Study 2 (Empathy and utilitarian choices in sacrificial dilemmas)

Article title: Turning off the empathy switch: Lower empathic concern for the victim leads to utilitarian choices of action Participants N = 170 Measures 1) Utilitarian choices of action in 6 dilemmas (Footbridge, Crying Baby, Vaccine, Raftboat, Modified Safari, and Sophie’s Choice) - Responses were recorded on a 4-point scale from 0 (definitely no) to 3 (definitely yes). 2) Empathic concern for each target - Participants were asked to report the extent to which they felt empathic for the victim and the saved in sacrificial dilemmas - Responses were recorded on a 5-point scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (to a great extent) 3) Justifications for utilitarian choices of action - Five types of justification items were used to probe into how people reason about their choices in sacrificial dilemmas - The five justifications items were: 1) deontological ethics; 2) descriptive norm; 3) emotional reactivity; 4) selfish concern; and 5) confidence 4) LSRP-1 (primary psychopathy) - Responses were recorded on a 4-point scale from 0 (disagree strongly) to 3 (agree strongly) 5) Empathic concern (dispositional) - A subscale of Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), Empathic Concern (EC), was used - Responses were recorded on a 5-point scale from 1 (not at all characteristic of me) to 5 (extremely characteristic of me)