Action and Inaction in Moral Judgments and Decisions: Meta-Analysis of Omission Bias Omission-Commission Asymmetries

Abstract

Omission bias is people’s tendency to evaluate harm done through omission as less morally wrong and less blameworthy than commission when there is harm. However, findings are inconsistent. We conducted a preregistered meta-analysis, with 21 samples (13 articles, 49 effects) on omission-commission asymmetries in judgments and decisions. We found an overall effect of g = 0.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.14, 0.77], with stronger effects for morality and blame than for decisions. Publication bias tests produced mixed results with some indication for publication bias, though effects persisted even after most publication bias adjustments. The small sample of studies included limited our ability to draw definite conclusions regarding moderators, with inconclusive findings when applying different models. After compensating for low power, we found indication for moderation by role responsibility, perspective (self vs. others), outcome type, and study design. We hope this meta-analysis will inspire research on this phenomenon and applications to real-life, especially given the raging pandemic. Materials, data, and code are available on https://osf.io/9fcqm/ .

Injurious Memories from the COVID-19 Frontline: The Impact of Episodic Memories of Self- and Other-Potentially Morally Injurious Events on Romanian Nurses’ Burnout, Turnover Intentions and Basic Need Satisfaction

“…Our findings support an ongoing attempt at integrating memories of PMIEs into autobiographical knowledge, with participants reporting moderate to considerable voluntary and involuntary retrieval of memories of PMIEs, reliving, vividness, visual detail, importance and centrality to the self [ 25 ]. These phenomenological characteristics were significantly more heightened for memories of self-PMIEs than for memories of other-PMIEs, differences not studied so far, but which could be attributed to the omission bias [ 42 ]. This is in line with theoretical perspectives arguing that frequent reliving and voluntary and involuntary retrieval could constitute attempts at integrating episodic memories into autobiographical knowledge, especially for traumatic memories, such as PMIEs [ 79 , 80 ].…”

“…Although moral stressors were associated with feelings of decreased personal and professional competence [ 40 , 41 ], self-PMIEs are instances of immoral action, whereas other-PMIEs, of immoral inaction. According to the omission bias, immoral inactions are judged as less harmful and associated with less blame compared to immoral actions [ 42 ]. Since nurses define their competence according to their code of ethics, with moral values central to their professional identity [ 21 ], their need for competence could be more thwarted when they perpetrate the perceived immoral act than when they witness it without interfering.…”

Research on the Influence of Tolerance of Opportunistic Behaviors of Channel Boundaries on the Choice of Response Strategies

“…The omission bias originates from omission in jurisprudence, which refers to the legal actor who has a duty and should have the right and obligation to carry out a specific act but does nothing in the actual situation. There are usually two forms of omission, namely, to do nothing and to deliberately choose not to take action or not to change (Yeung et al, 2021). Inaction tendencies are linked to the "principle of harmful behavior, " which describes a phenomenon in which harm caused by behavior is often judged morally worse than harmful inaction (Hayashi and Mizuta, 2022).…”

Protective Factors against Morally Injurious Memories from the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nurses’ Occupational Wellbeing: A Cross-Sectional Experimental Study

“…Thus, one of the defining characteristics of PMIEs is that they are moral transgressions perpetrated/witnessed against the person’s will (e.g., a nurse who prioritizes a younger patient over an older patient, based on directives according to which age is an indicator of odds of survival, and against their moral and professional ethical code, which would lead them to prioritize according to how critical the patient’s condition was) [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. In contrast, SMTs are more similar to medical errors, in that the outcome of the transgression is very harmful (i.e., high in moral severity) [ 18 , 19 , 20 ], but the transgression is enacted in the absence of perceived external pressures (i.e., a nurse who chooses to come to work even if they are aware of being infected with the new coronavirus and spreads the disease to their patients) [ 20 ]. The differential associations of PMIEs and SMTs with the outcomes specified above were mediated by the extent to which nurses’ autonomy was thwarted in the two memories.…”

“…In a different study, we compared nurses’ memories of self-PMIEs to their memories of other-PMIEs during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that the former had a stronger association with increased burnout and turnover intentions, mediated by all three basic psychological needs [ 13 ]. Thus, memories of self-PMIEs were more autonomy- and competence-thwarting than memories of other-PMIEs, a difference which we attributed to the omission bias [ 19 ]. When people enact a moral violation, they judge it as more harmful and blameworthy than when they allow it to happen without interfering.…”