Psychology News
A researcher at Linköping University, Kajsa Hansson, explored how moral illusions influence our decision-making ability in her doctoral thesis. The study is yet to be published.
The Study
Hansson and her colleagues studied decision-making in a broad perspective, particularly how morality affects it. They carried out three experiments in which the participants were required to either donate or claim money. The decision-making process involved in the experiments was a democratic one—involving several participants.
The Findings
The results revealed that moral illusions may alter our behavior negatively and manufacture a distorted image of reality. In such cases, we tend to react to decisions by avoiding information and taking to selfish behavior.
However, there is one situation in which moral illusions do not play a role. These include decisions made democratically by a collective group of people like a national parliament, clubs, companies, etc.
The lead researcher, Kajsa Hansson, elaborated: “Our results suggest that we possess the insight that we take decisions for others, and we act collectively. We can speculate that people realize that we can contribute more to the common good when everyone contributes.”
To Know More You May Refer To
Abu-Farah, L., & Germann, N. (2022). Simulations of thermal phase changes and bacterial inactivation in a superheated steam dishwasher. Physics of Fluids, 34(8), 085137. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0090418