Title:

Morality as Relational Toolkit: How Social Closeness Shapes Moral Thinking

Abstract:

Should I sacrifice one life to save five? Such questions provide provocative tests of the boundaries of our moral intuitions, but have little relevance to daily life. In this talk I'll present an analysis of a large-scale repository of everyday moral dilemmas: the "Am I the Asshole?" thread on Reddit. In 369,000 posts and 11M moral evaluations, analysis suggests that users grapple with a range of moral questions, ranging from issues of honesty to privacy. Furthermore, likelihood that a moral principle applies in a given situation is associated with the social closeness of the people involved. Social closeness also moderates the likelihood that the violation of a given moral principle is considered acceptable. Overall, the data provide a unique picture of morality in daily life and highlights the role of relationships in moral thinking.