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The Influence of Emotions on Moral Judgment
Name: Felegy,
Advisor: Foster-Clark, Frederick
Department: PSYCH
Award: Luek Endowment
Abstract: Past research has found that experiencing the emotions of disgust or moral warmth (moral elevation) can influence one’s moral judgments, but no known research has been done to empirically test and compare both emotions’ influence on moral judgments in the same study, as was tested in this current study. Two individual differences were also examined in one's level of bodily sensitivity (Private Body Consciousness (PBC)) and the extent to which one's moral character is prime to who they are (Moral Identity (MI)), both of which have been shown in past research to influence one’s ability to experience disgust and moral elevation. Participants were assigned to one of three emotion-eliciting videos. After the video, moral judgments were made in response to six vignettes. No differences between video conditions were found. Also, when levels of PBC and MI were assessed in conjunction with one another, no effect between these variables was found. Implications for future research are discussed.