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!

Psychological Response to Harm

Personality Prior to Disability Determines Adaptation

Agreeable Individuals Recover Lost Life Satisfaction Faster and More Completely

1. Christopher J. Boyce
2. Alex M. Wood

+Author Affiliations

1. University of Manchester

1. Christopher J. Boyce, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom E-mail: christopher.boyce@manchester.ac.uk

Abstract

Personality traits prior to the onset of illness or disability may influence how well an individual psychologically adjusts after the illness or disability has occurred. Previous research has shown that after the onset of a disability, people initially experience sharp drops in life satisfaction, and the ability to regain lost life satisfaction is at best partial. However, such research has not investigated the role of individual differences in adaptation to disability. We suggest that predisability personality determines the speed and extent of adaptation. We analyzed measures of personality traits in a sample of 11,680 individuals, 307 of whom became disabled over a 4-year period. We show that although becoming disabled has a severe impact on life satisfaction, this effect is significantly moderated by predisability personality. After 4 years of disability, moderately agreeable individuals had levels of life satisfaction 0.32 standard deviations higher than those of moderately disagreeable individuals. Agreeable individuals adapt more quickly and fully to disability; disagreeable individuals may need additional support to adapt.

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/10/19/0956797611421790.abstract