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Cognitive Reflection Drives Utilitarian Judgment in Self-Sacrificial and Other-Sacrificial Dilemmas: Applying Process Dissociation and Behavioral Validation to Moral Dilemmas in Multiple Relational Contexts
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- Author / Creator
- Simpson, David
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There is considerable evidence linking cognitive reflection with utilitarian judgments in dilemmas that involve sacrificing someone else for the greater good. However, the evidence is mixed on the question of whether cognitive reflection is associated with utilitarian judgments in self-sacrificial dilemmas. We employed process dissociation to extract a self-sacrificial utilitarian (SU) parameter, an altruism (A) parameter, an other-sacrificial (OU) utilitarian parameter, and a deontology (D) parameter. In Study 1, the cognitive reflection test (CRT) positively correlated with both SU and OU (replicated in Studies 2 and 4, pre-registered). In Study 2, we found that instructing participants to rely on reason increased SU and OU (replicated in Study 4, pre-registered). In Study 3, we found that SU and OU positively correlated with giving in the single-game version of the public goods game (replicated in Study 4, pre-registered), which provides behavioral validation that they are genuine moral tendencies. We then pooled the samples from Studies 1-4 together (N = 1,418) and performed a principal component analysis, which broke SU and OU each into two components. Each component was positively correlated with the CRT. Additionally, we identified three clusters of participants by applying k-means cluster analysis to the moral dilemmas. The cluster with significantly higher SU and OU scores than the other clusters also had significantly higher CRT scores. In Study 5, we found that SU was less influenced by relationship context than A. Together, these studies constitute strong cumulative evidence that SU and OU are both valid measures that are associated with reliance on cognitive reflection.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2024
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.