A Third Theory Besides Utilitarianism And Deontology:the Influence Of Power On CNI Parameters In Moral Dilemma Judgment

The traditional view is that individuals’ judgments of moral dilemmas are "either utilitarian or deontological".However,CNI parameters can further distinguish the third theory of "non-utilitarian and non-deontological",namely preference theory.This helps to distinguish whether moral dilemma judgement is caused by utilitarian tendenciesy(C),deontological tendency(N),or inaction preference(I).Gawronski and Brannon(2020)investigated the influence of sense of power on moral dilemma judgment based on CNI and found that reducing individual sense of power can promote subjects to have higher sensitivity to moral norms(N parameter)than increasing sense of power.But this finding does not say whether a high sense of power reduces sensitivity to moral norms or whether low sense of power increases it.In order to further clarify the sources of differences in sensitivity to moral norms of high and low sense of power,a control group was first added to explore the influence of high and low sense of power on moral dilemma judgment(Experiment 1a).Secondly,a large number of researchers have devoted themselves to exploring the neural mechanism of moral dilemma judgment,but the study of moral dilemma judgment by sense of power still remains at the behavioral level.Therefore,on the basis of behavioral research,this study used near-infrared(fNIRS)equipment to measure the changes of cerebral blood oxygen in individuals with different sense of power when making moral dilemma judgment,so as to provide neural indicators for the influence of sense of power on moral dilemma judgment(Experiment 1b).Based on the compensation control theory,this study finally explored the internal psychological mechanism of the influence of the sense of power on the moral dilemma judgment(Experiment 2).Specifically,all the subjects were randomly assigned to the high sense of power group,the low sense of power group and the control group to complete the moral dilemma judgment task.In both Experiment 1a and 1b,subjects were asked to perform a recall writing task to activate the sense of power,followed by a moral dilemma judgment(24 stories).In Experiment 1b,fNIRS was also used to monitor the changes of cerebral blood oxygen during moral dilemma judgment.The only difference between Experiment 2 and Experiment 1 was that after the recall writing task,the sense of control scale and the need for structure scale were measured to reveal the internal psychological mechanism.Finally,the subjects completed the moral dilemma judgment(48 stories).Experiment 1a recruited 201 effective subjects.The results showed that only N parameters exist significant differences between groups,specific performance for the sensitivity to moral norms of low sense of power group is significantly higher than the high snesen of power group and the control group.Experiment 1b recruited 91 effective subjects.Experiment 1b confirmed the behavioral results of Experiment 1a and found that the ventral media prefrontal cortex(vm PFC)was significantly activated in the low sense of power group compared to the high and control group.In Experiment 2,170 effective subjects were recruited.The results showed that:(1)only N parameters showed significant differences between groups.Further multiple comparisons only found that N parameter in the low sense of power group was significantly higher than that in the high group and control group.(2)The mediating effect analysis found that the sense of control and the need for structure played a chain mediating role in the sense of power and the N parameter.In this study,we concluded that:(1)Low sense of power enhanced individuals’ sensitivity to moral norms(N parameter),accompanied by significant activation of vm PFC.(2)Low sense of power increases the need for structure by reducing the sense of control,and ultimately increases the sensitivity to moral norms(N parameter).In this study,the CNI model and the addition of a control group were used to further clarify the sources of differences in sensitivity to moral norms between high and low sense of power,and reveal the psychological mechanism by which low sense of power increases sensitivity to moral norms,providing an empirical basis for compensatory control theory.