Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

The Neural Bases of Cognitive Conflict and Control in Moral Judgement…

- - - - "Personal" Moral Judgements
        
        Socio-Emotional Processing
      - "Impersonal" Moral Judgements
        
        "Cognitive" Processing
        
        Class of processes that contrast with affective/emotional processes
- - - - HURT- Most primitive forms of harmful violations.
      - YOU- Ensures a victim be vividly represented as an individual.
      - ME- Captures the notion of "agency," requiring that the action spring in a direct way from the agent's will; the agent "authors" rather than "edits."
- - - - Personal Moral Dilemmas elicit proponent negative social-emotional responses which take time to overcome.
- - - - Increased activity in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) a region associated with cognitive conflict during personal moral dilemmas; longer RT
      - Increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) an area associated with abstract reasoning and cognitive control during personal moral dilemmas; longer RT
    - - Level of activity in DLPFC is positively correlated with utilitarian judgement (working against social-emotional proponent response)
  - - - Reflecting the influence of "cognitive" processes favouring the utilitarian (appropriate) response.
- - - - Greater activation in brain areas associated with emotion and social cognition (see page 3 of paper for specific areas)
    - - Greater activation in brain areas associated with characteristically "cognitive" processes e.g. the DLPFC
  - - - Increased ACC activity in difficult personal moral dilemmas.
      - Conflict between 1) social-emotional responses that lead people to approve of personal moral violations and 2) countervailing "cognitive" processes that drive people to approve of such violations in the relevant contexts.
      - Confirmed prediction that the anterior DLPFC has greater activation when trying to respond to difficult personal moral dilemmas as it is involved in the conflicting abstract reasoning "cognitive" processes
  - - - "Cognitive" processes have a preferred behavioural outcome (utilitarian)- at least in the context of difficult personal moral dilemmas
      - Commonality in difficult personal moral dilemmas: a personal moral violation is required in order to achieve a greater good.
      - Therefore, it can be supposed that a utilitarian cost-benefit analysis is preferred for difficult personal moral dilemmas
    - - 1) Abstract reasoning that constitutes utilitarian analysis must be conducted.
      - 2) Cognitive control must be engaged in order to support successful competition of the behaviour favoured by the outcome of that analysis against any incompatible behavioural pressures (ie. an emotional response favouring the opposite behaviour.