Moral foundations, values, and judgments in extraordinary altruists

Area of Science:

• Moral Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Extraordinary altruism, like donating a kidney to a stranger, is rare and poorly understood.
• Moral cognition patterns associated with such altruism remain largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare moral foundations, values, and utilitarian judgments in altruistic kidney donors and matched controls.
• To investigate the cognitive underpinnings of costly, impartial altruism.

Main Methods:

• A preregistered study comparing 61 altruistic kidney donors with 58 demographically matched controls.
• Assessment of moral foundations, basic values, and utilitarian moral judgment patterns.

Main Results:

• Altruists showed greater concern for the moral foundation of harm, but not other foundations.
• Altruists endorsed utilitarian concerns for impartial beneficence, but not instrumental harm.
• No significant differences in basic values were found between altruists and controls.

Conclusions:

• Extraordinary altruism is primarily linked to moral cognitions focused on alleviating harm and suffering.
• Findings contrast with patterns seen in psychopathy, characterized by callousness.
• Altruism is not solely driven by basic values, fairness, or strict utilitarian decision-making.