Dual-Process Morality and the Personal/Impersonal Distinction: A Reply to McGuire, Langdon, Coltheart, and Mackenzie

A substantial body of research supports a dual-process theory of moral judgment, according to which characteristically deontological judgments are driven by automatic emotional responses, while characteristically utilitarian judgments are driven by controlled cognitive processes. This theory was initially supported by neuroimaging and reaction time (RT) data. McGuire et al. have reanalyzed these initial RT data and claim that, in light of their findings, the dual-process theory of moral judgment and the personal/impersonal distinction now lack support. While McGuire and colleagues have convincingly overturned Greene et al.’s interpretation of their original RT data, their claim that the dual-process theory now lacks support overstates the implications of their findings. McGuire and colleagues ignore the results of several more recent behavioral studies, including the study that bears most directly on their critique. They dismiss without adequate justification the results of a more recent neuroimaging study, three more recent patient studies, and an emotion–induction study. Their broader critique is based largely on their conflation of the dual-process theory with the personal/impersonal distinction, which are independent.Psycholog

Comparing the Effect of Rational and Emotional Appeals on Donation Behavior

We present evidence from a pre-registered experiment indicating that a philosophical argument––a type of rational appeal––can persuade people to make charitable donations. The rational appeal we used follows Singer’s well-known “shallow pond” argument (1972), while incorporating an evolutionary debunking argument (Paxton, Ungar, & Greene 2012) against favoring nearby victims over distant ones. The effectiveness of this rational appeal did not differ significantly from that of a well-tested emotional appeal involving an image of a single child in need (Small, Loewenstein, and Slovic 2007). This is a surprising result, given evidence that emotions are the primary drivers of moral action, a view that has been very influential in the work of development organizations. We did not find support for our pre-registered hypothesis that combining our rational and emotional appeals would have a significantly stronger effect than either appeal in isolation. However, our finding that both kinds of appeal can increase charitable donations is cause for optimism, especially concerning the potential efficacy of well-designed rational appeals. We consider the significance of these findings for moral psychology, ethics, and the work of organizations aiming to alleviate severe poverty

Dirty Work, Clean Hands: The Moral Psychology of Indirect Agency

When powerful people cause harm, they often do so indirectly through other people. Are harmful actions carried out through others evaluated less negatively than harmful actions carried out directly? Four experiments examine the moral psychology of indirect agency. Experiments 1A, 1B, and 1C reveal effects of indirect agency under conditions favoring intuitive judgment, but not reflective judgment, using a joint/separate evaluation paradigm. Experiment 2A demonstrates that effects of indirect agency cannot be fully explained by perceived lack of foreknowledge or control on the part of the primary agent. Experiment 2B indicates that reflective moral judgment is sensitive to indirect agency, but only to the extent that indirectness signals reduced foreknowledge and/or control. Experiment 3 indicates that effects of indirect agency result from a failure to automatically consider the potentially dubious motives of agents who cause harm indirectly. Experiment 4 demonstrates an effect of indirect agency on purchase intentions.Psycholog

Sorting Guilty Minds

Because punishable guilt requires that bad thoughts accompany bad acts, the Model Penal Code (MPC) typically requires that jurors infer the past mental state of a criminal defendant. More specifically, jurors must sort that mental state into one of four specific categories - purposeful, knowing, reckless, or negligent - which in turn defines the nature of the crime and the extent of the punishment. The MPC therefore assumes that ordinary people naturally sort mental states into these four categories with a high degree of accuracy, or at least can reliably do so when properly instructed. It also assumes that ordinary people will order these categories of mental state, by increasing amount of punishment, in the same severity hierarchy that the MPC prescribes. The MPC, now turning 50 years old, has previously escaped the scrutiny of comprehensive empirical research on these assumptions underlying its culpability architecture. Our new empirical studies, reported here, find that most of the mens rea assumptions embedded in the MPC are reasonably accurate as a behavioral matter. Even without the aid of the MPC definitions, subjects were able to regularly and accurately distinguish among purposeful, negligent, and blameless conduct. Nevertheless, our subjects failed to distinguish reliably between knowing and reckless conduct. This failure can have significant sentencing consequences in some types of crimes, especially homicide

Pushing Moral Buttons: The Interaction Between Personal Force and Intention in Moral Judgment

In some cases people judge it morally acceptable to sacrifice one person’s life in order to save several other lives, while in other similar cases they make the opposite judgment. Researchers have identified two general factors that may explain this phenomenon at the stimulus level: (1) the agent’s intention (i.e. whether the harmful event is intended as a means or merely foreseen as a side-effect) and (2) whether the agent harms the victim in a manner that is relatively “direct” or “personal”. Here we integrate these two classes of findings. Two experiments examine a novel personalness/directness factor that we call personal force, present when the force that directly impacts the victim is generated by the agent’s muscles (e.g., in pushing). Experiments 1a and b demonstrate the influence of personal force on moral judgment, distinguishing it from physical contact and spatial proximity. Experiments 2a and b demonstrate an interaction between personal force and intention, whereby the effect of personal force depends entirely on intention. These studies also introduce a method for controlling for people’s real-world expectations in decisions involving potentially unrealistic hypothetical dilemmas.Psycholog

