morality – Jonathan Frei https://jonathanfrei.com Based on a true story Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:15:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://i0.wp.com/jonathanfrei.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/favicon-160x1601.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 morality – Jonathan Frei https://jonathanfrei.com 32 32 76405128 Gallup finds shifting views on morality https://jonathanfrei.com/2014/09/gallup-finds-shifting-views-on-morality https://jonathanfrei.com/2014/09/gallup-finds-shifting-views-on-morality#respond Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:15:00 +0000 http://104.131.64.180/?p=60 A recent Gallup poll shows new highs in acceptance of various morality issues.

The American public has become more tolerant on a number of moral issues, including premarital sex, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia. On a list of 19 major moral issues of the day, Americans express levels of moral acceptance that are as high or higher than in the past on 12 of them, a group that also encompasses social mores such as polygamy, having a child out of wedlock, and divorce.

Moral Acceptability of Various Issues, May 2014

What Gallup didn’t provide in this post—and what would be informative to see—is a trend line on how views on these issues have changed over time. The title of the post says they are record highs, but there’s not much details about how much higher the percentages of moral acceptability the respondents reported. Overall, I’d expect to see views on most of these issues becoming increasingly morally acceptable. But I wonder if any of these issues have become more taboo over time?

]]> https://jonathanfrei.com/2014/09/gallup-finds-shifting-views-on-morality/feed 0 60 Give people time to act honestly https://jonathanfrei.com/2012/04/give-people-time-to-act-honestly https://jonathanfrei.com/2012/04/give-people-time-to-act-honestly#respond Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:02:08 +0000 http://104.131.64.180/2012/04/give-people-time-to-act-honestly/ Give people time to act honestly

The Economist explores the psychology of morality by reporting on a dice rolling experiment:

The researchers had no way of knowing what numbers participants actually rolled, of course. But they knew, statistically, that the average roll, if people reported honestly, should have been 3.5. This gave them a baseline from which to calculate participants’ honesty. Those forced to enter their results within 20 seconds, the researchers found, reported a mean roll of 4.6. Those who were not under any time pressure reported a mean roll of 3.9. Both groups lied, then. But those who had had more time for reflection lied less.

The experiment suggests that people who are rushed and don’t take the time to think are more likely to lie and cheat than those who have time to think about their actions rationally. 

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