The self-interest bias in moral character judgment persists regardless of cognitive resource availability

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cris.lastimport.scopus2025-12-13T04:11:07Z
dc.abstract.enThe self-interest bias, judging morally questionable actions as less wrong when they benefit us, is prevalent, yet the cognitive mechanisms behind this bias remain unclear. Across six preregistered studies (N = 1680), we investigated whether the strength of the self-interest bias in moral judgments depends on available cognitive resources. Specifically, we manipulated cognitive resources using time pressure and a dual-task paradigm, predicting that limiting resources would amplify the self-interest bias by preventing corrective adjustments from intuitive egocentric anchors. Consistent with prior research, we reliably observed that self-interest robustly biased moral judgments. However, contrary to the predictions derived from resource-dependent correction accounts, we found no consistent evidence that limiting cognitive resources systematically moderated the magnitude of this bias. Our findings challenge the assumption that intuitive biases are straightforwardly corrected by increasing cognitive resources alone. Instead, the persistence of the self-interest bias regardless of cognitive resource constraints highlights the robustness of egocentric evaluations, suggesting that correction requires more than just available cognitive capacity and likely depends on awareness, whether detecting the bias, recognizing it as inappropriate, or both.
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii w Sopocie
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.contributor.authorMiazek, Katarzyna
dc.contributor.authorBocian, Konrad
dc.date.access2027-11-10
dc.date.accessioned2025-11-13T11:07:54Z
dc.date.available2025-11-13T11:07:54Z
dc.date.created2025-10-24
dc.date.issued2025-11-10
dc.description.accesstimeafter_publication
dc.description.grantnumber2021/43/D/HS6/02013 (SONATA)
dc.description.physical1-13
dc.description.sdgGoodHealthAndWellBeing
dc.description.sdgQualityEducation
dc.description.sdgResponsibleConsumptionAndProduction
dc.description.sdgPeaceJusticeAndStrongInstitutions
dc.description.versionfinal_author
dc.description.volume123
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.jesp.2025.104846
dc.identifier.eissn1096-0465
dc.identifier.issn0022-1031
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/1985
dc.identifier.weblinkhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103125001271?via%3Dihub
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOPEN_REPOSITORY
dc.subject.enThe self-interest bias
dc.subject.enMoral judgments
dc.subject.enEgocentric anchors
dc.subject.enCognitive resources
dc.swps.sciencecloudsend
dc.titleThe self-interest bias in moral character judgment persists regardless of cognitive resource availability
dc.title.journalJournal of Experimental Social Psychology
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle