Manipulating Morality

Manipulating Morality

Third-party intentions alter moral judgment

Jonathan Phillips and Alex Shaw

Yale University

Typical moral judgments

Situational Situational ConstraintConstraint

DeservDeserves es

Blame?Blame?SituationsSituations IntentionsIntentionsAgent’s Agent’s

IntentionIntention

A Moral Situation

A Moral Question

Should be blamed for his actions?

Situational Constraint

NE 1110a 4-8

Another Moral Question

Should be blamed for his actions?

Do third-party intentions matter?

Some reason to think they shouldn’t

•Normative: Irrelevant to whether or not the agent acted wrongly

•Theoretical: Greene & Cohen (2004); Rosen (2002)

•Empirical: Lagnado (2008); Brickmann (1975)

•Empirical support: Studies 1, 2 & 3

•Theoretical support:

•Theoretical proposal

•Study 4

Reasons to think they do matter

Study 1: Intentional Condition

Isabel's daughter has a rare disease that requires her to take medication every day, and Isabel has always been very careful to make sure that her daughter takes her medicine. While Isabel doesn't know it, her mother-in-law has never liked her and has come up with a plan to get custody of her daughter by forcing her to steal medicine. While going through the medicine cabinet, Isabel's mother-in-law intentionally hides the medication knowing that Isabel won't be able to get any more. The next day, Isabel realizes that all the medicine is gone and starts to panic. Knowing that her daughter can't survive without the medicine, she goes to the doctor's office but finds that it has closed for a holiday. In desperation, she breaks into the doctor's office and steals the medicine. Because of her theft, another child in town did not get her medicine and died as a result. When the police start to investigate the crime, they realize that Isabel's daughter is one of the few children that take that particular medicine. Eventually the police question Isabel's mother-in-law and she admits that it was Isabel who stole the medicine. Once Isabel is convicted of the crime, she has to serve a jail sentence and loses custody of her daughter. Isabel's mother-in-law knew her plan had worked perfectly, and took custody of her granddaughter while Isabel was in jail.

Study 1: DV

• Isabel should be blamed for her actions.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

Study 1: Accidental Condition

Isabel's daughter has a rare disease that requires her to take medication every day, and Isabel has always been very careful to make sure that her daughter takes her medicine. While Isabel doesn't know it, her mother-in-law has never realized that her granddaughter needs this medicine to survive. While going through the medicine cabinet, Isabel's mother-in-law accidentally hides the medication without knowing that Isabel won't be able to get any more. The next day, Isabel realizes that all the medicine is gone and starts to panic. Knowing that her daughter can't survive without the medicine, she goes to the doctor's office but finds that it has closed for a holiday. In desperation, she breaks into the doctor's office and steals the medicine. Because of her theft, another child in town did not get her medicine and died as a result. When the police start to investigate the crime, they realize that Isabel's daughter is one of the few children that take that particular medicine. Eventually the police question Isabel's mother-in-law and she admits that it was Isabel who stole the medicine. Once Isabel is convicted of the crime, she has to serve a jail sentence and loses custody of her daughter. Isabel's mother-in-law had not known this would happen at all, and took custody of her granddaughter while Isabel was in jail.

Study 1: DV

• Isabel should be blamed for her actions.


StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

Results

t(58) = 2.44 , p = .018.

Agent Blame

Study 2I’d kill for some

food right now!

Study 2: Intentional Condition

In the 1950s, the government of a small Eastern European country plotted to secretly start a war, using industrial workers, and get revenge on a neighboring country. For the first part of their plan, the government intentionally destroyed farm machinery and set fire to several food stores on purpose. As a result, there was a serious lack of food in the country. Soon the people living in the city couldn't get enough food to feed themselves. The whole city shut down, crime skyrocketed and a small but violent uprising broke out.

The government knew their plan was working perfectly. Right at that time, a group of industrial workers heard on the government news channel that a neighboring village had a surplus of food. After hearing the news, the group of industrial workers raided the small village on the country's border, stealing food from the farmers and killing innocent people. The government had known this would happen all along and felt great about their successful plan.

Study 2: DV

• The workers should be blamed for their actions.


StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

Study 2: Accidental Condition

In the 1950s, the government of a small Eastern European country planned to start a new economic program, using industrial workers, to increase the country's wealth. While it wasn't part of their plan, the government accidentally destroyed farm machinery and set fire to several food stores by mistake. As a result, there was a serious lack of food the country. Soon the people living in the city couldn't get enough food to feed themselves. The whole city shut down, crime skyrocketed and a small but violent uprising broke out.

The government knew their plan wasn't working at all. Right at that time, a group of industrial workers heard on the government news channel that a neighboring village had a surplus of food. After hearing the news, the group of industrial workers raided the small village on the country's border, stealing food from the farmers and killing innocent people. The government had not known this would happen and felt terrible about their unsuccessful plan.

Study 2: DV



StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

Study 2: Results

t(36) = 3.47, p = .001

Agent Blame

Studies 1 & 2: Boring Explanations

Third-party mental states influence moral judgment....

....through implicit comparisons of immoral acts

Third-party mental states influence moral judgment...

....through seeing the agent as a manipulated victim

Studies 1 & 2: Boring Explanations

Study 3I want to make

sure they attack village A! We’d kill for

Village A’s food right now!

