This research investigated the role of contemplation, conversation (conceptualized as social contemplation), and explanations in right-wrong decisions. Several theories suggest that contemplation or morally-oriented conversations will promote ethical decisions and that immediate choice or self-interested conversations will not; other theories suggest that individuals' explanations will reinforce their decisions. An experimental task tempting people to lie supported all of these predictions. In addition, truth-tellers viewed the situation as morally-oriented and non-truth-tellers viewed it as oriented around self-interest, both before and after their decisions. These findings provided the basis for a new, process model of moral decision making.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.