Loneliness and Moral Judgment (Does Loneliness Make Moral Judgment More Permissible?)

This paper examines how loneliness influences people’s moral judgment. This paper shows that lonely people make moral judgment more permissible. Four studies demonstrate that lonely people are more likely to make a moral utilitarian choice than non-lonely people (study 1 and study 2); and lonely people rate five dimensions of moral foundations (harm, fairness, in-group, authority and purity) (Haidt 2001) less relevant to their judgment than non-lonely people (studies 3 and 4). We also document that the effects are driven by empathetic concern.

Citation:

Jenny (Jinfeng) Jiao and Jing (Alice) Wang (2013) ,"Loneliness and Moral Judgment (Does Loneliness Make Moral Judgment More Permissible?)", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 41, eds. Simona Botti and Aparna Labroo, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: .