Excavating the Foundations: Cognitive Adaptations for Multiple Moral Domains

Jonathan Sivan, Oliver Scott Curry, Caspar J. Van Lissa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Do humans have cognitive adaptations for detecting violations of rules in multiple moral domains? Previous research using the Wason Selection Task has provided evidence for domain-specific mechanisms for detecting violations of social exchange and hazard precaution rules. The present study investigates whether similar evidence can be found for mechanisms for detecting violations of rules relating to soliciting aid, maintaining coalitions, and navigating hierarchies. Participants (n = 887) completed one of seven Wason Selection Tasks—five sociomoral tasks (exchange, hazard, aid, coalition, and submission) and two controls (descriptive and general deontic). Participants also completed the short form Moral Foundations Questionnaire (MFQ) as a self-report measure of five corresponding sets of moral values. The study found that, as predicted, performance on all five sociomoral tasks was significantly better than performance on the two control tasks. However, there was no relationship between task performance and corresponding moral values. These results provide initial evidence for cognitive adaptations for detecting violations of rules relating to providing aid, maintaining coalitions, and submitting to authority. We outline how future research might provide additional tests of this theory, and thereby further extend our understanding of the foundations of human sociomoral reasoning.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)408-419
Number of pages12
JournalEvolutionary Psychological Science
Volume4
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cheater-detection
  • Deontic reasoning
  • Evolutionary psychology
  • Hazard precaution
  • Moral foundations
  • Moral psychology
  • Wason Selection Task

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Excavating the Foundations: Cognitive Adaptations for Multiple Moral Domains'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this