Singer, Nina and Binapfl, Julia and Sommer, Monika and Wuest, Stefan and Kudielka, Brigitte M. (2020) Everyday moral decision-making after acute stress exposure: do social closeness and timing matter? STRESS-THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON THE BIOLOGY OF STRESS. ISSN 1025-3890, 1607-8888
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
There is increasing empirical evidence that social distance and timing affect prosocial behavior after acute stress exposure. The present study focused on everyday moral decision-making after acute psychosocial stress and how it is influenced by effects of social closeness and timing. We exposed 40 young healthy men to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST, n = 20) or its non-stressful placebo version (PTSST, n = 20). Moral decision-making was assessed early (+10 until +30 min) and late (+75 until +95 min) after (P)TSST exposure by the Everyday Moral Conflict Situations (EMCS) Scale. The EMCS Scale requests altruistic versus egoistic responses to everyday moral conflict situations with varying closeness of target persons. Results revealed significantly higher total percentages of altruistic decisions in the stress than in the control condition and for scenarios involving socially close (e.g., mother) versus socially distant (e.g., stranger) protagonists, while the main effect of timing was nonsignificant. Only secondary analyses showed increased altruistic decision-making after acute stress exposure toward socially close but not toward distant protagonists at the early but not at the late point of measurement. Moreover, psychological stress responses and personality traits were significantly associated with EMCS scores. Positive correlations between cortisol levels and altruistic decision-making were descriptively observable, but did not reach statistical significance. In sum, our findings suggest increased altruistic decision-making toward socially close compared to socially distant protagonists and provide further evidence that acute stress influences decision-making in everyday moral conflict scenarios in a prosocial manner. Lay summary In order to investigate the effects of acute stress on everyday moral decision-making, 40 young healthy men were exposed to moderate psychosocial stress by the use of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or its non-stressful placebo version and then completed a hypothetical everyday moral decision-making paradigm. Our findings provide evidence that acute stress exposure influences decision-making in everyday moral conflict situations in a prosocial manner. Furthermore, participants decided more altruistically in scenarios involving socially close (e.g., mother) versus socially distant (e.g., stranger) protagonists.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | YOUNG MEN; CORTISOL; DILEMMAS; VALIDITY; BEHAVIOR; Everyday moral decision-making; acute psychosocial stress; social closeness; time-dependent stress effects; altruistic decisions; salivary cortisol |
| Subjects: | 100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology 600 Technology > 610 Medical sciences Medicine |
| Divisions: | Medicine > Lehrstuhl für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie Human Sciences > Institut für Psychologie > Lehrstuhl für Psychologie VII (Medizinische Psychologie, Psychologische Diagnostik und Methodenlehre) - Prof. Dr. Brigitte Kudielka |
| Depositing User: | Petra Gürster |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Apr 2021 07:59 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Apr 2021 07:59 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/43355 |
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