Presentation given at SPP 2011 in Montreal. On the influence of Third-party intentions on moral judgment.

2. Typical moral judgments Situational Constraint Deserves Blame? Situations Intentions Agent’s Intention

3. A Moral Situation

4. A Moral Question Should be blamed for his actions?

5. Situational Constraint NE 1110a 4-8

6. Another Moral Question Should be blamed for his actions?

7. Do third-party intentions matter?

10. Study 1: Intentional Condition Isabel's daughter has a rare disease that requires her to take medication every day, and Isabel has always been very careful to make sure that her daughter takes her medicine. While Isabel doesn't know it, her mother-in-law has never liked her and has come up with a plan to get custody of her daughter by forcing her to steal medicine. While going through the medicine cabinet, Isabel's mother-in-law intentionally hides the medication knowing that Isabel won't be able to get any more. The next day, Isabel realizes that all the medicine is gone and starts to panic. Knowing that her daughter can't survive without the medicine, she goes to the doctor's office but finds that it has closed for a holiday. In desperation, she breaks into the doctor's office and steals the medicine. Because of her theft, another child in town did not get her medicine and died as a result. When the police start to investigate the crime, they realize that Isabel's daughter is one of the few children that take that particular medicine. Eventually the police question Isabel's mother-in-law and she admits that it was Isabel who stole the medicine. Once Isabel is convicted of the crime, she has to serve a jail sentence and loses custody of her daughter. Isabel's mother-in-law knew her plan had worked perfectly, and took custody of her granddaughter while Isabel was in jail.

12. Study 1: Accidental Condition Isabel's daughter has a rare disease that requires her to take medication every day, and Isabel has always been very careful to make sure that her daughter takes her medicine. While Isabel doesn't know it, her mother-in-law has never realized that her granddaughter needs this medicine to survive . While going through the medicine cabinet, Isabel's mother-in-law accidentally hides the medication without knowing that Isabel won't be able to get any more. The next day, Isabel realizes that all the medicine is gone and starts to panic. Knowing that her daughter can't survive without the medicine, she goes to the doctor's office but finds that it has closed for a holiday. In desperation, she breaks into the doctor's office and steals the medicine. Because of her theft, another child in town did not get her medicine and died as a result. When the police start to investigate the crime, they realize that Isabel's daughter is one of the few children that take that particular medicine. Eventually the police question Isabel's mother-in-law and she admits that it was Isabel who stole the medicine. Once Isabel is convicted of the crime, she has to serve a jail sentence and loses custody of her daughter. Isabel's mother-in-law had not known this would happen at all , and took custody of her granddaughter while Isabel was in jail.

14. Results t (58) = 2.44 , p = .018. Agent Blame

15. Study 2 I’d kill for some food right now!

16. Study 2: Intentional Condition In the 1950s, the government of a small Eastern European country plotted to secretly start a war, using industrial workers, and get revenge on a neighboring country. For the first part of their plan, the government intentionally destroyed farm machinery and set fire to several food stores on purpose. As a result, there was a serious lack of food in the country. Soon the people living in the city couldn't get enough food to feed themselves. The whole city shut down, crime skyrocketed and a small but violent uprising broke out. The government knew their plan was working perfectly. Right at that time, a group of industrial workers heard on the government news channel that a neighboring village had a surplus of food. After hearing the news, the group of industrial workers raided the small village on the country's border, stealing food from the farmers and killing innocent people. The government had known this would happen all along and felt great about their successful plan.

18. Study 2: Accidental Condition In the 1950s, the government of a small Eastern European country planned to start a new economic program , using industrial workers, to increase the country's wealth . While it wasn't part of their plan, the government accidentally destroyed farm machinery and set fire to several food stores by mistake . As a result, there was a serious lack of food the country. Soon the people living in the city couldn't get enough food to feed themselves. The whole city shut down, crime skyrocketed and a small but violent uprising broke out. The government knew their plan wasn't working at all . Right at that time, a group of industrial workers heard on the government news channel that a neighboring village had a surplus of food. After hearing the news, the group of industrial workers raided the small village on the country's border, stealing food from the farmers and killing innocent people. The government had not known this would happen and felt terrible about their unsuccessful plan.

