Mortality salience and morality: Thinking about death makes people less utilitarian

Cognition

Volumn 124, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 379-384

  Trémolière, Bastien ^a   Neys, Wim De ^a,b   Bonnefon, Jean François ^a,b  

^a UTM   (France)

^b UNIVERSITÉ DE TOULOUSE   (France)

Author keywords

Cognitive resources; Moral judgment; Mortality salience; Utilitarian responses

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; ASSISTED SUICIDE; COGNITION; CONFLICT; DEATH; DECISION MAKING; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; MORALITY; MORTALITY; PAIN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; TASK PERFORMANCE; TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY; THINKING;

ATTITUDE TO DEATH; COGNITION; DATA INTERPRETATION, STATISTICAL; ETHICAL THEORY; FEMALE; HUMANS; JUDGMENT; MALE; MEMORY; MORALS; PAIN; PSYCHOMOTOR PERFORMANCE; THINKING; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84864052877     PISSN: 00100277     EISSN: 18737838     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.05.011     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Arndt J., Allen J.J.B., Greenberg J. Traces of terror: Subliminal death primes and facial electromyographic indices of affect. Motivation and Emotion 2001, 25:253-277.
2. Arndt J., Greenberg J., Solomon S., Pyszczynski T., Simon L. Suppression, accessibility of death-related thoughts, and cultural worldview defense: Exploring the psychodynamics of terror management. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1997, 73(1):5-18.
3. Bartels D.M. Principled moral sentiment and the flexibility of moral judgment and decision making. Cognition 2008, 108:381-417.
4. Becker E. The denial of death 1973, Free Press, New York.
5. Bethell-Fox C.E., Shepard R.N. Mental rotation: Effects of stimulus complexity and familiarity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 1988, 14:12-23.
6. Blair R.J.R. A cognitive developmental approach to morality: Investigating the psychopath. Cognition 1995, 57:1-29.
7. Burke B.L., Martens A., Faucher E.H. Two decades of terror management theory: A meta-analysis of mortality salience research. Personality and Social Psychology Review 2010, 14(2):155-195.
8. De Neys W. Dual processing in reasoning: Two systems but one reasoner. Psychological Science 2006, 17:428-433.
9. De Neys W., Verschueren N. Working memory capacity and a notorious brain teaser: The case of the Monty hall dilemma. Experimental Psychology 2006, 53(2):123-131.
10. Epstein S. Integration of the cognitive and psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist 1994, 49:709-724.
11. Evans J.S.B.T. Hypothetical thinking: Dual processes in reasoning and judgment 2007, Psychology Press, New York.
12. Evans J.S.B.T. Dual-processing accounts of reasoning. Annual Review of Psychology 2008, 59:255-278.
13. Evans J.S.B.T., Barston J.L., Pollard P. On the conflict between logic and belief in syllogistic reasoning. Memory & Cognition 1983, 11:295-306.
14. Evans J.S.B.T., Over D.E. Rationality and reasoning 1996, Psychology Press, Hove, UK.
15. Florian V., Mikulincer M. Fear of death and the judgment of social transgressions: A multidimensional test of terror management theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1997, 73(2):369-380.
16. Fredericks S. Cognitive reflection and decision making. Journal of Economic Perspectives 2005, 19:25-42.
17. Gailliot M.T., Schmeichel B.J., Baumeister R.F. Self-regulatory processes defend against the threat of death: Effects of self-control depletion and trait self-control on thoughts and fears of dying. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2006, 91:49-62.
18. Goldenberg J.L., Arndt J. The implications of death for health: A terror management health model for behavioral health promotion. Psychological Review 2008, 115:1032-1053.
19. Greenberg J., Pyszczynski T., Solomon S. The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. Public self and private self 1986, 189-212. Springer-Verlag, New York. R.F. Baumeister (Ed.).
20. Greenberg J., Pyszczynski T., Solomon S., Rosenblatt A., Veeder M., Kirkland S. Evidence for terror management theory. II: The effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who threaten or bolster the cultural worldview. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1990, 58(2):308-318.
21. Greene J.D. Why are VMPFC patients more utilitarian? A dual-process theory of moral judgment explains. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2007, 11:322-323.
22. Greene J.D., Morelli S.A., Lowenberg K., Nystrom L.E., Cohen J.D. Cognitive load selectively interferes with utilitarian moral judgment. Cognition 2008, 107:1144-1154.
23. Greene J.D., Nystrom L.E., Engell A.D., Darley J.M., Cohen J.D. The neural bases of cognitive conflict and control in moral judgment. Neuron 2004, 44:389-400.
24. Greene J.D., Sommerville R.B., Nystrom L.E., Darley J.M., Cohen J.D. An FMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science 2001, 293:2105-2108.
25. Haidt J. The emotional dog and its rational tail. Psychological Review 2001, 108:814-834.
26. Hayes J., Schimel J., Arndt J., Faucher E.H. A theoretical and empirical review of the death-thought accessibility concept in terror management research. Psychological Bulletin 2010, 136:699-739.
27. Kahneman D., Fredericks S. A model of heuristic judgement. The Cambridge handbook of thinking and reasoning 2005, 267-293. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA. K.J. Holyoak, R.G. Morrison (Eds.).
28. Kohlberg L. Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. Handbook of socialization theory and research 1969, 347-480. Rand McNally, Chicago. D.A. Goslin (Ed.).
29. Miyake A., Friedman N.P., Rettinger D.A., Shah P., Hegarty M. How are visuospatial working memory, executive functioning, and spatial abilities related? A latent-variable analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 2001, 130:621-640.
30. Moore A.B., Clark B.A., Kane M.J. Who shalt not kill? Individual differences in working memory capacity, executive control, and moral judgment. Psychological Science 2008, 19(6):549-557.
31. Nichols S. Norms with feeling: Towards a psychological account of moral judgment. Cognition 2002, 84(2):221-236.
32. Nichols S. Sentimental rules: On the natural foundations of moral judgment 2004, Oxford University Press, New York.
33. Pyszczynski T., Greenberg J., Solomon S. A dual-process model of defense against conscious and unconscious death-related thoughts: An extension of terror management theory. Psychological Review 1999, 106:835-845.
34. Rosenblatt A., Greenberg J., Solomon S., Pyszczynski T., Lyon D. Evidence for terror management theory i. The effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who violate or uphold cultural values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1989, 57(4):681-690.
35. Simon L., Greenberg J., Harmon-Jones E., Solomon S., Pyszczynski T., Arndt J., et al. Terror management and cognitive-experiential self-theory: Evidence that terror management occurs in the experiential system. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1997, 72(5):1132-1146.
36. Sloman S.A. The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychological Bulletin 1996, 119:3-22.
37. Stanovich K.E. Who is rational? Studies of individual differences in reasoning 1999, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
38. Suter R.S., Hertwig R. Time and moral judgment. Cognition 2011, 119(3):454-458.
39. Thomson J.J., Parent W. Rights, restitution, and risk: Essays, in moral theory 1986, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
40. Trémolière, B., De Neys, W., & Bonnefon, J.F. (2012). The grim reasoner: Analytical reasoning under mortality salience, submitted for publication.
41. Turiel E. The development of social knowledge: Morality and convention 1983, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
42. Wegner, D.M. (1992). You can't always think what you want: Problems in the suppression of unwanted thoughts. In: Zanna, M.P. (Ed.), (Vol. 25, pp. 193-225). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
43. Wegner D.M. Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review 1994, 101(1):34-52.