ebrahim ahmadi
Abstract
Introduction:The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rational reasons on ethical decision making.Method: In order to investigate the effect of rational reasons on moral decisions, the call for participatingin this study was sent to 75000 email addresses of residents of Tehran ...
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Introduction:The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rational reasons on ethical decision making.Method: In order to investigate the effect of rational reasons on moral decisions, the call for participatingin this study was sent to 75000 email addresses of residents of Tehran and thesuburbs, which 765 volunteers participated in the study. The research tool was a moral dilemma. In an experimental design, the participants were asked to say which option they would choose if they were in this moral dilemma (their initial decision). Then the participants were randomly assigned itnto three groups: one group was given the reasons confirmingtheir initial decision, the secondgroup was given the reasons opposing their initial decision, and the thirdgroup was given all reasons (confirmingand opposing). Participants were asked to evaluate these reasons. Then theywere asked to choose one of the two options again (their final decision). Results: Fisher's exact test, logistic regression analysis, and variance analysis showed that afew participants changed their initial decision after examining the reasons; the initial decision explained a large proportion of the final decision's variance, and participants evaluated affirming reasons better than opposing ones. These findings suggest that rational reasons do not help to change the people's moral decisions.
