Bartels, D. et al.(n.d.).
In The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of
Judgment and Decision Making.
Abstract
This chapter focuses on moral flexibility, a term that the authors use that people are strongly motivated to adhere to and affirm their moral beliefs in their judgments and choices, they really want to get it right, they really want to do the right thing, but context strongly influences which moral beliefs are brought to bear in a given situation. It reviews contemporary research on moral judgment and decision making, and suggests ways that the major themes in the literature relate to the notion of moral flexibility. The chapter explains what makes moral judgment and decision making unique. It also reviews three major research themes and their explananda: morally prohibited value trade-offs in decision making; rules, reason, and emotion in trade-offs; and judgments of moral blame and punishment. The chapter also comments on methodological desiderata and presents understudied areas of inquiry.
Here are some thoughts:
This chapter explores the psychology of moral judgment and decision-making. The authors argue that people are motivated to adhere to moral beliefs, but context strongly influences which beliefs are applied in a given situation, resulting in moral flexibility. The chapter reviews three major research themes: moral value tradeoffs, the role of rules, reason, and emotion in moral tradeoffs, and judgments of moral blame and punishment. The authors discuss normative ethical theories, including consequentialism (utilitarianism), deontology, and virtue ethics. They also examine the influence of protected values and sacred values on moral decision-making, highlighting the conflict between rule-based and consequentialist decision strategies. Furthermore, the chapter investigates the interplay of emotion, reason, automaticity, and cognitive control in moral judgment, discussing dual-process models, moral grammar, and the reconciliation of rules and emotions. The authors explore factors influencing moral blame and punishment, including the role of intentions, outcomes, and character evaluations. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the complexity of moral decision-making and the importance of considering contextual influences.
