discussion of criticisms of the CNI model, and (d) an overview of alternative approaches to disentangle multiple factors underlying moral-dilemma responses and the relation of these approaches to the CNI model. The article concludes with a discussion of open questions and new directions for future research. Public Abstract How do people make judgments about actions that violate moral norms yet maximize the greater good (e.g., sacrificing the well-being of a small number of people for the well-being of a larger number of people)? Research on this question has been criticized for relying on highly artificial scenarios and for conflating multiple distinct factors underlying responses in moral dilemmas. The current article reviews research that used a computational modeling approach to disentangle the roles of multiple distinct factors in responses to plausible moral dilemmas based on real-world events. By disentangling sensitivity to consequences, sensitivity to moral norms, and general preference for inaction versus action in responses to realistic dilemmas, the reviewed work provides a more nuanced understanding of how people make judgments about the right course of action in moral dilemmas.

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More utilitarian judgment in Internet addiction? An exploration using process dissociation and the CNI model

Cited by 3 publications

References 50 publications