We’d kill for Village B’s food

right now!

Study 3: Intention-Consistent

In the 1960's the government of a small Eastern European country plotted to secretly start a war using industrial workers, in order to get revenge on the wealthy citizens of the Shaki village. For the first part of their plan, the government intentionally destroyed farm machinery and set fire to several food stores on purpose. As a result, there was a serious lack of food in the country. Soon the people living in the city couldn't get enough food to feed themselves. The whole city shut down, crime skyrocketed and a small but violent uprising broke out.The government knew their plan was working perfectly. Right at that time, a group of industrial workers heard through the government news channel that the Shaki village had a surplus of food. After hearing the news, the group of industrial workers raided the Shaki village, stealing food from the farmers and killing innocent people. The government had known this would happen all along and it was exactly what they planned.

Study 3: DV



StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

Study 3: Intention-Deviant

In the 1960's the government of a small Eastern European country plotted to secretly start a war using industrial workers, in order to get revenge on the wealthy citizens of the Shaki village. For the first part of their plan, the government intentionally destroyed farm machinery and set fire to several food stores on purpose. As a result, there was a serious lack of food in the country. Soon the people living in the city couldn't get enough food to feed themselves. The whole city shut down, crime skyrocketed and a small but violent uprising broke out.The government knew their plan was working perfectly. Right at that time, a group of industrial workers heard through the government news channel that the Shaki village had a surplus of food. After hearing the news, the group of industrial workers raided a village on the opposite side of the small country called the Nobi village, stealing food from the farmers in that village and killing innocent people. The government had not known this would happen at all and it wasn't what they planned.

Study 3: DV



StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

Study 3: Results

t(48) = 2.473, p = .017

Agent Blame

Consistent

Deviant

Study 3: Discussion

•Contrast effects of immoral acts

•Merely seeing the agent as a victim

•Third-party intentions influence moral judgment in an interesting way

•Specifically, the content of the third-party’s intention is important

So why would the content of the intention be

important?

Proposal

The content of the third-party intention can change how we see the situation by giving it a teleological

structure

(Lombrozo & Carey 2006; Keleman & Rosset 2009)

Intention-Consistent

Govern-Govern-mentment

Crops Crops burnedburned

News News releasedreleased

Workers Workers raidraid

VillagerVillagers dies die

Causal Structure

Intentional Structure



So what’s important about a situation’s teleological

structure?




Causal-Teleological Structure

Intention-Deviant






Causal Structure

Intentional Structure

Intention-Deviant



Causal-Teleological Structure




•When the third-party’s intention matches the outcome of the events, it orders the perceived causal chain teleologically

•But when the intention doesn’t match, the perceived causal chain lacks this teleological structure

Proposal

Empirical Test

If this theory is right, then we should also expect to see differences in...

•... who caused the outcome

•... whether the agent had to bring about the outcome

•...whether the agent acted freely

Study 4I want to make

sure they attack village A! We’d kill for

Village A’s food right now!

We’d kill for Village B’s food

right now!

Study 4: Replication

t(62) = 2.56, p = .013

Agent Blame

Study 4: Causation

Cause: t(62) = 2.55, p = .013

• The government caused the attack on the village.


StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

Study 4: ‘Had to’

Had to: t(62) = 2.82, p = .006

• The workers had to attack the village.


StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

Study 4: Freedom

Force: t(62) = 4.13, p < .001

• The government forced the workers to attack the village.


StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between











Vs.

Intention-Deviant

Intention-Consistent

But why would this influence moral

responsibility of the agent?

If you were made to do it,

you aren’t morally responsible.

Alternative Hypothesis: The Conservation of

Blame‘The more you blame the government,

the less you blame the workers’

0

Supporting Evidence

Government Blame: t(62) = 2.75, p = .01

• The government should be blamed for the the attack on the village.


StronglyDisagree

Strongly Agree

In Between

How to decide?

vs

0

Conservationof Blame




WorkerWorkers raids raid


Causal-TeleologicalStructure

Evidence for causal structure

Workers Blamed

Intention Intention ConsistencConsistenc

y y vs.vs.

Deviation Deviation

GovernmentCaused

β= .309, p = .013

β= .308, p

= .013

β= .333, p = .007

β= .229, ns

?

?

?

Evidence for conservation of

blame?Intention Intention

ConsistencConsistency y vs.vs.

Deviation Deviation

GovernmentBlamed

Workers Blamed

β= .309, p = .013

β= .369, p

= .003β= .1

58, ns

β= .290, p = .030

??

Some evidence...

WorkersBlamed

Intention Intention ConsistencConsistenc

y y vs.vs.

Deviation Deviation

GovernmentBlamed

GovernmentCaused

Moral Judgment

Situational Situational ConstraintConstraint

DeservDeserves es

Blame?Blame?SituationsSituations IntentionsIntentionsAgent’s Agent’s

IntentionIntention

Third-party

Thanks!

Yale Mind and Development Lab

Yale Experimental Philosophy Lab

Study 1b: Replication

I want to win the

scholarship!

I want to make sure she gets

caught cheating!

I feel really bad about ruining

her computer...

Kate

Sarah

Replication Results

Agent Blame

t(54) = 2.65, p = .011

Date post:	05-Dec-2014
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Manipulating Morality

Education