Faced with difficult choices, we often do what our inner voice tells us to do. However, studies show that this voice sounds different for men and women. Another step towards understanding each other.
How will men and women behave in a situation of difficult moral choice (for example, when our intervention in a situation may help one but harm others)? Psychologists from the University of Wilfried Laurier (Canada), the University of Cologne (Germany) and the University of Texas (USA) have come to the conclusion that it is more difficult for women to let go of emotions and calmly weigh the pros and cons. “Women are about equal in their use of emotions and reason, so it is especially difficult for them to make a decision if it involves the need to harm someone on their own,” explains one of the authors of the study, social psychologist Rebecca Friedsdorf (Rebecca Friedsdorf).
The researchers analyzed an array of data from 40 different questionnaires. In them, men and women were asked to consider several choice situations in which two behaviors were incorporated. Participants had to justify the pros and cons of the chosen option. In general, all men and women were inclined to consider the consequences of their decisions (for example, who will suffer from their action or inaction, how it will affect the environment, their relationships with people). But women compared to men were much more likely to take into account their own emotional reactions – “how will I feel if I make this decision.” It was more difficult for them to decide on an act that required them to transgress moral norms in the name of the future good (to kill a cruel tyrant in order to save millions of lives). (one)
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Based on these results, Friedsdorf formulated the “dilemma of hard times”:
You own a small plot of land in a poor country. The second year in a row turned out to be a poor harvest, and it looks like you will soon have nothing to feed your family (two sons and a daughter). Your sons are too young to go to the city to work. Hope only for a daughter – a young girl. In the city you have an acquaintance, your former neighbor in the village. He’s in the business of producing “adult” films starring young girls like your daughter. Once, in her presence, he told you that in a year of work in his studio, she could earn so much money that the whole family would have enough for several seasons. Would you allow your daughter to work in the porn industry so that she could support her family?
From an ethical point of view, those who are willing to sacrifice their daughter to save their family are considered utilitarians. They tend to act on the basis of the common good and are more likely to make sacrifices when it seems justified to them. Men, according to the study, are more prone to utilitarianism. Those who put the daughter’s honor above the possible starvation of the whole family are classified by philosophers as adherents of deontological ethics. They prioritize the moral value of a particular action, strive to do the right thing “here and now.” Now that you are familiar with the results of the study, think about which category would you place yourself in?
1. R. Friesdorf et al. «Differences in Responses to Moral Dilemmas: A Process Dissociation Analysis». Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2015.