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Will I Regret It? Anticipated Negative Emotions Modulate Choices in Moral Dilemmas

We tested if post-decisional emotions of regret, guilt, shame, anger, and disgust can account for individuals’ choices in moral dilemmas depicting the choice of letting some people die (non-utilitarian option) or sacrificing one person to save them (utilitarian option). We collected participants’ ch...

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Autores principales: Pletti, Carolina, Lotto, Lorella, Tasso, Alessandra, Sarlo, Michela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5138184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27999559
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01918
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author Pletti, Carolina
Lotto, Lorella
Tasso, Alessandra
Sarlo, Michela
author_facet Pletti, Carolina
Lotto, Lorella
Tasso, Alessandra
Sarlo, Michela
author_sort Pletti, Carolina
collection PubMed
description We tested if post-decisional emotions of regret, guilt, shame, anger, and disgust can account for individuals’ choices in moral dilemmas depicting the choice of letting some people die (non-utilitarian option) or sacrificing one person to save them (utilitarian option). We collected participants’ choices and post-decisional emotional ratings for each option using Footbridge-type dilemmas, in which the sacrifice of one person is the means to save more people, and Trolley-type dilemmas, in which the sacrifice is only a side effect. Moreover, we computed the EEG Readiness Potential to test if the neural activity related to the last phase of decision-making was related to the emotional conflict. Participants reported generally stronger emotions for the utilitarian as compared to the non-utilitarian options, with the exception of anger and regret, which in Trolley-type dilemmas were stronger for the non-utilitarian option. Moreover, participants tended to choose the option that minimized the intensity of negative emotions, irrespective of dilemma type. No significant relationship between emotions and the amplitude of the Readiness Potential emerged. It is possible that anticipated post-decisional emotions play a role in earlier stages of decision-making.
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spelling pubmed-51381842016-12-20 Will I Regret It? Anticipated Negative Emotions Modulate Choices in Moral Dilemmas Pletti, Carolina Lotto, Lorella Tasso, Alessandra Sarlo, Michela Front Psychol Psychology We tested if post-decisional emotions of regret, guilt, shame, anger, and disgust can account for individuals’ choices in moral dilemmas depicting the choice of letting some people die (non-utilitarian option) or sacrificing one person to save them (utilitarian option). We collected participants’ choices and post-decisional emotional ratings for each option using Footbridge-type dilemmas, in which the sacrifice of one person is the means to save more people, and Trolley-type dilemmas, in which the sacrifice is only a side effect. Moreover, we computed the EEG Readiness Potential to test if the neural activity related to the last phase of decision-making was related to the emotional conflict. Participants reported generally stronger emotions for the utilitarian as compared to the non-utilitarian options, with the exception of anger and regret, which in Trolley-type dilemmas were stronger for the non-utilitarian option. Moreover, participants tended to choose the option that minimized the intensity of negative emotions, irrespective of dilemma type. No significant relationship between emotions and the amplitude of the Readiness Potential emerged. It is possible that anticipated post-decisional emotions play a role in earlier stages of decision-making. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-12-06 /pmc/articles/PMC5138184/ /pubmed/27999559 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01918 Text en Copyright © 2016 Pletti, Lotto, Tasso and Sarlo. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Pletti, Carolina
Lotto, Lorella
Tasso, Alessandra
Sarlo, Michela
Will I Regret It? Anticipated Negative Emotions Modulate Choices in Moral Dilemmas
title Will I Regret It? Anticipated Negative Emotions Modulate Choices in Moral Dilemmas
title_full Will I Regret It? Anticipated Negative Emotions Modulate Choices in Moral Dilemmas
title_fullStr Will I Regret It? Anticipated Negative Emotions Modulate Choices in Moral Dilemmas
title_full_unstemmed Will I Regret It? Anticipated Negative Emotions Modulate Choices in Moral Dilemmas
title_short Will I Regret It? Anticipated Negative Emotions Modulate Choices in Moral Dilemmas
title_sort will i regret it? anticipated negative emotions modulate choices in moral dilemmas
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5138184/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27999559
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01918
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