Language and Moral Decision Making
Imagine you are on a bridge, and see a runaway train shooting down the railway tracks towards five workers who are unable to hear or see the train coming. A large man is sitting on the bridge, and if you push him off (killing him but stopping the train early) you can save the five people. Would you push him to save five people? Now imagine the same scenario, with a runaway train about to hit five workers. But this time, you are at the side of the tracks, and by pulling a switch you can change the direction of the train. However, there is one worker on the other set of tracks that would end...
Read MoreAfter reading this, would you consider it to be a great post? Or an amazing post?
In the previous post we discussed how context can affect how individuals make decisions. The experiment by the Carnegie Mellon University team that showed this did not stop there however. They also tested how phrasing can affect an individual’s likelihood to divulge information [See The Best of Strangers]. For example you could ask someone a question in 3 ways: 1. “have you ever done hard drugs” 2. Rate the following from 1 to 10, where 1 is not ethical and 10 is very ethical, only if you have engaged in it. “doing hard drugs” 3. Rate the following from 1 to 10, where 1 is not ethical and 10...
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