Liberating reason from the passions reading

Question 1

Study 1

Answer 1

Purpose: the effects of habitual reappraisal on moral judgements
Method: participants completed the emotion regulation questionnaire, which assesses tendency to have reappraisal about the situation (I feel better by changing the way I think) versus suppression (I feel better by not thinking about the problem). Participants then read two moral dilemmas (one about incest and the other about bestiality) and were asked whether it was wrong and to what extent was it immoral.
Results: participants who tended to exhibit reappraisal found both dilemmas significantly less immoral (tendency to regulate emotions can control sense of morality)

Question 2

Study 2

Answer 2

Purpose: Reappraisal in the moral judgement process
Method: Same as Study 1 but with a software to record how long it took the participants to respond, and participants were also asked to report what emotions they felt when reading the scenarios. Finally, participants were asked to answer an open ended question about what they thought about the two scenarios
Results: The more participants engaged in reappraisal after reading the scenarios, the less morally wrong they found the behaviour

Question 3

Study 3

Answer 3

Purpose: manipulated reappraisal and its effects on moral judgement
Method: participants were divided into two groups, a control and a reappraisal group. component 1 had participants watching a film that evoked strong feelings of sadness, in which the reappraisal group had to engage in reappraisal while watching the film. Participants then read three moral dilemmas and were asked to rate their feelings, if it was morally wrong and to what extent.
Results: Reappraisal condition rated the scenarios as less immoral