Moral Decision-Making and Psychopathic Personality

• In Event: The Neurobiology of Psychopathic Traits in Youths and College Students

Abstract

A growing body of research examines moral decision-making in response to dilemmas in which utilitarian-guided decision-making conflicts with emotionally-driven decision-making. Although psychopathy is characterized by deficits in morality, research into moral decision-making in psychopaths has yielded mixed results. In explaining these inconsistent findings, researchers have suggested that psychopaths may cognitively be able to distinguish right from wrong when responding to moral dilemmas, but may not experience normal physiological responses when contemplating these dilemmas. This study examined moral decision-making in 150 undergraduate students (mean age = 19.62 years, 66.4% female). Heart rate and skin conductance were measured continuously while subjects responded to eight moral and neutral dilemmas. Subjects also completed the self-report Psychopathic Personality Inventory. After controlling for sex, subjects with higher levels of psychopathic personality had a marginally increased likelihood of responding to the dilemmas with a utilitarian response (β = .13, t = 1.65, p = .10). Additional analyses will be presented that examine whether psychopathic personality was associated with reduced heart rate and skin conductance when contemplating these moral dilemmas. Implications for understanding morality in psychopathy will be discussed.

Authors

• Jill Portnoy, University of Pennsylvania

• Adrian Raine, University of Pennsylvania