Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Research in Psychology
Year: 2024
DOI:
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The Arithmetic of Integral Affects: Integration of Choices Affects in Moral Judgment and Decision-Making
Simon Jeauffreau, Rui Manuel Da Silva Neves and Julie Lemarié
ABSTRACT:
While affect plays a crucial role in moral judgment and decision-making, it is often measured in a general way—by asking participants to report how they felt after making a choice or considering a particular decision. This approach overlooks the potential for affect to be influenced by all considered choices. This study aims to refine the measurement of affect in moral judgment by evaluating how the affect related to each choice option contributes to the general affect experienced when facing a dilemma. Participants were presented with eleven realistic moral dilemmas offering a pro-social vs. selfish choice and asked to report their general affect, as well as their affective responses to both the pro-social and selfish choices. We computed and tested four models to determine how the affect from both choices might combine to form the general affect: sum, product, min, and max. The findings indicate that the valence of general affect corresponds to the sum of the valences from the two choices. In contrast, the general arousal is determined by the minimum arousal experienced in the choices. These results provide a better understanding of how affect contributes to moral decision-making. They suggest that general affect is not reduced to the sole affect of the choice made but is an integration of the affects felt at the idea of making each choice, taking the form of a sum for valence and a minimum for arousal.
keywords: emotion, moral algebra, valence, arousal, everyday moral dilemma