Cat ownership, psychotic experiences and moral decision-making in sacrificial dilemmas: A study in the United Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT

Previous research has documented that persons with schizophrenia and some forms of brain damage are more likely to offer utilitarian responses in sacrificial dilemmas. At the same time, some studies have also documented that cat ownership may be associated with schizophrenia, possibly with the pathogen Toxoplasma gondii as mediator. This prompts a question: are cat owners more likely to give utilitarian responses in sacrificial dilemmas? This question was assessed with 366 participants in the United Arab Emirates. Results came out showing that cat ownership had no association with psychotic experiences. Likewise, there was no association between cat ownership and utilitarian responses to trolley dilemmas. However, in a burning building dilemma that focuses on impartial beneficence, cat ownership was associated with utilitarian responses.

KEYWORDS:

• Cat ownership
• utilitarianism
• sacrificial dilemmas
• schizophrenia
• United Arab Emirates

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.