The Influence Of Alexithymia On Utilitarian Moral Judgments And The Underlying Psychological Mechanisms

Although some studies have examined the effect of alexithymia on utilitarian moral judgments,the relationship between alexithymia and utilitarian moral judgments remains elusive.Furthermore,little is known about the underlying mechanism of such effect.Therefore,the present study aims to investigate the effect of alexithymia on utilitarian moral judgments and explore the underlying mechanism of such effect.In study 1,we examined the effect of high alexithymia on utilitarian judgments.We found that alexithymia scores can positively predict utilitarian judgment scores.It indicates that high alexithymia leads individuals to make more utilitarian judgments.In study 2,we used the process-dissociation paradigm to examine the underlying psychological mechanism for individuals with high alexithymia to make more utilitarian judgments.Our process-dissociation analysis provided a more nuanced pattern of results,showing that deontological inclinations(concern for causing harm)were significantly lower in the high alexithymia group than those in the low alexithymia group,whereas the difference in utilitarian inclinations(concern for maximizing overall outcomes)between the two groups was non-significant.It indicates that individuals with high alexithymia make more utilitarian judgments due to decreases deontological inclinations rather than increases utilitarian inclinations.In study 3,we used multinomial modeling to investigate the underlying psychological mechanisms for individuals with high alexithymia to make more utilitarian judgments.We found that deontological inclinations were significantly lower in the high alexithymia group than those in the low alexithymia group,whereas the difference in utilitarian inclinations and general action tendency(general preference for inaction and actions)between the two groups was non-significant.It indicates that individuals with high alexithymia make more utilitarian judgments due to decreases deontological inclinations,whereas utilitarian inclinations and reaction tendency did not affect such effect.These findings underscore the importance of deontological inclinations in moral judgements,and indicate that individuals with high alexithymia make more utilitarian judgements,which could be due to a deficit in affective processing.