Flanagan, Brian, de Almeida, Guilherme F. C. F., Struchiner, Noel and Hannikainen, Ivar R. (2023) Moral appraisals guide intuitive legal determinations. Law and Human Behavior, 47 (2). pp. 367-383. ISSN 0147-7307
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Abstract
Objectives: We sought to understand how basic competencies in moral reasoning influence the application
of private, institutional, and legal rules. Hypotheses: We predicted that moral appraisals, implicating both
outcome-based and mental state reasoning, would shape participants’ interpretation of rules and statutes—
and asked whether these effects arise differentially under intuitive and reflective reasoning conditions.
Method: In six vignette-based experiments (total N = 2,473; 293 university law students [67% women; age
bracket mode: 18–22 years] and 2,180 online workers [60% women; mean age = 31.9 years]), participants
considered a wide range of written rules and laws and determined whether a protagonist had violated the rule
in question. We manipulated morally relevant aspects of each incident—including the valence of the rule’s
purpose (Study 1) and of the outcomes that ensued (Studies 2 and 3), as well as the protagonist’s
accompanying mental state (Studies 5 and 6). In two studies, we simultaneously varied whether participants
decided under time pressure or following a forced delay (Studies 4 and 6). Results: Moral appraisals of the
rule’s purpose, the agent’s extraneous blameworthiness, and the agent’s epistemic state impacted legal
determinations and helped to explain participants’ departure from rules’ literal interpretation. Counter-literal
verdicts were stronger under time pressure and were weakened by the opportunity to reflect. Conclusions:
Under intuitive reasoning conditions, legal determinations draw on core competencies in moral cognition,
such as outcome-based and mental state reasoning. In turn, cognitive reflection dampens these effects on
statutory interpretation, allowing text to play a more influential role.
Item Type: | Article |
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Keywords: | textualism; time pressure; moral reasoning; legal interpretation; theory of mind; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Law |
Item ID: | 18870 |
Identification Number: | 10.1037/lhb0000527 |
Depositing User: | Brian Flanagan |
Date Deposited: | 12 Sep 2024 13:28 |
Journal or Publication Title: | Law and Human Behavior |
Publisher: | Educational Publishing Foundation |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://mu.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/18870 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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