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Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task
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The logic of moral outrage.

Eric Luis Uhlmann1

  • 1Management and Human Resources Department, HEC Paris - School of Management, 78351 Jouy-en-Josas, France. eric.luis.uhlmann@gmail.com

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|December 6, 2012
PubMed
Summary

The functionalist model of revenge aligns with person-centered moral judgment, suggesting people infer character from actions. This is supported by evidence where acts are judged less immoral but more indicative of character flaws.

Area of Science:

  • Social Psychology
  • Moral Psychology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • The functionalist model of revenge posits that revenge serves adaptive social functions.
  • Person-centered approaches to moral judgment highlight the derivation of character information from observed actions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the compatibility between McCullough et al.'s functionalist model of revenge and the person-centered approach to moral judgment.
  • To explore how social perceivers derive character information from moral acts.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of existing theoretical frameworks.
  • Review of empirical evidence, including act-person dissociations in moral judgments.

Main Results:

  • The functionalist model of revenge demonstrates high compatibility with the person-centered approach.

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  • Act-person dissociations were identified, where an act is perceived as less immoral than a comparable act, yet as a stronger indicator of negative moral character.

    • Conclusions:

    • The findings support the integration of revenge models within broader theories of person perception and moral judgment.
    • Social perceivers utilize actions to infer character, even when the severity of the act itself is downplayed relative to character implications.