电车难题:情境人数对道德判断与恻隐之心的影响

以往的电车难题研究中,关于引起被试认知差异和情绪差异的因素,研究者主要关注年龄、性别、关系亲疏等变量,对情境人数这一变量鲜有考量.本研究通过连续变化电车难题中主岔道人数,将电车难题设计为数量上连续变化的问题,从而分析不同数量情境与被试的道德判断、恻隐之心三者的关系.结果表明:1.情境人数对道德判断、恻隐之心无显著影响.2.道德判断与恻隐之心显著相关.与做出非功利性选择的被试相比,做出功利性选择的被试更痛苦,更同情情境中的遇难者,也即恻隐之心更为强烈.3.男性和女性在道德判断上没有差别,在恻隐之心上有较大差别.具体来说,女性比男性表现出更多的痛苦,女性和男性均表现出较为强烈的同情.

The Trolley Problem: the Effects of People's Number in Upon Moral Judgments and the Sense of Compassion

In previous trolley problem studies, the researchers were mainly focused on the variables of age, gender, or distance of relationships and so on which cause the subjects＇ differences in cognition and emotion, with the number of situations few considered. This research discusses the relationships among people＇s number in the situation, moral judgments and the sense of compassion by means of continuous change in people＇s number in the trolley problem. The results show that： 1. People＇s number in situation has no significant influence on moral judgment or the sense of compassion. 2. Moral judgment was significantly associated with the sense of compassion. Compared with the participants who made the utilitarianism choice, the ones who made the utilitarian choice show more pain and sympathy for the victims in the situation, namely they have more heavily compassion. 3. There is no difference in moral judgment yet significant difference in the sense of compassion between men and women. Specifically, women show more pain than men, but they both show relatively intense compassion.