Anticipatory stress interferes with utilitarian moral judgment

A recent study indicates that acute stress affects moral decision making (youssef et al.,in press). the current study examines whether results can be replicated using a different kind of stressor and a different kind of stress measurement. we induced stress in 25 participants with a cover-story of an anticipated speech. another group of 25 participants was tested in a control condition. stress levels and stress responses were assessed with questionnaires and heart rate. all participants performed a moral decision-making task describing moral dilemmas. these dilemmas were either personal or impersonal and each offered a utilitarian and a non-utilitarian option. acutely stressed participants,compared to control participants,made fewer utilitarian judgments and needed longer for making a decision. individual physiological stress response was related to fewer utilitarian judgments. results are in line with those previously found although different instruments were used.