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Vilka faktorer predicerar beslut vid Footbridge-dilemmat? - En studie om högkänslighet och utilitarism

Sao Pedro, Elias LU and Berggren, Olle LU (2018) PSYK11 20181
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Moral decision-making has a long history within philosophical theory and has recently become a domain for empirical research. Modern neuropsychological research provides support for moral decisions being influenced by two distinct systems. According to Dual-process theory, moral decisions take place through two parallel and independent systems, one emotional and one rational (utilitarian). Our basic purpose was to see if the degree of emotional and sensory sensitivity as well as utilitarianism could predict if one chose to push another person from a bridge, as it is described in the Footbridge-dilemma. Moreover, we wanted to investigate whether people with increased emotional activation to a greater extent make decisions that are... (More)
Moral decision-making has a long history within philosophical theory and has recently become a domain for empirical research. Modern neuropsychological research provides support for moral decisions being influenced by two distinct systems. According to Dual-process theory, moral decisions take place through two parallel and independent systems, one emotional and one rational (utilitarian). Our basic purpose was to see if the degree of emotional and sensory sensitivity as well as utilitarianism could predict if one chose to push another person from a bridge, as it is described in the Footbridge-dilemma. Moreover, we wanted to investigate whether people with increased emotional activation to a greater extent make decisions that are characterized by the emotional system. It was also interesting to explore how the Footbridge-dilemma treats utilitarianism as a phenomenon, as earlier research suggests that dilemmas only correlate with one of the two subscales that together constitute utilitarianism. This was done by constructing a web based questionnaire that was answered by (N=91). The survey consisted of 22 statements based on two previously validated measuring instruments: Oxford Utilitarianism Scale and Highly Sensitive Person Scale. Bivariate correlations were performed and the result showed no correlation between the emotional aspect and the pushing. Moreover, we found a significant correlation between one of the utilitarian subscales and the pushing. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Sao Pedro, Elias LU and Berggren, Olle LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYK11 20181
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), Utilitarianism, Footbridge-dilemma, Dual-process theory, Moral decision-making, Instrumental Harm
language
Swedish
id
8944310
date added to LUP
2018-06-04 13:08:25
date last changed
2018-06-04 13:08:25
@misc{8944310,
  abstract     = {{Moral decision-making has a long history within philosophical theory and has recently become a domain for empirical research. Modern neuropsychological research provides support for moral decisions being influenced by two distinct systems. According to Dual-process theory, moral decisions take place through two parallel and independent systems, one emotional and one rational (utilitarian). Our basic purpose was to see if the degree of emotional and sensory sensitivity as well as utilitarianism could predict if one chose to push another person from a bridge, as it is described in the Footbridge-dilemma. Moreover, we wanted to investigate whether people with increased emotional activation to a greater extent make decisions that are characterized by the emotional system. It was also interesting to explore how the Footbridge-dilemma treats utilitarianism as a phenomenon, as earlier research suggests that dilemmas only correlate with one of the two subscales that together constitute utilitarianism. This was done by constructing a web based questionnaire that was answered by (N=91). The survey consisted of 22 statements based on two previously validated measuring instruments: Oxford Utilitarianism Scale and Highly Sensitive Person Scale. Bivariate correlations were performed and the result showed no correlation between the emotional aspect and the pushing. Moreover, we found a significant correlation between one of the utilitarian subscales and the pushing.}},
  author       = {{Sao Pedro, Elias and Berggren, Olle}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Vilka faktorer predicerar beslut vid Footbridge-dilemmat? - En studie om högkänslighet och utilitarism}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}