Can reasonable people disagree about right and wrong? The determinants and implications of perceiving moral reasonableness.
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| Title: | Can reasonable people disagree about right and wrong? The determinants and implications of perceiving moral reasonableness. |
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| Authors: | Samuelson, Arvid1 (AUTHOR) as3559@cornell.edu, Dahl, Audun1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Cognition. Sep2026, Vol. 274, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Conflict management, Moral judgment, Deliberation, Ethics, Ideological conflict |
| Abstract: | When people disagree about deeply held moral convictions, conflicts can seem inevitable. This paper proposes that conflicts can be avoided, and respectful exchanges can follow, if people perceive stances they disagree with as morally reasonable: arrived at through good-faith deliberation. Reasonableness, central to law and philosophy, has received little attention in psychological research on morality. Across five studies (plus three replication studies, Total N = 853), this research examined whether people can perceive moral disagreements as reasonable and, if so, what the predictors, implications, and psychological underpinnings of such perceptions are. As hypothesized, (H1) participants perceived moral disagreements as more reasonable when issues were more difficult (e.g. involved conflict, more novel, or more informationally obscure); (H2) they expressed less hostility and more willingness to socialize when they saw a disagreeing stance as morally reasonable; and (H3) they saw the disagreeing stance as more reasonable when the stance was reached through good-faith deliberation. Under some circumstances, participants even saw stances they disagreed with as more reasonable than stances they agreed with. Unlike related constructs such as mere agreement, moral convictions, ethical subjectivism, and intellectual humility, perceptions of moral reasonableness are perceptions of how another person reached their stance and have stronger social implications than perceptions of empirical reasonableness. Efforts to understand and mitigate political and moral conflicts will want to incorporate how perceptions of reasonableness can be used and abused—for peaceful, political, or personal ends—to alter how reasonable or unreasonable a moral stance appears to others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Cognition is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 194520117 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Can reasonable people disagree about right and wrong? The determinants and implications of perceiving moral reasonableness. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Samuelson%2C+Arvid%22">Samuelson, Arvid</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> as3559@cornell.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Dahl%2C+Audun%22">Dahl, Audun</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Cognition%22">Cognition</searchLink>. Sep2026, Vol. 274, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Conflict+management%22">Conflict management</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Moral+judgment%22">Moral judgment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Deliberation%22">Deliberation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ethics%22">Ethics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ideological+conflict%22">Ideological conflict</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: When people disagree about deeply held moral convictions, conflicts can seem inevitable. This paper proposes that conflicts can be avoided, and respectful exchanges can follow, if people perceive stances they disagree with as morally reasonable: arrived at through good-faith deliberation. Reasonableness, central to law and philosophy, has received little attention in psychological research on morality. Across five studies (plus three replication studies, Total N = 853), this research examined whether people can perceive moral disagreements as reasonable and, if so, what the predictors, implications, and psychological underpinnings of such perceptions are. As hypothesized, (H1) participants perceived moral disagreements as more reasonable when issues were more difficult (e.g. involved conflict, more novel, or more informationally obscure); (H2) they expressed less hostility and more willingness to socialize when they saw a disagreeing stance as morally reasonable; and (H3) they saw the disagreeing stance as more reasonable when the stance was reached through good-faith deliberation. Under some circumstances, participants even saw stances they disagreed with as more reasonable than stances they agreed with. Unlike related constructs such as mere agreement, moral convictions, ethical subjectivism, and intellectual humility, perceptions of moral reasonableness are perceptions of how another person reached their stance and have stronger social implications than perceptions of empirical reasonableness. Efforts to understand and mitigate political and moral conflicts will want to incorporate how perceptions of reasonableness can be used and abused—for peaceful, political, or personal ends—to alter how reasonable or unreasonable a moral stance appears to others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Cognition is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=194520117 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1016/j.cognition.2026.106597 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 1 StartPage: N.PAG Subjects: – SubjectFull: Conflict management Type: general – SubjectFull: Moral judgment Type: general – SubjectFull: Deliberation Type: general – SubjectFull: Ethics Type: general – SubjectFull: Ideological conflict Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Can reasonable people disagree about right and wrong? The determinants and implications of perceiving moral reasonableness. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Samuelson, Arvid – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Dahl, Audun IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 09 Text: Sep2026 Type: published Y: 2026 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 00100277 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 274 Titles: – TitleFull: Cognition Type: main |
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