The Social Metacognition of moral judgment: How others’ judgments influence our own

This project investigates the impact of others’ moral judgments on one’s judgments regarding trolley-like dilemmas. To achieve this aim, two complementary studies were conducted. In Study 1 (329 participants), we aimed to measure one’s initial moral inclination and manipulate the perceived moral competence of the “other” and the moral orientation (deontological or utilitarian) of others’ responses. To shed light on how the participant's judgment process unfolds when their initial moral intuitions conflict or accord with the moral judgments of the social source, a second Study 2 with 101 participants was designed. In this study, we use a modified version of the “two-response” paradigm that begins by assessing participants’ intuitive moral judgments accompanied by their feelings of rightness. However, before inviting participants to give the deliberated response, they were exposed to the moral judgments of two other (fictional) participants.