Citation

Schwartz F, Djeriouat H, Trémolière B. Acta Psychol. 2021; 219: e103392.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103392

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The present preregistered study investigated the relationship between personality traits and third-party moral judgment, with specific predictions about honesty-humility, emotionality, and conscientiousness. Participants (N = 405) completed the HEXACO personality questionnaire and read short narratives describing the interaction between an agent and a victim. We manipulated the intent of the agent (harmful or neutral) and the outcome for the victim (harmful or neutral) and participants judged the agent's behavior. While higher honesty-humility was associated with harsher judgment overall, higher emotionality was associated with harsher judgment of a malevolent agent, and higher conscientiousness was associated with harsher judgment of an agent who harmed intentionally. The results thus suggest that third-party moral judgment is selectively related to personality traits depending on the agent's intention.

Language: en

Keywords

Outcome; Intent; Personality traits; Third-party morality