Universals and variations in moral decisions made in 42 countries by 70,000 participants
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23317992 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emmanuelle Awad (0000-0001-7272-7186, Department of Economics, University of Exeter Business School, Exeter EX4 4PU, United Kingdom), Edmond Awad (University of Exeter, corresponding author), Sohan Dsouza (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Abusaleh Shariff (0000-0003-4444-460X, University of British Columbia, corresponding author), Iyad Rahwan (0000-0002-1796-4303, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, corresponding author), Jean-François Bonnefon (0000-0002-4959-188X, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 117 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 2332-2337 |
| Publication date | 2020-02-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0027-8424 • E-ISSN: 1091-6490 |
| Publisher | National Academy of Sciences (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1073/pnas.1911517117 |
| PMID | 31964849 |
| OpenAlex | W3000950628 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 54 |
| References cited | 36 |
When do people find it acceptable to sacrifice one life to save many? Cross-cultural studies suggested a complex pattern of universals and variations in the way people approach this question, but data were often based on small samples from a small number of countries outside of the Western world. Here we analyze responses to three sacrificial dilemmas by 70,000 participants in 10 languages and 42 countries. In every country, the three dilemmas displayed the same qualitative ordering of sacrifice acceptability, suggesting that this ordering is best explained by basic cognitive processes rather than cultural norms. The quantitative acceptability of each sacrifice, however, showed substantial country-level variations. We show that low relational mobility (where people are more cautious about not alienating their current social partners) is strongly associated with the rejection of sacrifices for the greater good (especially for Eastern countries), which may be explained by the signaling value of this rejection. We make our dataset fully available as a public resource for researchers studying universals and variations in human morality.
Cognition · Cross-cultural · Developing country · Economic growth · Economics · Epistemology · Geography · Morality · Political science · Positive economics · Problem of universals · Sacrifice · Sociology · Value (mathematics) · Computer Science · Cultural Differences and Values · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 54 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 9 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 51 |