When the killing has been done: Exploring associations of personality with third-party judgment and punishment of homicides in moral dilemma scenarios

Killing people is universally considered reprehensible and evokes in observers a need to punish perpetrators. To investigate how observers’ personality influences their cognitive, emotional, and punishing reactions towards perpetrators, we analyzed data from 1,004 participants who responded to three scenarios describing deliberate killings from a third-party perspective. Utilitarian motive of killing and inevitability of harm varied systematically between scenarios. Participants’ moral appropriateness judgments, emotions towards perpetrators, and assigned punishments revealed complex scenario-personality interactions. Trait psychopathy led to more understanding emotions but harsher punishments in all scenarios. Regarding utilitarian killings, need for cognition led to milder punishments, whereas intuitive/authority-obedient thinking led to stronger negative emotions and harsher punishments. Other-oriented empathy, trait anxiety, and justice sensitivity did not account for differences in third-party punishments. Our findings highlight the importance of interindividual differences on moral decision making and sense of justice.

人类普遍认为杀害生命是不可原谅的，这一行为在观察者中引发了对施害者的惩罚需求。为了探究观察者的个性如何影响其对施害者认知、情感及惩罚反应，本研究分析了1,004名参与者对三个描述第三方视角故意杀戮情景的回应数据。杀戮的功利动机与伤害的必然性在不同情景中呈现系统性差异。参与者的道德适宜性判断、对施害者的情感态度以及所分配的惩罚揭示了复杂情景与个性之间的相互作用。特质型反社会人格在所有情景中导致了对施害者的同情情绪增加，但惩罚更为严厉。对于功利性杀戮而言，认知需求导致惩罚更为温和，而直觉性/权威服从性思维则导致更强的负面情感和更严厉的惩罚。以他人为中心的同理心、特质型焦虑以及正义敏感性并不能解释第三方惩罚中的差异。我们的研究强调了个体差异在道德决策和正义感认知中的重要性。