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Research Article

Small-scale societies exhibit fundamental variation in the role of intentions in moral judgment

H. Clark Barrett, Alexander Bolyanatz, Alyssa N. Crittenden, Daniel M. T. Fessler, Simon Fitzpatrick, Michael Gurven, Joseph Henrich, Martin Kanovsky, Geoff Kushnick, Anne Pisor, Brooke A. Scelza, Stephen Stich, Chris von Rueden, Wanying Zhao, and Stephen Laurence
  1. aDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553;
  2. bCenter for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553;
  3. cSocial Sciences Subdivision, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599;
  4. dDepartment of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154-5003;
  5. ePhilosophy Department, John Carroll University, University Heights, OH 44118;
  6. fDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210;
  7. gDepartment of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
  8. hDepartment of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;
  9. iDepartment of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;
  10. jInstitute of Social Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University, 820 05 Bratislava 25, Slovakia;
  11. kSchool of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia;
  12. lDepartment of Philosophy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1107;
  13. mCenter for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1107;
  14. nJepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173;
  15. oDepartment of Philosophy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7QB, United Kingdom;
  16. pHang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7QB, United Kingdom

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PNAS April 26, 2016 113 (17) 4688-4693; first published March 28, 2016; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522070113
H. Clark Barrett
aDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553;
bCenter for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553;
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  • For correspondence: hclarkbarrett@gmail.com
Alexander Bolyanatz
cSocial Sciences Subdivision, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599;
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Alyssa N. Crittenden
dDepartment of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154-5003;
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Daniel M. T. Fessler
aDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553;
bCenter for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553;
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Simon Fitzpatrick
ePhilosophy Department, John Carroll University, University Heights, OH 44118;
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Michael Gurven
fDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210;
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Joseph Henrich
gDepartment of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
hDepartment of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;
iDepartment of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;
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Martin Kanovsky
jInstitute of Social Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University, 820 05 Bratislava 25, Slovakia;
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Geoff Kushnick
kSchool of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia;
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Anne Pisor
fDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210;
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Brooke A. Scelza
aDepartment of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553;
bCenter for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1553;
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Stephen Stich
lDepartment of Philosophy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1107;
mCenter for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1107;
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Chris von Rueden
nJepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173;
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Wanying Zhao
hDepartment of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;
iDepartment of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada;
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Stephen Laurence
oDepartment of Philosophy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7QB, United Kingdom;
pHang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7QB, United Kingdom
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  1. Edited by Douglas L. Medin, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, and approved February 23, 2016 (received for review November 8, 2015)

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Significance

It is widely considered a universal feature of human moral psychology that reasons for actions are taken into account in most moral judgments. However, most evidence for this moral intent hypothesis comes from large-scale industrialized societies. We used a standardized methodology to test the moral intent hypothesis across eight traditional small-scale societies (ranging from hunter-gatherer to pastoralist to horticulturalist) and two Western societies (one urban, one rural). The results show substantial variation in the degree to which an individual’s intentions influence moral judgments of his or her actions, with intentions in some cases playing no role at all. This dimension of cross-cultural variation in moral judgment may have important implications for understanding cultural disagreements over wrongdoing.

Abstract

Intent and mitigating circumstances play a central role in moral and legal assessments in large-scale industrialized societies. Although these features of moral assessment are widely assumed to be universal, to date, they have only been studied in a narrow range of societies. We show that there is substantial cross-cultural variation among eight traditional small-scale societies (ranging from hunter-gatherer to pastoralist to horticulturalist) and two Western societies (one urban, one rural) in the extent to which intent and mitigating circumstances influence moral judgments. Although participants in all societies took such factors into account to some degree, they did so to very different extents, varying in both the types of considerations taken into account and the types of violations to which such considerations were applied. The particular patterns of assessment characteristic of large-scale industrialized societies may thus reflect relatively recently culturally evolved norms rather than inherent features of human moral judgment.

  • morality
  • intentions
  • cognition
  • culture
  • human universals

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: hclarkbarrett{at}gmail.com.
  • Author contributions: H.C.B., A.B., A.N.C., D.M.T.F., S.F., M.G., J.H., M.K., G.K., A.P., B.A.S., S.S., C.v.R., W.Z., and S.L. designed research; H.C.B., A.B., A.N.C., D.M.T.F., M.G., J.H., M.K., G.K., A.P., B.A.S., C.v.R., and W.Z. performed research; H.C.B. analyzed data; and H.C.B., J.H., and S.L. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • Data deposition: Data are permanently deposited on the data page of the AHRC Culture and the Mind Project, www.philosophy.dept.shef.ac.uk/culture&mind/Data/IntentionsMorality/IntentionsMorality.csv.

  • See Commentary on page 4555.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1522070113/-/DCSupplemental.

Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.

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Intentions and moral judgment across societies
H. Clark Barrett, Alexander Bolyanatz, Alyssa N. Crittenden, Daniel M. T. Fessler, Simon Fitzpatrick, Michael Gurven, Joseph Henrich, Martin Kanovsky, Geoff Kushnick, Anne Pisor, Brooke A. Scelza, Stephen Stich, Chris von Rueden, Wanying Zhao, Stephen Laurence
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2016, 113 (17) 4688-4693; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1522070113

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Intentions and moral judgment across societies
H. Clark Barrett, Alexander Bolyanatz, Alyssa N. Crittenden, Daniel M. T. Fessler, Simon Fitzpatrick, Michael Gurven, Joseph Henrich, Martin Kanovsky, Geoff Kushnick, Anne Pisor, Brooke A. Scelza, Stephen Stich, Chris von Rueden, Wanying Zhao, Stephen Laurence
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Apr 2016, 113 (17) 4688-4693; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1522070113
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  • How to find universal morality
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