Individual differences in moral behaviour: A role for response to risk and uncertainty?

Colin Palmer, Bryan Paton, Trung Thanh Ngo, Richard Hilton Siddall Thomson, Jakob Hohwy, Steven Mark Miller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Investigation of neural and cognitive processes underlying individual variation in moral preferences is underway, with notable similarities emerging between moral- and risk-based decision-making. Here we specifically assessed moral distributive justice preferences and non-moral financial gambling preferences in the same individuals, and report an association between these seemingly disparate forms of decision-making. Moreover, we find this association between distributive justice and risky decision-making exists primarily when the latter is assessed with the Iowa Gambling Task. These findings are consistent with neuroimaging studies of brain function during moral and risky decision-making. This research also constitutes the first replication of a novel experimental measure of distributive justice decision-making, for which individual variation in performance was found. Further examination of decision-making processes across different contexts may lead to an improved understanding of the factors affecting moral behaviou
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)97 - 103
Number of pages7
JournalNeuroethics
Volume6
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Cite this