Moral judgement under induced anxiety: threat-of-shock reduces sensitivity to immoral acts and alters neural processing.

ABSTRACT: This study investigates how anxiety influences moral judgement processes using event-related potential (ERP) techniques. Participants were instructed to rate their feelings towards others' moral and immoral acts while neural responses were recorded under safe and threat-of-shock (TOS) conditions. Participants reported significantly higher anxiety levels in the TOS context, accompanied by increased non-specific skin conductance responses (NSSCR), indicating heightened autonomic nervous system activity. Behaviourally, participants in the TOS context rated immoral behaviours as significantly less unpleasant compared to those in the safe context, while ratings for moral behaviours did not differ significantly, suggesting reduced sensitivity to immoral acts in the TOS context. ERP results revea

SUBMITTER: Cheng J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12532311 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature