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Making utilitarian choices but giving deontological advice
Evan Polman1, Rachel L Ruttan2
1Wisconsin School of Business.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|February 22, 2022
Summary
When faced with moral dilemmas, people often seek advice. Interestingly, advice-givers tend to recommend deontological options more frequently than utilitarian ones, even when they choose utilitarian options for themselves.
Area of Science:
- Moral Psychology
- Decision-Making Science
Background:
- Traditional research on moral decision-making focuses on utilitarian vs. deontological choices.
- People often seek advice when facing moral dilemmas, rather than deciding alone.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the type of advice people give when others face moral dilemmas.
- To compare advice-giving responses with self-choice responses in moral decision-making.
Main Methods:
- A meta-analysis of 8,696 self-choice responses and 8,548 advisor responses across 50 moral dilemmas.
- Participants included undergraduates, online panelists, and members of the public.
Main Results:
- Individuals recommended deontological options more often when advising others compared to when making choices for themselves.
- A small but significant effect size (d = .112) was observed, indicating a preference for deontological advice.
Conclusions:
- The advice people receive for moral dilemmas leans towards deontological principles.
- This suggests a divergence between personal moral choices and advice given to others.
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