Harm to others outweighs harm to self in moral decision making

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 111; no. 48; pp. 17320 - 17325
• Main Authors: Crockett, Molly J., Kurth-Nelson, Zeb, Siegel, Jenifer Z., Dayan, Peter, Dolan, Raymond J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 02.12.2014; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Algorithms; Altruism; Behavior; Biological altruism; Biological Sciences; Choice Behavior - physiology; Decision Making; Economic value; Electroshock - adverse effects; Empathy; Experimentation; Female; Hardship; Humans; Loss aversion; Male; Models, Psychological; Moral judgment; Morality; Morals; Pain; Pain - etiology; Pain - psychology; Pain Threshold - psychology; Parametric models; people; politics; Prosocial behavior; Reaction Time - physiology; Self; Self destructive behavior; Sex Factors; Social Sciences; Surveys and Questionnaires; Valuation; Young Adult; social preferences; valuation; altruism; morality; decision making

Significance Concern for the welfare of others is a key component of moral decision making and is disturbed in antisocial and criminal behavior. However, little is known about how people evaluate the costs of others’ suffering. Past studies have examined people’s judgments in hypothetical scenarios,...