ABSTRACT
A moral dilemma is a decision-making paradox without unambiguously acceptable or preferable options. This paper investigates if and how the virtual enactment of two renowned moral dilemmas---the Trolley and the Mad Bomber---influence decision-making when compared with mentally visualizing such situations. We conducted two user studies with two gender-balanced samples of 60 participants in total that compared between paper-based and virtual-reality (VR) conditions, while simulating 5 distinct scenarios for the Trolley dilemma, and 4 storyline scenarios for the Mad Bomber's dilemma. Our findings suggest that the VR enactment of moral dilemmas further fosters utilitarian decision-making, while it amplifies biases such as sparing juveniles and seeking retribution. Ultimately, we theorize that the VR enactment of renowned moral dilemmas can yield ecologically-valid data for training future Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems on ethical decision-making, and we elicit early design principles for the training of such systems.
Supplemental Material
Available for Download
Screenshots featuring the character models from the Virtual Reality (VR) enactment of the Trolley and Mad Bomber dilemmas in JPEG format.
- Nikolaos Aletras, Dimitrios Tsarapatsanis, Daniel Preotiuc-Pietro, and Vasileios Lampos. 2016. Predicting judicial decisions of the European Court of Human Rights: A natural language processing perspective. Peer J Computer Science 2 (2016), e93. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.93Google ScholarCross Ref
- Julia Annas. 1992. Ancient ethics and modern morality. Philosophical Perspectives 6 (1992), 119--136. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2214241Google ScholarCross Ref
- Edmond Awad, Sohan Dsouza, Richard Kim, Jonathan Schulz, Joseph Henrich, Azim Shariff, Jean-François Bonnefon, and Iyad Rahwan. 2018. The Moral Machine experiment. Nature 563, 7729 (2018), 59. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0637--6Google ScholarCross Ref
- Jeremy Bailenson. 2018. Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, how it Works, and what it Can Do. WW Norton & Company.Google Scholar
- Reuben Binns, Max Van Kleek, