‘To be aware of limitations is already to be beyond them.’ –Hegel
In two experiments we showed that exposure to an incidental black and white visual contrast leads people to think in a “black and white” manner, as indicated by more extreme moral judgments.
Participants who were primed with a black and white checkered background while considering a moral dilemma (Experiment 1) or a series of social issues (Experiment 2) gave ratings that were significantly further from the response scale’s mid-point, relative to participants in control conditions without such priming.
These findings suggest that in addition to affective cues and gut feelings, non-affective cues relating to processing style can influence moral judgments.
{ ScienceDirect }
art { Lorna Simpson }
