Moral reasoning behind the veil of ignorance: An investigation into perspective-taking accessibility in the context of autonomous vehicles.

Perspective-taking (PT) accessibility has been recognized as an important factor in affecting moral reasoning, also playing a non-trivial role in moral investigation towards autonomous vehicles (AVs). A new proposal to deepen this effect leverages the principles of the veil of ignorance (VOI), as a moral reasoning device aimed to control self-interested decisions by limiting the access to specific perspectives and to potentially biased information. Throughout two studies, we deepen the role of VOI reasoning in the moral perception of AVs, disclosing personal and contingent information progressively throughout the experiment. With the use of the moral trilemma paradigm, two different VOI conditions were operationalized, inspired by the Original Position theory by John Rawls and the Equiprobability Model by John Harsanyi. Evidence suggests a significant role of VOI reasoning in affecting moral reasoning, which seems not independent from the order in which information is revealed. Coherently, a detrimental effect of self-involvement on utilitarian behaviours was detected. These results highlight the importance of considering PT accessibility and self-involvement when investigating moral attitudes towards AVs, since it can help the intelligibility of general concerns and hesitations towards this new technology.

Probability, measurement mismatches, and sacrificial moral decision-making.

Despite the importance of uncertainty in decision-making, few published studies have examined how individuals make moral judgments under uncertainty. Across four experiments (N = 445), we examined whether a relatively small shift in probability affected participants' judgments of both moral acceptability and choice. Overall, reading dilemmas where the characters were either certain or likely to die, the probability of the sacrificed individual and the group at risk dying both had independent effects on participants' responses. That is, participants were more accepting of sacrificing the individual if they were not certain to die, but less accepting if the group was only likely to die when the individual was not sacrificed. Furthermore, a number of participants made acceptability ratings that did not match the action they endorsed, either finding the sacrificial decision more acceptable but refusing to make it, or choosing the sacrificial decision while viewing it as less acceptable. Many participants also stated that this was because they recognised a crucial difference between what they viewed as morally acceptable in a dilemma and what they were actually willing to do. Such mismatches may reflect the sensitivity and complexity of the moral principles that individuals employ during their moral decision-making.

Thinking About Reasons for One's Choices Increases Sensitivity to Moral Norms in Moral-Dilemma Judgments.

Whereas norm-conforming (deontological) judgments have been claimed to be rooted in automatic emotional responses, outcome-maximizing (utilitarian) judgments are assumed to require reflective reasoning. Using the CNI model to disentangle factors underlying moral-dilemma judgments, the current research investigated effects of thinking about reasons on sensitivity to consequences, sensitivity to moral norms, and general action preferences. Three experiments (two preregistered) found that thinking about reasons (vs. responding intuitively or thinking about intuitions) reliably increased sensitivity to moral norms independent of processing time. Thinking about reasons had no reproducible effects on sensitivity to consequences and general action preferences. The results suggest that norm-conforming responses in moral dilemmas can arise from reflective thoughts about reasons, challenging the modal view on the role of cognitive reflection in moral-dilemma judgment. The findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between degree (high vs. low elaboration) and content (intuitions vs. reasons) as distinct aspects of cognitive reflection.

Public perceptions of medical cannabis diversion: A legal and moral dilemma.

The study examined public perception in Israel of the severity of medical cannabis diversion, its morality, and normativeness. The sample included 380 participants who completed a quantitative questionnaire to respond to four scenarios about diverting medical cannabis to a person with/without a license and with/without a small payment (a 2×2 design). The findings show that although the participants received advance information about the severity of medical cannabis diversion as a drug trafficking offense, they perceived the severity of the offense as moderate, and as an act that is at least moderately moral and normative. The findings are explained based on moral theories. We discuss the implications of the findings in relation to the gap between public attitudes and legal policy.

Psychometric Properties of the Moral Injury Symptom Scale Among Indian Healthcare Professionals.

