BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:EventsCalendar PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York LAST-MODIFIED:20240422T053451Z TZURL:https://www.tzurl.org/zoneinfo-outlook/America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:College of Arts and Sciences,Thesis/Dissertations DESCRIPTION:Target Audience: Faculty and & Staff Category: Thesis/Dissertat ion Defense Title of Defense: Masters Thesis Defense by Younan Chen Title of Paper: The Effect of In-Person versus Remote Others on Moral Decision M aking Abstract: People often assume that moral decisions reflect stable in ternal moral values, yet moral judgments can be context-dependent, especia lly in high-conflict dilemmas that involve competing moral principles: uti litarianism (i.e., maximizing the greater good) versus deontology (i.e., p reventing intentional harm). One such context is perceived observation. Re search suggests that perceived observation is associated with higher rates of deontological judgments.  Prior work, however, has relied on highly u nrealistic hypothetical dilemmas in which the action is confounded with th e utilitarian choice.  In addition, no study has compared the effects of remote versus in-person presence of others on moral decision making. The c urrent study examined (a) the effect of observation type on moral decision -making in the context of historical moral dilemmas, (b) affective and cog nitive predictors of utilitarian preference, and (c) the effect of dilemma framing on moral decision-making. Participants (N=136 undergraduate stude nts) were assigned to one of three conditions: Alone (in the laboratory; n = 52), Remote Observation (3+ participants in a Zoom meeting with cameras on; n =52), and In-Person Observation (3+ participants in the laboratory room; n = 32). Participants completed a survey consisting of 12 moral dile mmas and measures of mood, arousal, need for cognition, reputation concern , empathy, and perspective-taking. Observation type did not significantly affect utilitarian preference, F (2, 133) = 0.46, p=.631, η2=.007. Utilit arian preference was significantly predicted only by reputation concern an d empathy.  Specifically, utilitarian preference was associated with high er reputational concern (β = .258, p = .004) and lower empathy (β = −. 188, p = .048).  In addition, participants were significantly more likely to make utilitarian judgments for dilemmas in which the action coincides with the utilitarian option (M = .80, SD = .21) than for dilemmas in which the action coincides with the deontological option (M=.57, SD = .24), t(1 35) = 9.68, p < .001, demonstrating a robust framing effect or an action b ias. The results suggest that the mere presence of peers (whether in perso n or online) may be insufficient to shift moral decision-making. Or, compa red to unrealistic hypothetical dilemmas, ecologically grounded dilemmas m ay promote more internally driven moral judgments that are less sensitive to perceived observation.  The associations between utilitarian preferenc e and both reputation concern and empathy align with dual-process theories of morality which propose that utilitarian judgments rely more heavily on “cold” cognitive processes, whereas deontological judgments are more strongly influenced by emotional responses. More broadly, this study sugge sts that the effects of perceived observation may be more nuanced than pre viously assumed, with individual differences in reputation concern and emp athy emerging as reliable predictors. Keywords: moral decision-making, mor al judgment, moral dilemmas, utilitarian preference, deontology, social ob servation, peer presence, reputation concern Advisor: Dr. Mary Kayyal Comm ittee Members: Dr. Trina Kershaw, Dr. Nicholas Zambrotta Contact Email: mk ayyal@umassd.edu\nEvent page: https://www.umassd.edu/events/cms/7-17-26-ma sters-thesis-defense-by-younan-chen.php\nEvent link: https://umassd.zoom.u s/j/93122572245?pwd=pAbPjoJ6be8iqBQkHyzub5lfYBOfWK.1 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Target Audience: Faculty and & Staff

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Category: Thesis/Dissertation Defense

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Title of Defen se: Masters Thesis Defense by Younan Chen

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Title of Paper: The Effe ct of In-Person versus Remote Others on Moral Decision Making

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Abst ract: People often assume that moral decisions reflect stable internal mor al values\, yet moral judgments can be context-dependent\, especially in h igh-conflict dilemmas that involve competing moral principles: utilitarian ism (i.e.\, maximizing the greater good) versus deontology (i.e.\, prevent ing intentional harm). One such context is perceived observation. Research suggests that perceived observation is associated with higher rates of de ontological judgments.  Prior work\, however\, has relied on highly unrea listic hypothetical dilemmas in which the action is confounded with the ut ilitarian choice.  In addition\, no study has compared the effects of rem ote versus in-person presence of others on moral decision making. The curr ent study examined (a) the effect of observation type on moral decision-ma king in the context of historical moral dilemmas\, (b) affective and cogni tive predictors of utilitarian preference\, and (c) the effect of dilemma framing on moral decision-making. Participants (N=136 undergraduate studen ts) were assigned to one of three conditions: Alone (in the laboratory\; n = 52)\, Remote Observation (3+ participants in a Zoom meeting with camera s on\; n =52)\, and In-Person Observation (3+ participants in the laborato ry room\; n = 32). Participants completed a survey consisting of 12 moral dilemmas and measures of mood\, arousal\, need for cognition\, reputation concern\, empathy\, and perspective-taking. Observation type did not signi ficantly affect utilitarian preference\, F (2\, 133) = 0.46\, p=.631\, η2 =.007. Utilitarian preference was significantly predicted only by reputati on concern and empathy.  Specifically\, utilitarian preference was associ ated with higher reputational concern (β = .258\, p = .004) and lower emp athy (β = −.188\, p = .048).  In addition\, participants were signific antly more likely to make utilitarian judgments for dilemmas in which the action coincides with the utilitarian option (M = .80\, SD = .21) than for dilemmas in which the action coincides with the deontological option (M=. 57\, SD = .24)\, t(135) = 9.68\, p < .001\, demonstrating a robust framing effect or an action bias. The results suggest that the mere presence of p eers (whether in person or online) may be insufficient to shift moral deci sion-making. Or\, compared to unrealistic hypothetical dilemmas\, ecologic ally grounded dilemmas may promote more internally driven moral judgments that are less sensitive to perceived observation.  The associations betwe en utilitarian preference and both reputation concern and empathy align wi th dual-process theories of morality which propose that utilitarian judgme nts rely more heavily on “cold” cognitive processes\, whereas deontolo gical judgments are more strongly influenced by emotional responses. More broadly\, this study suggests that the effects of perceived observation ma y be more nuanced than previously assumed\, with individual differences in reputation concern and empathy emerging as reliable predictors.

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K eywords: moral decision-making\, moral judgment\, moral dilemmas\, utilita rian preference\, deontology\, social observation\, peer presence\, reputa tion concern

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Advisor: Dr. Mary Kayyal

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Committee Members: D r. Trina Kershaw\, Dr. Nicholas Zambrotta

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Contact Email: mkayyal@u massd.edu

Event page: https://www.umassd.edu/eve nts/cms/7-17-26-masters-thesis-defense-by-younan-chen.php
Event lin k: https://umassd.zoom.us/j/93122572245?pwd=pAbPjoJ6be8iqBQkHyzu b5lfYBOfWK.1

DTSTAMP:20260707T170833 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260717T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260717T153000 LOCATION:Virtual SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:Masters Thesis Defense by Younan Chen UID:3b4093d6390ab4e0747e9ae0a642b479@www.umassd.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR