Differences in moral judgment predict behavior in a Covid triage game scenario.

Moral beliefs influence decisions across many contexts, but researchers typically test how these beliefs translate into moral judgments in hypothetical dilemmas. While this is important, in this study (N = 248), we sought to extend these findings by exploring whether moral judgment (specifically utilitarian or deontological processing) predicted behavior in a commons dilemma game against other players (programmed bots) across multiple rounds in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Importantly, participants had to weigh short-term needs against long-term dangers of exhausting the community pool (i.e., a tragedy of the commons). As hypothesized, increased utilitarian processing predicted reduced resource extraction from the community pool. In addition to showing that differences in moral judgment predict behavior in a game situation that simulates a somewhat ecologically valid dilemma, these results also replicate previous research connecting morality to opinions about Covid-19 vaccine requirements. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Evan Clarkson, John D Jasper, Brelaina Gugle. Differences in moral judgment predict behavior in a Covid triage game scenario. Personality and individual differences. 2022 Sep;195:111671

PMID: 35475240

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