HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015510.jpg
Extracted Text (OCR)
298 M. Hoffman et al.
why we judge torture as worse than imprisonment or punishment (torture is harming
someone as a means to obtaining information) and perhaps one of the (many) rea-
sons we oppose prostitution (prostitution is having sex with someone as a means to
obtaining money). The Envelope Game clarifies the function of adhering to this
maxim. Whereas those who treat someone well as means to an end would also
mistreat them if expedient, those who treat someone well as an end can be trusted
not to mistreat them when expedient.
Attention to Motives. The previous two applications are examples of a more gen-
eral phenomenon: that we judge the moral worth of an action based on the motiva-
tion of the actor, as argued by deontological ethicists, but contested by
consequentialists. The deontological argument is famously invoked by Kant:
“Action from duty has its moral worth not in the purpose to be attained by it but in
the maxim in accordance with which it is decided upon, and therefore does not
depend upon the realization of the object of the action but merely upon the principle
of volition in accordance with which the action is done without regard for any object
of the faculty of desire” (Kant, 1997). These applications illustrate that we attend to
motives because they provide valuable information on whether the actor can be
trusted to treat others well even when it is not in her interest.
Altruism Without Prospect of Reciprocation. CWOL also helps explain why peo-
ple cooperate in contexts where there is no possibility of reciprocation, such as in
one-shot anonymous laboratory experiments like the dictator game (Fehr &
Fischbacher, 2003), as well as when performing heroic and dangerous acts. Consider
soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save their compatriots or stories like
that of Liviu Librescu, a professor at the University of Virginia and a Holocaust sur-
vivor, who saved his students during a school shooting. When he heard the shooter
coming toward his classroom, Librescu stood behind the door to his classroom,
expecting that when the shooter tried to shoot through the door, it would kill him and
his dead body would block the door. Mr. Librescu, clearly, did not expect this act to
be reciprocated. Such examples have been used as evidence for group selection
(Wilson, 2006), but can be explained by individuals “not looking” at the chance of
future reciprocation. Consistent with this interpretation, cooperation during extreme
acts of altruism is more likely to be intuitive than deliberative (Rand & Epstein,
2014), and those who cooperate without considering the prospect of reciprocation
are more trusted (Critcher, Inbar, & Pizarro, 2013). We also predict that people are
more likely to cooperate intuitively when they know they are being observed.
The Omission—Commission Distinction
and Higher-Order Beliefs
We explain the omission—commission distinction and the means—by-product distinction
by arguing that these moral intuitions evolved in contexts where punishment is
coordinated. Then, even when intentions are clear to one witness for omissions and
by-products, a witness will think intentions are less clear to the other witnesses.
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015510