The spread of the novel coronavirus has led to a rise in morally conflicting situations for healthcare professionals. Doctors and nurses who were serving as frontline workers, require special attention to alleviate the long-lasting impact of the potentially morally injurious events. The current study aims to validate the Moral Injury Symptom Scale-Healthcare Professionals (MISS- HP) among Indian healthcare workers. The 10-item MISS was administered to 150 doctors and 150 nurses using the purposive sampling method. Firstly, reliability was assessed using internal consistency measure. Secondly, item discrimination index was assessed by calculating the point biserial correlation for each item. Cronbach alpha indicated high internal consistency (0.77). The point biserial correlation value for each item indicated good discrimination. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to replicate the factor structure. CFA results suggested a good fit to the data. In conclusion, MISS-HP is a reliable and valid tool to assess moral injury among Indian healthcare professionals in India.

How automation level influences moral decisions of humans collaborating with industrial robots in different scenarios.

Introduction: Digitalization in intelligent manufacturing leads to the development of Industry 4.0/5.0 and human-cyber-physical systems. As many production technologies rely on teaming of human workers and intelligent cyber-physical systems such as industrial robots, human-robot collaboration is an intensively investigated topic in this transdisciplinary research area. To design industrial robots in a human-centered way, psychological knowledge concerning judgment and decision-making needs to be gained and integrated. Method: This paper reports results from an experimental study (N = 222, 2 × 4 within-subjects design) using eight moral dilemmas framed in the context of human-robot-collaboration to examine the influence of spatial distance of an industrial robot and humans (no direct contact, different tasks vs. no direct contact, same task vs. handing-over contact, same task vs. direct contact, same task) on moral decisions. Additionally, the type of dilemma was varied, with every four dilemmas depicting a life-or-death and an injury scenario. Participants responded on a four-point-response scale which actions they would take indicating deontological or utilitarian moral decision-making. Results: Results show a large effect of the proximity of the cooperation between robots and humans. The closer the collaboration the more a human tends to choose utilitarian moral choices. Discussion: It is argued that this effect might stem from an adaptation of human rationality to the robot or overreliance and shift of responsibility to the robot team partner.

Ethics and frontline nursing during COVID-19: A qualitative analysis.

BACKGROUND: Nurses experienced intense ethical and moral challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our 2020 qualitative parent study of frontline nurses' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic identified ethics as a cross-cutting theme with six subthemes: moral dilemmas, moral uncertainty, moral distress, moral injury, moral outrage, and moral courage. We re-analyzed ethics-related findings in light of refined definitions of ethics concepts. RESEARCH AIM: To analyze frontline U.S. nurses' experiences of ethics during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESEARCH DESIGN: Qualitative analysis using a directed content methodology. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: The study included 43 nurses from three major metropolitan academic medical centers and one community hospital in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, midwestern, and western United States. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: Participant privacy and data confidentiality were addressed. FINDINGS: Moral dilemmas arose from many situations, most frequently related to balancing safety and patient care. Moral uncertainty commonly arose from lacking health information or evidence about options. Moral distress occurred when nurses knew the right thing to do, but were prevented from doing so, including with end-of-life issues. Moral injury (accompanied by suffering, shame, or guilt) occurred after doing, seeing, or experiencing wrongdoing, often involving authority figures. Nurses expressed moral outrage at events and people within and outside healthcare. Despite difficult ethical situations, some nurses exemplified moral courage, sometimes by resisting policies they perceived as preventing compassionate care, guided by thinking about what was best for patients. DISCUSSION: This content analysis of ethics-related subthemes revealed conceptual characteristics and clarified distinctions with corresponding exemplars. Conceptual clarity may inform responses and interventions to address ethical quandaries in nursing practice. CONCLUSIONS: Ethics education in nursing must address the moral dilemmas of pandemics, disasters, and other crises. Nurses need time and resources to heal from trying to provide the best care when no ideal option was available.

Why people hesitate to help: Neural correlates of the counter-dynamics of altruistic helping and individual differences in daily helping tendencies.

