Differences in moral judgment predict behavior in a Covid triage game scenario

• Published in: Personality and individual differences Vol. 195; p. 111671
• Main Authors: Clarkson, Evan, Jasper, John D., Gugle, Brelaina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2022; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Behavior; Collective action; Commons dilemmas; COVID-19; Extraction; Individual differences; Moral dilemmas; Moral judgment; Morality; Pandemics; Short Communication; Tragedy; Triage; Commons dilemmas; Moral judgment; Covid-19; Individual differences
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549; 0191-8869
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2022.111671

Moral beliefs influence decisions across many contexts, but researchers typically test how these beliefs translate into moral judgments in hypothetical dilemmas. While this is important, in this study (N = 248), we sought to extend these findings by exploring whether moral judgment (specifically utilitarian or deontological processing) predicted behavior in a commons dilemma game against other players (programmed bots) across multiple rounds in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Importantly, participants had to weigh short-term needs against long-term dangers of exhausting the community pool (i.e., a tragedy of the commons). As hypothesized, increased utilitarian processing predicted reduced resource extraction from the community pool. In addition to showing that differences in moral judgment predict behavior in a game situation that simulates a somewhat ecologically valid dilemma, these results also replicate previous research connecting morality to opinions about Covid-19 vaccine requirements. •Predicting differences in perception and behavior related to Covid-19 is important.•Replicates prior research about moral inclinations and vaccine opinion•Commons dilemmas can simulate morally significant real-world problems.•Moral inclinations predicted behavior in a Covid related commons dilemma game.•Utilitarian processing predicted actions more likely to avoid collective tragedy.