Anticipated affect predicts moral praise and character judgments.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Moral Psychology
• Affective Science

Background:

• Judgments of moral character and praiseworthiness often consider actions and outcomes.
• The role of anticipated emotions in moral judgments is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if people use their own anticipated affective responses to guide judgments of helping behavior.
• To examine how emotional arousal in helping scenarios influences perceptions of moral motivation and character.

Main Methods:

• Four preregistered studies with a total of 5,067 participants.
• Participants evaluated hypothetical helping scenarios, focusing on emotional arousal and helper characteristics.
• Statistical analyses controlled for perceived benefits of helping.

Main Results:

• Helpers in more affectively arousing scenarios were perceived as more morally motivated and received greater praise.
• These helpers were also judged as having more positive moral character, independent of helping benefits.
• Describing helpers as unemotional diminished the impact of observer's anticipated affect on character judgments.

Conclusions:

• Anticipated affective responses significantly influence judgments of helping praiseworthiness and helper moral character.
• Emotional experience during helping is a key factor in moral evaluations, beyond objective consequences.
• Understanding the role of anticipated emotions offers insight into the mechanisms of moral judgment.