Recent psychological and neuroimaging studies on altruism-egoism dilemmas have promoted our understanding of the processes underlying altruistic motivation; however, little attention has been paid to the egoistic counter-dynamics that prompt hesitancy to help. These counter-dynamics may involve the construction of reasons not to help based on contextual elaboration and explain individual differences in the tendency to help others in daily life. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we explored the neural correlates of altruism-egoism dilemmas during empathy-driven helping decisions, with particular attention to the counter-dynamics related to individual helping tendency traits. We used two context-rich helping decision scenarios. In the empathy dilemma (Emp) scenario, empathy-driven motivation to help a poor person was associated with a cost, whereas in the economic-dilemma (Eco) scenario, self-beneficial motivation to help a non-poor person was associated with a cost. Our results showed activation of the right anterior prefrontal cortices, supramarginal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) for the altruism-egoism dilemma (i.e., Emp > Eco). A significant negative effect of the helping tendency trait score was observed on PCC activation; interestingly, this effect was observed for both Emp and Eco dilemmas. The identified neural correlates of altruism-egoism dilemmas appear to be related to the construction of decision reasons based on contextual elaboration in naturalistic situations. In contrast to the classical view, our results suggest a two-stage model that includes an altruistic helping decision followed by counter-dynamics to determine the individual helping tendency.

Resolving content moderation dilemmas between free speech and harmful misinformation.

In online content moderation, two key values may come into conflict: protecting freedom of expression and preventing harm. Robust rules based in part on how citizens think about these moral dilemmas are necessary to deal with this conflict in a principled way, yet little is known about people's judgments and preferences around content moderation. We examined such moral dilemmas in a conjoint survey experiment where US respondents (N = 2, 564) indicated whether they would remove problematic social media posts on election denial, antivaccination, Holocaust denial, and climate change denial and whether they would take punitive action against the accounts. Respondents were shown key information about the user and their post as well as the consequences of the misinformation. The majority preferred quashing harmful misinformation over protecting free speech. Respondents were more reluctant to suspend accounts than to remove posts and more likely to do either if the harmful consequences of the misinformation were severe or if sharing it was a repeated offense. Features related to the account itself (the person behind the account, their partisanship, and number of followers) had little to no effect on respondents' decisions. Content moderation of harmful misinformation was a partisan issue: Across all four scenarios, Republicans were consistently less willing than Democrats or independents to remove posts or penalize the accounts that posted them. Our results can inform the design of transparent rules for content moderation of harmful misinformation.

Deontology and Utilitarianism in Real Life: A Set of Moral Dilemmas Based on Historic Events.

Moral dilemmas are frequently used to examine psychological processes that drive decisions between adhering to deontological norms and optimizing the outcome. However, commonly used dilemmas are generally unrealistic and confound moral principle and (in)action so that results obtained with these dilemmas might not generalize to other situations. In the present research, we introduce new dilemmas that are based on real-life events. In two studies (a European student sample and a North American MTurk sample, total N = 789), we show that the new factual dilemmas were perceived to be more realistic and less absurd than commonly used dilemmas. In addition, factual dilemmas induced higher participant engagement. From this, we draw the preliminary conclusion that factual dilemmas are more suitable for investigating moral cognition. Moreover, factual dilemmas can be used to examine the generalizability of previous results concerning action (vs. inaction) and concerning a wider range of deontological norms.

Taxation in the COVID-19 Pandemic: to Pay or Not to Pay.

Like many governments in this COVID-19 pandemic, the Nigerian government imposed a lockdown on the country. As a consequence of the lockdown, many businesses shutdown and effectively had no source of revenue. Yet, without receiving any bailout or palliatives from the government, these businesses are required to meet their tax obligations to the government. Bearing in mind that this time (COVID-19 era) is different, one wonders what is required of businesses in view of the taxation problem and the social contract between the businesspersons and the government. In view of social contract obligations, in this COVID-19 pandemic should businesses pay tax to a government that seems to have delegitimised itself by its exploitative actions in terms of taxation and delinquent omission in terms of the provision of public goods and social services? The Nigerian government at all tiers (federal, state and local) seldom respect the essence of taxation. Therefore, businesses often pay tax for nothing. For many businesses, as far as taxation is concerned, to pay or not to pay? that is the question. This article is aimed at teasing out this taxation problem that may or may not be a moral dilemma. In view of certain ethical considerations, this article shows why in spite of social contract obligations, there is no consensus or canonical agreement on whether, as law-abiding citizens and juridical persons (legal entities), businesspersons and businesses ought to or ought not to pay tax to the Nigerian government in this COVID-19 pandemic.

