Moral Rules
Most people strictly adhere to moral rules – such as “thou shalt not kill” – even when breaking them leads to a better outcome, such as sacrificing one person to save five. Is it just a bug in our ethical ___ 31 ___
In philosophical terms, maximizing results is called utilitarian, whereas prioritizing rights and duties is called deontological. A 2013 study revealed that even when people claim it is moral to, say, throw a dying man overboard to keep a life raft afloat, they view someone who does such a thing as lacking empathy and integrity. A recent paper measures people’s ___ 32 ___ behavior toward those who make such utilitarian decisions.
In several experiments, psychologists Jim Everett, Molly Crockett and David Pizarro asked American adults to respond to moral dilemmas and then interact with other supposed respondents online. When those respondents said they would push a man off a footbridge to block a trolley from killing five rail workers, ___ 33 ___ rated them as less moral and trustworthy, and they entrusted them with less money in an investment game.
We don’t evaluate other people on their philosophical ideologies per se, Pizarro says. Rather, we look at how others’ moral decisions “express the kind of motives, commitments and emotions we want people to have.” Coolheaded calculation has its benefits, but we want our friends to at least flinch before personally ___ 34 ___ others. Indeed, people in the study who had argued for pushing the man were trusted more when they claimed that the decision was difficult.
Politicians and executives should pay heed. Leading requires making hard trade-offs: is a war or a cut in employee benefits worth the pain it inflicts? According to Pizarro, “you want your leader to genuinely have – or at least be good at displaying – the right kind of ___ 35 ___ when they’re talking about that decision, to show that they didn’t arrive at it callously.” Calmly weighing costs and benefits may do the most good for the most people, but it can also be a good way to lose friends.
MATTHEW HUTSON, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND