Margoni, F, Geipel, J, Hadjichristidis, C orcid.org/0000-0002-9441-6650 et al. (1 more author) (2018) Moral Judgment in Old Age: Evidence for an Intent-to-Outcome Shift. Experimental Psychology, 65 (2). pp. 105-114. ISSN 1618-3169
Abstract
Younger (21-39 years) and older (63-90 years) adults were presented with scenarios illustrating either harmful or helpful actions. Each scenario provided information about the agent's intention, either neutral or valenced (harmful/helpful), and the outcome of his or her action, either neutral or valenced. Participants were asked to rate how morally good or bad the agent's action was. In judging harmful actions, older participants relied less on intentions and more on outcomes compared to younger participants. This age-related difference was associated with a decline in older adults' theory of mind abilities. However, we did not find evidence of any significant age-related difference in the evaluations of helpful actions. We argue that the selective association of aging with changes in the evaluation of harmful but not helpful actions may be due also to motivational factors and highlight some implications of the present findings for judicial systems.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This article does not exactly replicate the final version published in the journal Experimental Psychology. It is not a copy of the original published article and is not suitable for citation. |
Keywords: | morality, mental state, intention, deliberation, theory of mind |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Management Division (LUBS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 30 Nov 2017 11:14 |
Last Modified: | 10 Apr 2019 00:43 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Hogrefe |
Identification Number: | 10.1027/1618-3169/a000395 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:124668 |