A study on the relationship between occupational fitness, moral dilemma and resilience of nurses in emergency department / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective:To explore the correlation between nurses′ workplace adaptability, moral dilemma and resilience after suffering workplace violence in emergency department, in order to provide reference about improving the workplace adaptability and formulating intervention.Methods:A cross-section survey was conducted, we selected 248 nurses who had suffered workplace violence in the emergency department of five tertiary hospitals in Qingdao from January 2022 to January 2023 by convenient sampling method, and used self-designed general information questionnaire, moral dilemma scale, resilience evaluation scale for medical staff and nurses′ workplace adaptability scale to conduct a questionnaire survey on nurses who had suffered workplace violence, and found out the factors affecting their workplace adaptability.Results:The score of workplace adaptability of 248 nurses who had suffered workplace violence was (39.37 ± 12.77) points. Univariate analysis showed that education, length of emergency service, department or social part-time job, professional title, number of night shifts and sleep condition were the influencing factors of workplace fitness for emergency nurses ( t/ F values were -12.72 to 132.15, all P<0.05). The correlation analysis showed that the nurses′ workplace adaptability after workplace violence was negatively correlated with the scores and total scores of all dimensions of moral dilemma ( r values were -0.725 to -0.194, P<0.05), and positively correlated with the scores and total scores of all dimensions of resilience ( r values were 0.135 to 0.732, P<0.05). Multi-factor results showed that education background, department/social part-time job, working years, professional title, sleep status, moral dilemma and resilience were the influencing factors of nurses′ workplace adaptability after workplace violence ( t values were -9.25 to 15.25, P<0.05). Conclusions:Nurses with specialized education, emergency service for 1-3 years, no department/social part-time job, primary professional title, sleep disorder, higher degree of moral dilemma and low level of resilience have low occupational adaptability. Nursing managers should focus on such nurses and improve their occupational adaptability.

The Moral Dilemma of Euthanasia Through the Eyes of the Medical Society in Bulgaria.

INTRODUCTION: With the development of human society, the question of the value and inviolability of human life begins to occupy a central place in the various social strata and social structures. With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the Second World War, the basic postulates protecting the right to inviolability of human life were laid. The question focused on euthanasia has been discussed in several European countries, such as Germany, Ireland, France, and Italy, leading to considerable interest in the medical community in Bulgaria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study was performed using approved sample cards, analyzing the general knowledge of the medical community in the Republic of Bulgaria about euthanasia and assisted suicide over a period of four months, between January 2023 and May 2023. In this process, 623 people were surveyed, and the questionnaire included several targeted questions through electronically generated samples on the Microsoft Forms platform. The target group had doctors with and without a specialty in various fields of hospital and pre-hospital care, dentists, and students from the fields of medicine and dentistry. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results show that the majority of medical professionals clearly state their positive opinion on the adoption of a law to legalize euthanasia in the Republic of Bulgaria, clearly taking into account the fact that the right to life has always been and always will be the most absolute and fundamental human right. Contrary to the above, it is implied that it is inevitably linked to a quality and fulfilling life without suffering. Identically, they also answered that a person should have the right to know exactly when to end his own life. The medical society in Bulgaria clearly shows its positive opinion regarding the idea that the different forms of euthanasia (active euthanasia and assisted suicide) should be defined as morally and legally permissible. Our research confirms the Bulgarian medical community's opinion that the subject of the problems of euthanasia and its legal regulation are already ripe for public discussion, similar to many other European countries. CONCLUSION: The actual issue of euthanasia as a conclusion raises several questions related to the process of acceptance of standard algorithms for action in such cases where the same action is legalized by law. It also includes the process of acceptance of strict regulations by the countries for the so-called negative phenomenon "death tourism" and several other administrative actions related to the mandatory registration of every case of euthanasia, the implementation of mandatory consultations with a psychiatrist and psychologist for patients seeking euthanasia as the only possible option, and providing possible alternatives regarding their illness. This is the unchangeable cornerstone for standardizing the legalization process and acceptance of "good death" in Bulgaria. In its essence, euthanasia creates both a social and an ethical conflict in our modern society, appearing at the same time as a kind of "stress test" for the health system.

