FlashReportExpanding the moral circle: Inclusion and exclusion mindsets and the circle of moral regard
Section snippets
Studies 1a and 1b
Studies 1a and 1b considered the IED in the demarcation of two important moral boundaries. Philosophers and bioethicists have long pondered whether entities such as fetuses and people in permanent vegetative states deserve the same moral treatment as fully functioning human beings (McMahan, 2002). Such entities, said to reside at the ‘margins of life,’ are granted full moral regard by some but not by others and the consequences of such disagreements can have serious implications for social
Study 2
Although Studies 1a and 1b demonstrate that the IED does occur for judgments about the circle of moral regard, an interesting question remains as to whether inclusion and exclusion mindsets have significant effects on other, related moral judgments. An important consequence of an expansive moral circle is that it promotes treating a wider range of others with moral consideration. Thus the focus of Study 2 was not only whether exclusion mindsets would lead to more expansive moral circles, but
Discussion
Across three studies, exclusion mindsets resulted in consistently and substantially larger moral circles than did inclusion mindsets. Studies 1a, 1b and 2 demonstrated that in drawing boundaries at the ‘margins of life’ (1a and 2) and between animals (1b), exclusion mindsets led to more expansive moral circles than inclusion mindsets. Moreover, Study 2 demonstrated that participants in an exclusion mindset felt a stronger obligation to treat various outgroups with moral regard than did those in
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