The veil and the deal: Bargaining between case-specific solutions and unknown rules

Area of Science:

• Moral Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Decision-Making Theory

Background:

• Resource-rational contractualism by Levine et al. lacks explanation for rule-based vs. case-based guidance selection.
• Understanding the cognitive processes underlying moral judgment is crucial for explaining human behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a cognitive framework explaining how individuals determine the applicability of rules versus case-specific considerations in moral decision-making.
• To identify contextual triggers for adopting rule-governed moral cognition.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis and theoretical framework development.
• Identification of potential contextual triggers (coordination stakes, private-public divide).
• Proposal for future experimental validation.

Main Results:

• Moral cognition involves an initial tagging of contexts as rule-governed.
• This tagging facilitates either the retrieval of existing norms or the construction of new ones.
• Coordination stakes and the private-public divide are hypothesized triggers for this contextual tagging.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework offers a more nuanced understanding of moral cognition by distinguishing norm discovery from norm invention.
• Differentiating these processes allows for targeted experimental research to refine the model.
• This approach enhances the theoretical framework of moral decision-making.