Jury Bias

Benefiting From Misfortune
When Harmless Actions Are Judged to Be Morally Blameworthy

Yoel Inbar1

1. David A. Pizarro2
2. Fiery Cushman3

1. ¹Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
2. ²Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
3. ³Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

1. Yoel Inbar, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, Tilburg, 5000 LE, Netherlands Email:yinbar@uvt.nl

Abstract

Dominant theories of moral blame require an individual to have caused or intended harm. However, the current four studies demonstrate cases where no harm is caused or intended, yet individuals are nonetheless deemed worthy of blame. Specifically, individuals are judged to be blameworthy when they engage in actions that enable them to benefit from another’s misfortune (e.g., betting that a company’s stock will decline or that a natural disaster will occur). Evidence is presented suggesting that perceptions of the actor’s wicked desires are responsible for this phenomenon. It is argued that these results are consistent with a growing literature demonstrating that moral judgments are often the product of evaluations of character in addition to evaluations of acts.

http://psp.sagepub.com/content/38/1/52.abstract?etoc

This is an interesting article worth reading for trial lawyers!