To Beckon or Not to Beckon: Testing a Causal-Evaluative Modelling Approach to Moral Judgment
Moral judgments are increasingly being understood as showing context dependent variability. A growing literature has identified a range of specific contextual factors (e.g., emotions, intentions) that can influence moral judgments in predictable ways. Integrating these diverse influences into a unified approach to understanding moral judgments remains a challenge. Recent work by Railton (2017) attempted to address this with a causal-evaluative modelling approach to moral judgment. In support of this model Railton presents evidence from novel variations of classic trolley type dilemmas. We present results from a pilot study that highlight a significant confound and demonstrate that it likely influenced Railton’s results. Building on this, we propose a pre-registered attempted replication-extension of Railton’s study, using larger more diverse samples, and more rigorous methods and materials, specifically controlling for potential confounds.