Yu, H., Siegel, J. et al. (2021).
Cognition, 211, 104641.
Abstract
Moral behavior is susceptible to peer influence. How does information from peers influence moral preferences? We used drift-diffusion modeling to show that peer influence changes the value of moral behavior by prioritizing the choice attributes that align with peers' goals. Study 1 (N = 100; preregistered) showed that participants accurately inferred the goals of prosocial and antisocial peers when observing their moral decisions. In Study 2 (N = 68), participants made moral decisions before and after observing the decisions of a prosocial or antisocial peer. Peer observation caused participants' own preferences to resemble those of their peers. This peer influence effect on value computation manifested as an increased weight on choice attributes promoting the peers' goals that occurred independently from peer influence on initial choice bias. Participants' self-reported awareness of influence tracked more closely with computational measures of prosocial than antisocial influence. Our findings have implications for bolstering and blocking the effects of prosocial and antisocial influence on moral behavior.
Here are some thoughts:
Peer influence plays a significant role in shaping how people make moral decisions. Rather than simply copying others, individuals tend to adjust the way they value different aspects of a moral choice to align with the goals and preferences of their peers. This means that observing others’ moral behavior-whether prosocial or antisocial-can shift the importance people place on certain outcomes, such as helping others or personal gain, during their own decision-making process. Computational models, like the drift diffusion model, show that these changes occur at the level of value computation, not just as a surface-level bias. Interestingly, people are generally more aware of being influenced by positive (prosocial) peers than by negative (antisocial) ones. Overall, the findings highlight that social context can subtly and powerfully shape moral values and behavior.
