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Impaired Decoding of Fear and Disgust Predicts Utilitarian Moral Judgment in Alcohol‐Dependent Individuals
Author(s) -
CarmonaPerera Martina,
Clark Luke,
Young Liane,
PérezGarcía Miguel,
VerdejoGarcía Antonio
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.12245
Subject(s) - disgust , psychology , impulsivity , mood , anxiety , neuropsychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , cognition , anger , psychiatry
Background Recent studies of moral reasoning in patients with alcohol use disorders have indicated a “utilitarian” bias, whereby patients are more likely to endorse emotionally aversive actions in favor of aggregate welfare (e.g., throwing a dying person into the sea to keep a lifeboat of survivors afloat). Here, we investigate the underlying psychological and neuropsychological processes. Methods Alcohol‐dependent individuals ( n = 31) and healthy comparison participants ( n = 34) completed a validated moral judgment task, as well as measures of impulsivity, mood symptoms (anxiety and depression), and emotional face recognition. Results Alcohol‐dependent individuals were more likely to endorse utilitarian choices in personal moral dilemmas compared with controls and rated these choices as less difficult to make. Hierarchical regression models showed that poorer decoding of fear and disgust significantly predicted utilitarian biases in personal moral dilemmas, over and above alcohol consumption. Impulsivity and mood symptoms did not predict moral decisions. Conclusions These findings suggest that impaired fear and disgust decoding contributes to utilitarian moral decision‐making in alcohol‐dependent individuals.