Moral judgment in adults with autism spectrum disorders
Cognition 121 (1):115-126 (2011)
Abstract
The ability of a group of adults with high functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger Syndrome (AS) to distinguish moral, conventional and disgust transgressions was investigated using a set of six transgression scenarios, each of which was followed by questions about permissibility, seriousness, authority contingency and justification. The results showed that although individuals with HFA or AS (HFA/AS) were able to distinguish affect-backed norms from conventional affect-neutral norms along the dimensions of permissibility, seriousness and authority-dependence, they failed to distinguish moral and disgust transgressions along the seriousness dimension and were unable to provide appropriate welfare-based moral justifications. Moreover, they judged conventional and disgust transgressions to be more serious than did the comparison group, and the correlation analysis revealed that the seriousness rating was related to their ToM impairment. We concluded that difficulties providing appropriate moral justifications and evaluating the seriousness of transgressions in individuals with HFA/AS may be explained by an impaired cognitive appraisal system that, while responsive to rule violations, fails to use relevant information about the agent’s intentions and the affective impact of the action outcome in conscious moral reasoning.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1016/j.cognition.2011.06.004
My notes
Similar books and articles
Judgment of Intentionality and Moral Evaluation in Individuals with High Functioning Autism.Tiziana Zalla & Marion Leboyer - 2011 - Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2 (4):681-698.
Norms with Feeling: Towards a Psychological Account of Moral Judgment.Shaun Nichols - 2002 - Cognition 84 (2):221–236.
Transgressors, victims, and cry babies: Is basic moral judgment spared in autism?Alan M. Leslie & Ron Mallon - 2006 - Social Neuroscience 1:270283.
Harm, affect, and the moral/conventional distinction.Daniel Kelly, Stephen Stich, Kevin J. Haley, Serena J. Eng & Daniel M. T. Fessler - 2007 - Mind and Language 22 (2):117–131.
The Moral-Conventional Distinction in Mature Moral Competence.Bryce Huebner, James Lee & Marc Hauser - 2010 - Journal of Cognition and Culture 10 (1-2):1-26.
Autism, empathy and moral agency.Jeanette Kennett - 2002 - Philosophical Quarterly 52 (208):340-357.
Harm, Affect and the Moral/Conventional Distinction: Revisited.Sydney Levine & David Rose - manuscript
After objectivity: An empirical study of moral judgment.Shaun Nichols - 2004 - Philosophical Psychology 17 (1):3 – 26.
On Disgust and Moral Judgment.David Pizarro, Yoel Inbar & Chelsea Helion - 2011 - Emotion Review 3 (3):267-268.
Conformorality. A Study on Group Conditioning of Normative Judgment.Chiara Lisciandra, Marie Postma-Nilsenová & Matteo Colombo - 2013 - Review of Philosophy and Psychology (4):751-764.
Living the categorical imperative: autistic perspectives on lying and truth telling–between Kant and care ethics. [REVIEW]Pier Jaarsma, Petra Gelhaus & Stellan Welin - 2012 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 15 (3):271-277.
Analytics
Added to PP
2011-07-17
Downloads
1,636 (#3,479)
6 months
128 (#5,719)
2011-07-17
Downloads
1,636 (#3,479)
6 months
128 (#5,719)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Empathy and Moral Judgment.Antti Kauppinen - 2017 - In Heidi Maibom (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Empathy. Routledge.
Reasons-Responsiveness and Moral Responsibility: The Case of Autism.Nathan Stout - 2016 - The Journal of Ethics 20 (4):401-418.
Conversation, responsibility, and autism spectrum disorder.Nathan Stout - 2016 - Philosophical Psychology 29 (7):1-14.
References found in this work
The Development of Social Knowledge: Morality and Convention.Elliot Turiel - 1983 - Cambridge University Press.
Sentimental Rules:On the Natural Foundations of Moral Judgment: On the Natural Foundations of Moral Judgment.Shaun Nichols - 2004 - Oxford University Press.
Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind”?Simon Baron-Cohen, Alan M. Leslie & Uta Frith - 1985 - Cognition 21 (1):37-46.
Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception.H. Wimmer - 1983 - Cognition 13 (1):103-128.