Development of Moral Judgments in Impersonal and Personal Dilemmas in Autistic Spectrum Disorders from Childhood to Late Adolescence.

A potential underlying mechanism associated with the difficulties in social interactions in Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) concerns the abnormal development of moral reasoning. The present study examined utilitarian and deontological judgments in impersonal and personal moral dilemmas, comparing 66 individuals with ASD and 61 typically developing (TD) individuals between 6 and 18 years. Utilitarian judgments decreased with age. This decline was much more gradual for personal dilemmas in the ASD than in the TD group. ASD individuals rated utilitarian judgments as more appropriate but felt less calm, consistent with the Empathy Imbalance hypothesis. Utilitarian judgments were associated with social interaction difficulties in ASD. These findings identify possible social therapeutic targets for more efficient coping strategies in individuals with ASD.

Decision flexibilities in autism spectrum disorder: an fMRI study of moral dilemmas.

People make flexible decisions across a wide range of contexts to resolve social or moral conflicts. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently report difficulties in such behaviors, which hinders the flexibility in changing strategies during daily activities or adjustment of perspective during communication. However, the underlying mechanisms of this issue are insufficiently understood. This study aimed to investigate decision flexibility in ASD using a functional magnetic resonance imaging task that involved recognizing and resolving two types of moral dilemmas: cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and mitigating inevitable misconducts (MIM). The CBA session assessed the participants' pitting of result-oriented outcomes against distressful harmful actions, whereas the MIM session assessed their pitting of the extenuation of a criminal sentence against a sympathetic situation of defendants suffering from violence or disease. The behavioral outcome in CBA-related flexibility was significantly lower in the ASD group compared to that of the typical development group. In the corresponding CBA contrast, activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus was lower in the ASD group. Meanwhile, in the MIM-related flexibility, there were no significant group differences in behavioral outcome or brain activity. Our findings add to our understanding of flexible decision-making in ASD.

Fickle Judgments in Moral Dilemmas: Time Pressure and Utilitarian Judgments in an Interdependent Culture.

In the trolley problem, a well-known moral dilemma, the intuitive process is believed to increase deontological judgments, while deliberative reasoning is thought to promote utilitarian decisions. Therefore, based on the dual-process model, there seems to be an attempt to save several lives at the expense of a few others in a deliberative manner. This study examines the validity of this argument. To this end, we manipulate decision-making time in the standard trolley dilemma to compare differences among 119 Japanese female undergraduates under three conditions: intuitive judgment, deliberative judgment, and judgment after a group discussion. The current results demonstrate that utilitarian judgments decreased from 52.9% in the intuition condition to 43.7% in the deliberation condition and 37.0% after the discussion. Additional analysis suggests that the decrease in utilitarian judgments may be related to psychological unwillingness to assume responsibility for the lives of others rather than to an increase in deontological judgments. Finally, these results are discussed from an adaptationist perspective.

Paradoxical consumers in four European countries: Meat-eating justification and willingness to pay for meat from animals treated by alternatives to surgical castration.

