Perceiving utilitarian gradients: Heart rate variability and self-regulatory effort in the moral dilemma task

ABSTRACT

It is not yet clear which response behavior requires self-regulatory effort in the moral dilemma task. Previous research has proposed that utilitarian responses require cognitive control, but subsequent studies have found inconsistencies with the empirical predictions of that hypothesis. In this paper, we treat participants’ sensitivity to utilitarian gradients as a measure of performance. We confronted participants (N = 82) with a set of five dilemmas evoking a gradient of mean utilitarian responses in a 4-point scale and collected data on heart rate variability and utilitarian responses. We found positive correlations between tonic and phasic HRV and sensitivity to the utilitarian gradient in the high tonic group, but not in the low tonic group. Moreover, the low tonic group misplaced a scenario with a selfish incentive at the high end of the gradient. Results suggest that performance is represented by sensitivity correlated with HRV and accompanied with a reasonable placement of individual scenarios within the gradient.

KEYWORDS:

• Dual-process
• Heart rate variability
• moral judgment
• self-regulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Research Division of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, project 37159, 2017–2018, and by the Universidad Externado de Colombia, project 370072017–2018. It was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation’s project The Nature and Value of Efforts.