Obeying Orders & Morality: Brain Scan Study
Obeying Orders Dulls Sense of Moral Responsibility, Brain Scans Show
A new study reveals that following orders diminishes an individual’s sense of moral responsibility. Researchers analyzed brain activity during moral decision-making, finding that the perception of being in control of one’s actions decreases when obeying commands.
Understanding the neural processes behind moral responsibility is crucial for ethics, justice, and human behavior psychology. While daily life involves free choices, many decisions are shaped by societal rules, influencing behavior significantly. Restrictions on choice can lead to harmful actions, making the study of moral decision-making and its neural underpinnings vital.
The sense of agency (SoA), the feeling of being the author of one’s actions, is key in decision-making. This cognitive process diminishes when individuals obey orders, reducing their perceived responsibility. This affect is especially relevant in hierarchical environments like the military.
Researchers, including Axel Cleeremans from the Université libre de Bruxelles, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the brain activity of 19 military officer cadets and 24 civilians. Participants made moral decisions, either freely or under orders, to inflict a mild shock on someone.
The study, published in Cerebral Cortex, assessed SoA through temporal binding, where the perceived time between action and consequence varies wiht the decision’s voluntariness.Results indicated that SoA decreases when following orders, nonetheless of being a civilian or military personnel. Brain regions like the occipital lobe, frontal gyrus, and precuneus were linked to this perception.
Axel Cleeremans said,”Along with confirming that the perception of being the author of our actions and their consequences decreases when we follow orders,there were also no differences between military personnel and civilians,which suggests that everyday environments have minimal influence on the neural basis of moral decision-making allowing the results to be generalized.”
While the study suggests generalizable effects of coercion,researchers noted that the military participants were officers trained to take responsibility. Further research could explore how lower military ranks influence thes results, potentially informing responsibility training.
What’s next
future studies could investigate the impact of diffrent levels of authority and responsibility on the sense of agency during moral decision-making, potentially leading to improved training programs in hierarchical organizations.