Understanding and Applying SAR to Ideological and Nation- State-Sponsored Cybercrimes

The use of computer hacking, malicious software, and other forms of cyberattacks against U.S. infrastructure has increased dramatically since the 1990s. Many of these attacks target corporations and individuals for instrumental economic gain, such as the theft of personal information for use in fraud. Ideologically motivated attacks also occur, though the degree to which they are understood or documented is generally limited. For instance, jihadi groups have expressed an interest in cyberattacks since the early 2000s (see Holt et al., 2022). Similarly, DHS (2009) noted in the late 2000s that they expected cyberattacks from environmental or animal liberation-focused groups to increase. Attacks not only originate from individual actors, but also from nation-state-sponsored actors who seek to further the political and economic interests of their governments

Prognathodes geminus, a new species of butterflyfish (Teleostei, Chaetodontidae) from Palau

A new species of the butterflyfish genus Prognathodes (Chaetodontidae) is described from two specimens collected at a depth of 116 m off Ngemelis Island, Palau. Prognathodes geminus sp. n. is similar to P. basabei Pyle & Kosaki, 2016 from the Hawaiian archipelago, and P. guezei (Maugé & Bauchot, 1976) from the western Indian Ocean, but differs from these species in the number of soft dorsal-fin rays, size of head, body width, and body depth. There are also subtle differences in life color, and substantial differences in the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I sequence (d ≈ 0.08). Although genetic comparisons with P. guezei are unavailable, it is expected that the genetic divergence between P. guezei and P. geminus will be even greater than that between P. geminus and P. basabei. It is named for the strikingly similar color pattern it shares with P. basabei

Partial or Complete Unloading of Skeletal Muscle Leads to Specific Alterations of Anabolic Signal Transduction

Consequences of disuse atrophy of skeletal muscle observed during spaceflight on astronaut health and performance are a focal point of space research. Decrements of both muscle mass and protein synthesis rates have been observed with exposure to varying muscle loading environments (1G \u3e partial loading \u3e 0G), and most of the reduced muscle mass can be attributed to diminished rates of synthesis. However, specific mechanisms behind unloading-dependent reductions of protein synthesis are not well defined. PURPOSE: To determine whether or not alterations of anabolic signal transduction was responsible for the changes previously observed in fractional synthesis rates with specific gravitational loading paradigms. METHODS: Female BALB/cByJ were normalized by bodyweight and assigned to normal cage ambulation (1G), partial weight bearing suspension titrated to approximately 33% bodyweight (G/3), partial weight bearing titrated to 16% bodyweight (G/6) and full unloading of hind limbs (0G) in specially designed cages. All mice were subjected to that loading environment for 21d prior to tissue harvest, and monitored daily. Immunoblotting of the gastrocnemius (n=23) was carried out to analyze alterations of anabolic signal transduction. Although numerous signaling intermediates were assessed, the focus of this abstract will be on ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70-S6K). This important protein has served as a marker of protein synthesis signal transduction as well as the anabolic capacity in skeletal muscle. RESULTS: Regardless of loading paradigm, no differences were detected among groups for the activation of p70-S6K (as indicated by the phospho: total protein content). Total protein content, however, was ~27% lower than control in 0G and G/3 (P=0.008) with G/6 not being different from control (P\u3e0.05). CONCLUSION: In combination with previous data (unpublished observations), Partial gravitational fields at least partially rescues anabolic signaling, suggesting that a threshold level of stimulus is necessary to maintain anabolic capacity in muscle. These results may have important implications towards the development of strategies designed to counter the effects of partial/complete unloading on skeletal muscle based on how the anabolic capacity of muscle is affected

Petition for Rulemaking on Short and Distort

Today, some hedge funds attack public companies for the sole purpose of inducing a short-lived panic which they can exploit for profit. This sort of market manipulation harms average investors who entrust financial markets with their retirement savings. While short selling serves a critical function in the capital markets, some short sellers disseminate negative opinion about a company, inducing a panic and sharp decline in the stock price, and rapidly close that position for a profit prior to the price partially or fully rebounding. We urge the SEC to enact two rules which will discourage manipulative short selling. The petition for rule-making on short and distort has been jointly signed by twelve securities law professors nationwide

Chaotic systems in complex phase space

This paper examines numerically the complex classical trajectories of the kicked rotor and the double pendulum. Both of these systems exhibit a transition to chaos, and this feature is studied in complex phase space. Additionally, it is shown that the short-time and long-time behaviors of these two PT-symmetric dynamical models in complex phase space exhibit strong qualitative similarities.Comment: 22 page, 16 figure