biostudies-literatureAntoniou RNIA NIH HHSFoundation for the National Institutes of HealthLarry L. Hillblom FoundationNational Institute on Aginge0259110https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8535394biostudies-literatureUnknown16(10)The COVID-19 pandemic poses many real-world moral dilemmas, which can pit the needs and rights of the many against the needs and rights of the few. We investigated moral judgments in the context of the contemporary global crisis among older adults, who are at greatest personal risk from the pandemic. We hypothesized that during this pandemic, individuals would give fewer utilitarian responses to hypothetical dilemmas, accompanied by higher levels of confidence and emotion elicitation. Our pre-registered analysis (https://osf.io/g2wtp) involved two waves of data collection, before (2014) and during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic, regarding three categories of moral dilemmas (personal rights, agent-centered permissions, and special obligations). While utilitarian responses considered across alPloS oneReduced utilitarian willingness to violate personal rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.PMC8535394R01AG058817R01 AG0588172018-A-006-NETR01AG022983R01 AG022983Antoniou RYoung JCYou MChiong WRomero-Kornblum HKramer JHfalseReduced utilitarian willingness to violate personal rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.The COVID-19 pandemic poses many real-world moral dilemmas, which can pit the needs and rights of the many against the needs and rights of the few. We investigated moral judgments in the context of the contemporary global crisis among older adults, who are at greatest personal risk from the pandemic. We hypothesized that during this pandemic, individuals would give fewer utilitarian responses to hypothetical dilemmas, accompanied by higher levels of confidence and emotion elicitation. Our pre-registered analysis (https://osf.io/g2wtp) involved two waves of data collection, before (2014) and during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic, regarding three categories of moral dilemmas (personal rights, agent-centered permissions, and special obligations). While utilitarian responses considered across al2021-01-01T00:00:00Z20212026-07-16T14:32:23.018Z2025-04-05T23:58:15.543ZS-EPMC85353943467912410.1371/journal.pone.0259110