Article
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Effects of Sadness and Fear in Public Events on Moral Judgments Based on the CNI Model
Version 1
: Received: 22 April 2024 / Approved: 23 April 2024 / Online: 23 April 2024 (14:06:01 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Zheng, M.; Qin, S.; Zhao, J. Effects of Sadness and Fear on Moral Judgments in Public Emergency Events. Behav. Sci. 2024, 14, 468. Zheng, M.; Qin, S.; Zhao, J. Effects of Sadness and Fear on Moral Judgments in Public Emergency Events. Behav. Sci. 2024, 14, 468.
Abstract
With the rapid development of society and the deteriorating natural environment, there has been an increase in public events. This study aimed to explore how sadness and fear in the context of public emergency influence moral judgments. This research first induced feelings of sadness and fear by videos about public events and music, and then used moral scenarios from the CNI model to assess participants’ moral thinking. In Study 1, participants were divided into sadness group and neutral group, while in Study 2, participants were divided into fear group and neutral group. During the experiment, participants were exposed to different videos related to public events to induce the corresponding emotions, and emotional music was continuously played throughout the entire experiment. Participants were then asked to answer questions regarding moral judgments. The results showed that based on CNI model, sadness induced in the context of public events significantly increased C parameter, without affecting N or I parameter. Fear increased I parameter, without affecting C or I parameter. That is, sadness and fear induced in the context of public events can influence moral judgments. Specifically, sadness increases individuals’ sensitivity to consequence, and fear increases the general preference for inaction in moral judgments.
Keywords
Sadness; Fear; Moral judgments; CNI model; Public events; Deontology; Utilitarianism
Subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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