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Updated: Sep 10, 2025

Assessment of Stress Effects on Cognitive Flexibility using an Operant Strategy Shifting Paradigm
Published on: May 4, 2020
No Detectable Effects of Chronic Stress on Moral Decision-Making Are Found: A Data Reanalysis and a Pre-Registered
Lemei Zou1, Junhong Wu1, Chuanjun Liu1,2
1Department of Sociology and Psychology, School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
Abstract:
According to the dual-process model of moral cognition, individuals tend to refuse the proposal of killing some to save more innocents under stressful conditions compared to non-stressful states, which has been demonstrated in previous studies. However, this effect might be unreliable according to the General Adaptation Syndrome theory and the Stress Process Model. To test this speculation, we reanalyzed the raw data on the effect of chronic stress on moral choice from a previous study (Study 1) and conducted a pre-registered replication and extension study (Study 2). Both results demonstrated no detectable effect of chronic stress on moral decisions, which is inconsistent with the original results. This study calls for caution regarding this effect and has important theoretical and practical implications.
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