To prevent boar taint, male piglets are commonly castrated without pain relief, causing them tremendous pain. There are, however, three alternatives, all of which have pros and cons: (1) surgical castration (SC) with pain relief, which removes boar taint but involves extra work for farmers and veterinarians; (2) raising non-castrated or entire male pigs (EM) in combination with a boar-taint detection method; and (3) immuno-castration (IC) by vaccination, which can lower the risk of boar taint acquired from GnRH pulses, but there are concerns about consumer response. The successful marketing of products from animals treated by alternatives to conventional castration depends on consumer acceptance. The current study (involving 3574 participants from Belgium, France, Spain, and Poland) aims to determine whether consumers' willingness to pay for meat from animals treated by alternatives depends on their attitude towards pork, attitude towards local ways of farming, and knowledge of animal welfare. We interpret these in the context of a meat-related moral dilemma and further investigate whether consumers resolve the moral dilemma by applying meat-eating-justification (i.e., apologetic or unapologetic) strategies. The results show that participants are least willing to pay for pork from castrates without pain relief. Willingness to pay for IC pork scores highest, followed by EM. Some consumer groups used an apologetic strategy to reduce the dissonance between moral dilemma and willingness to pay for meat from SC castrates. For the European market, it appears therefore feasible to market pork produced using IC or EM methods.

From aesthetics to ethics: Testing the link between an emotional experience of awe and the motive of quixoteism on (un)ethical behavior.

According to the awe-quixoteism hypothesis, one experience of awe may lead to the engagement in challenging actions aimed at increasing the welfare of the world. However, what if the action involves damaging one individual? Across four experiments (N = 876), half participants were induced to feel either awe or a different (pleasant, activating, or neutral-control) emotion, and then decided whether achieving a prosocial goal (local vs. global). In the first three experiments this decision was assessed through a dilemma that involved to sacrifice one individual's life, additionally in Experiments 2 and 3 we varied the quality of the action (ordinary vs. challenging). In Experiment 4, participants decided whether performing a real helping action. Overall, in line with the awe-quixoteism hypothesis, the results showed that previously inducing awe enhanced the willingness to sacrifice someone (Experiments 1, 2 and 3) or the acceptance to help (Experiment 4) when the decision involved engaging in challenges aimed at improving the welfare of the world.

["I am in conflict with myself every day"-Moral distress among geriatric nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic]. / "Ich stehe jeden Dienst mit mir selbst im Konflikt"­"Moral distress" bei Altenpflegenden während der COVID-19-Pandemie.

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic-related changes and guidelines, nurses in the setting of inpatient geriatric care are exposed to specific burdens and may experience dilemmas with respect to their moral responsibility. Aim: The aim of this study was to explicate the effects and perceptions regarding the development of moral distress of nurses in the setting of geriatric care during the SARS-CoV­2 pandemic in Germany and to draw conclusions for the design of care in residential care settings. Methods: Based on a subgroup analysis (n = 510) of the qualitative survey of the COVID-19 Nursing Study, perceptions of nurses working in residential care settings during the pandemic are presented and evaluated with respect to the development of moral distress. Results: The results show five categories ("That we have no time to care properly", "Loneliness", "Conflicts with relatives and residents", "Constant fear for patient safety but also for one's own safety" and "Grief, stress and anger"), which represent differentiated criteria for the development of moral distress among nurses as well as its effects. Conclusion: It can be concluded that structural and professional solutions must be developed that enable nurses to shape their own working environment and to undertake professional nursing decision-making competence.

Moral judgment, decision times and emotional salience of a new developed set of sacrificial manual driving dilemmas.

The growing interest in the subject of moral judgment in driver and autonomous vehicle behavior highlights the importance of investigating the suitability of sacrificial dilemmas as experimental tools in the context of traffic psychology. To this aim a set of validated sacrificial trolley problems and a new set of trolley-like driving dilemmas were compared through an online survey experiment, providing normative values for rates of participants' choices; decision times; evaluation of emotional valence and arousal experienced during the decision process; and ratings of the moral acceptability. Results showed that while both sets of dilemmas led to a more frequent selection of utilitarian outcomes, the driving-type dilemmas seemed to enhance faster decisions mainly based on the utilitarian moral code. No further differences were observed between the two sets, confirming the reliability of the moral dilemma tool in the investigation of moral driving behaviors. We suggest that as moral judgments and behaviors become more lifelike, the individual's moral inclination emerge more automatically and effectively. This new driving-type dilemma set may help researchers who work in traffic psychology and moral decision-making to approach the complex task of developing realistic moral scenarios more easily in the context of autonomous and nonautonomous transportation.