Resumen:
The study of moral judgements often centers on moral dilemmas in which options consistent
with deontological perspectives (i.e., emphasizing rules, individual rights, and duties) are in
conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (i.e., following the greater good
based on consequences). Greene et al. (2009) showed that psychological and situational
factors (e.g., the intent of the agent or the presence of physical contact between the agent and
the victim) can play an important role in moral dilemma judgements (e.g., trolley problem).
Our knowledge is limited concerning both the universality of these effects outside the United
States and the impact of culture on the situational and psychological factors of moral
judgements. Thus, we empirically tested the universality of the effects of intent and personal
force on moral dilemma judgements by replicating the experiments of Greene et al. in 45
countries from all inhabited continents. We found that personal force and its interaction with
intention, exert influence on moral judgements in the US and Western cultural clusters,
replicating and expanding the original findings. Moreover, the personal force effect was
present in all cultural clusters, suggesting it is culturally universal. The evidence for the
cultural universality of the interaction effect was inconclusive in the Eastern and Southern
cultural clusters (depending on exclusion criteria). We found no strong association between
collectivism/individualism and moral dilemma judgements
