Walking the moral plank: Investigating moral decision-making under threat in virtual reality

Lee, Joomi (former Grady postdoc), Baldwin, Joshua (Grady postdoc), Hahn, Lindsay (former Grady postdoc), Glenna Read, & Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn (2023). “Walking the moral plank: Investigating moral decision-making under threat in virtual reality,” paper to be presented at the 109th annual National Communication Association conference, November 16-19, National Harbor, MD.

Abstract: We conducted an experiment investigating N=135 participants' physiological and behavioral responses to a non-hypothetical moral-dilemma in virtual reality (VR). In line with the theory of dyadic morality and limited capacity model of motivated-mediated message processing, results revealed that a threat to their personal safety in VR increased participants' arousal, which decreased the degree to which they felt their decision harmed others, and that increased the likelihood that they acted selfishly in the moral-dilemma.