Implicit Metaethical Intuitions: Validating and Employing a New IAT Procedure.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Philosophy
• Metaethics

Background:

• Philosophical discourse often presumes public adherence to moral objectivism.
• Prior psychological research suggested lay moral attitudes align with non-objectivism-leaning pluralism.
• A gap exists in understanding implicit metaethical commitments, as studies focused on explicit cognitions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the implicit metaethical commitments of the general population.
• To determine if unconscious attitudes towards morality align with objectivism or non-objectivism.
• To address the limitations of previous research relying solely on explicit self-reporting.

Main Methods:

• Development and application of a novel Implicit Association Test (IAT) tailored for metaethical attitudes.
• Assessment of implicit biases related to moral objectivism versus non-objectivism.
• Comparison of implicit findings with existing literature on explicit moral judgments.

Main Results:

• The study found that individuals, on an implicit level, tend towards moral non-objectivism.
• Results indicate a consistent pattern of non-objectivist leanings in unconscious metaethical attitudes.
• The findings challenge the assumption of widespread implicit moral objectivism in the folk.

Conclusions:

• The folk generally exhibit implicit moral non-objectivism, contrary to some philosophical assumptions.
• The developed Implicit Association Test (IAT) provides a valuable tool for assessing implicit metaethical beliefs.
• This research has significant implications for the ongoing philosophical debate on the nature of folk morality.