Judgments of pain sensitivity reveal a target’s perceived moral patient status

Evidence

The neutral target, David, was seen to be significantly more agentic when paired with the orphan (M 2.46) than when paired with the red cross pilot (M 2.07), F(1, 74) 4.34, p .05, 2 .04. As well, the neutral target David was seen to be more sensitive to pain when paired with the red cross pilot (M 2.07) than when paired with the orphan (M 1.54), F(1, 74) 17.10, p .001, 2 . — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 128 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Perceived moral agency predicts expected behavioral tolerance of pain — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 75; Mere association with a moral agent or patient shifts a target’s perceived moral standing — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 128

Related

• Mere association with a moral agent or patient shifts a target’s perceived moral standing (similarity 0.90)
• Perceived moral agency predicts expected behavioral tolerance of pain (similarity 0.85)
• Perceived agency and patiency shift based on whom a target is paired with (similarity 0.85)
• Only moral agency, not instrumental competence, suppresses perceived patiency (similarity 0.83)
• A moral versus nonmoral context shifts who is seen as vulnerable to pain. (similarity 0.82)
• Perceived moral agency and perceived moral patiency vary inversely across targets (similarity 0.82)
• People rationally allocate pain and pleasure by target moral sensitivity. (similarity 0.81)
• People more readily punish good moral agents than moral patients. (similarity 0.81)
• Moral patiency rests on a target’s perceived capacity for pain and pleasure. (similarity 0.80)
• Perceiving someone as an agent shifts how we categorize a paired neutral person (similarity 0.79)
• Moral typecasting operates independently of whether actions are good or bad (similarity 0.79)
• Moral agency specifically, not general agency, reduces perceived moral patiency. (similarity 0.79)
• Perceiving someone as a moral agent reduces perceived moral patiency. (similarity 0.79)
• Casting someone as a moral agent reduces perceived sensitivity to pain (similarity 0.79)
• Moral typecasting overrides self-presentational reluctance to inflict pain (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Mere association with a moral agent or patient shifts a target’s perceived moral standing #complicates (0.75) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 128