: Examining the Role of Emotional Experiences and Moral Evaluations in the Decision to Engage in Violence

• In Event: Emotions and Ethical Evaluation in Criminal Decision-Making: Insights from Immersive Technologies

Abstract

This study investigates role of emotional experiences and moral evaluations in the decision to use violence. Although prior research suggests that emotions provide an important backdrop for evaluating criminal opportunities, ethical and methodological limitations have restricted the theoretical and empirical development of this line of research. The current study uses 360° virtual reality (VR) technology to immerse study participants in realistic criminogenic situations and experimentally manipulate real time feelings of anger and excitement. The goal of this work is to examine how these affective states influence the decision to use violence in response to two scenarios—being provoked into a fight and witnessing a woman being sexually harassed. Specifically, we assess how emotional experiences potentially shape situational moral evaluations of violence under the circumstances presented in VR. Our analyses account for other relevant situational inputs including sanction certainty perceptions, safety considerations and social rewards.

Author

• Shaina Herman, Sam Houston State University