A thought experiment known as the trolley problem has frequently been used to examine whether adult moral judgments follow utilitarian principles; for example, maximize happiness for the greatest number. Previous research has shown that adults find it morally permissible to harm one person to save five others only when the harm to one is a foreseen side effect of saving five, but not when the harm to one is deliberately intended as the means to saving five. However, when asked to justify this moral intuition, few adults can articulate the principles guiding their judgment, suggesting that our moral judgments may be rooted in unconscious processes that evaluate the causal and intentional properties of an event. The current study tested 54 children on age-appropriate trolley dilemmas to examine whether young children make this distinction between harm as side effect and harm as a main effect. Our research indicates that like adults, preschoolers favor a utilitarian outcome when harming one person is simply a foreseen side effect of saving five others, but not when harming one person is the main effect of saving five.
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
Extent
v, 31 p. : ill.
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Note
Supplementary File: Appendix
Note (type = degree)
M.S.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Katharine Saunders
Name (ID = NAME-1); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Saunders
NamePart (type = given)
Katharine
NamePart (type = date)
1984-
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
author
DisplayForm
Katharine Saunders
Name (ID = NAME-2); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Leslie
NamePart (type = given)
Alan M
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
chair
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Alan M Leslie
Name (ID = NAME-3); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Gelman
NamePart (type = given)
Rochel
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Rochel Gelman
Name (ID = NAME-4); (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Chapman
NamePart (type = given)
Gretchen
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Gretchen Chapman
Name (ID = NAME-1); (type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name (ID = NAME-2); (type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
school
OriginInfo
DateCreated (qualifier = exact)
2010
DateOther (qualifier = exact); (type = degree)
2010-10
Place
PlaceTerm (type = code)
xx
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3N01670
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD graduate
Back to the top
Rights
RightsDeclaration (AUTHORITY = GS); (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
RightsHolder (ID = PRH-1); (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Saunders
GivenName
Katharine
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent (ID = RE-1); (AUTHORITY = rulib)
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
2010-10-01 15:56:30
AssociatedEntity (ID = AE-1); (AUTHORITY = rulib)
Role
Copyright holder
Name
Katharine Saunders
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject (ID = AO-1); (AUTHORITY = rulib)
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.