Authors
Tom R Kupfer, Yoel Inbar, Joshua M Tybur
Publication date
2020/11/1
Journal
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume
91
Pages
104043
Publisher
Academic Press
Description
Perceived intent is a pivotal factor in moral judgement: intentional moral violations are considered more morally wrong than accidental ones. However, a body of recent research argues that intent is less important for moral judgements of impure acts – that it, those acts that are condemned because they elicit disgust. But the literature supporting this claim is limited in multiple ways. We conducted a new test of the hypothesis that condemnation of purity violations operates independently from intent. In Study 1, participants judged the wrongness of moral violations that were either intentional or unintentional and were either harmful (e.g., stealing) or impure (e.g., public defecation). Results revealed a large effect of intent on moral wrongness ratings that did not vary across harmful and disgusting scenarios. In Study 2, a registered report, participants judged the wrongness of disgust-eliciting moral violations that were …
Total citations
20212022202320247681
Scholar articles
TR Kupfer, Y Inbar, JM Tybur - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2020