20. Study 2: Results t (36) = 3.47, p = .001 Agent Blame

23. Study 3 I want to make sure they attack village A! We’d kill for Village A’s food right now! We’d kill for Village B’s food right now!

24. Study 3: Intention-Consistent In the 1960's the government of a small Eastern European country plotted to secretly start a war using industrial workers, in order to get revenge on the wealthy citizens of the Shaki village. For the first part of their plan, the government intentionally destroyed farm machinery and set fire to several food stores on purpose. As a result, there was a serious lack of food in the country. Soon the people living in the city couldn't get enough food to feed themselves. The whole city shut down, crime skyrocketed and a small but violent uprising broke out. The government knew their plan was working perfectly. Right at that time, a group of industrial workers heard through the government news channel that the Shaki village had a surplus of food. After hearing the news, the group of industrial workers raided the Shaki village, stealing food from the farmers and killing innocent people. The government had known this would happen all along and it was exactly what they planned.

26. Study 3: Intention-Deviant In the 1960's the government of a small Eastern European country plotted to secretly start a war using industrial workers, in order to get revenge on the wealthy citizens of the Shaki village. For the first part of their plan, the government intentionally destroyed farm machinery and set fire to several food stores on purpose. As a result, there was a serious lack of food in the country. Soon the people living in the city couldn't get enough food to feed themselves. The whole city shut down, crime skyrocketed and a small but violent uprising broke out. The government knew their plan was working perfectly. Right at that time, a group of industrial workers heard through the government news channel that the Shaki village had a surplus of food. After hearing the news, the group of industrial workers raided a village on the opposite side of the small country called the Nobi village , stealing food from the farmers in that village and killing innocent people. The government had not known this would happen at all and it wasn't what they planned.

28. Study 3: Results t (48) = 2.473, p = .017 Agent Blame Consistent Deviant

30. So why would the content of the intention be important?

32. Intention-Consistent Govern- ment Crops burned News released Workers raid Villagers die Causal Structure Intentional Structure

33. Govern- ment Villagers die So what’s important about a situation’s teleological structure? Causal-Teleological Structure Crops burned Workers raid News released

34. Intention-Deviant Govern- ment Crops burned News released Workers raid Villagers die Causal Structure Intentional Structure

35. Intention-Deviant Govern- ment Villagers die Causal-Teleological Structure Crops burned News released Workers raid

38. Study 4 I want to make sure they attack village A! We’d kill for Village A’s food right now! We’d kill for Village B’s food right now!

39. Study 4: Replication t (62) = 2.56, p = .013 Agent Blame

43. Vs. Intention-Deviant Intention-Consistent Govern- ment Villagers die Crops burned Workers raid News released Govern- ment Villagers die Crops burned News released Workers raid

44. But why would this influence moral responsibility of the agent? If you were made to do it, you aren’t morally responsible.

45. Alternative Hypothesis: The Conservation of Blame ‘ The more you blame the government, the less you blame the workers’ 0

47. How to decide? vs 0 Conservation of Blame Govern- ment Villagers die Crops burned Workers raid News released Causal-Teleological Structure

48. Evidence for causal structure Workers Blamed Intention Consistency vs. Deviation Government Caused β= .309, p = .013 β= .308, p = .013 β= .333, p = .007 β= .229, ns ? ? ?

49. Evidence for conservation of blame? Intention Consistency vs. Deviation Government Blamed Workers Blamed β= .309, p = .013 β= .369, p = .003 β= .158, ns β= .290, p = .030 ? ?

50. Some evidence... Workers Blamed Intention Consistency vs. Deviation Government Blamed Government Caused

51. Moral Judgment Situational Constraint Deserves Blame? Situations Intentions Agent’s Intention Third-party

52. Thanks! Yale Mind and Development Lab Yale Experimental Philosophy Lab

53. Study 1b: Replication Kate Sarah I want to win the scholarship! I want to make sure she gets caught cheating! I feel really bad about ruining her computer...

54. Replication Results Agent Blame t (54) = 2.65, p = .011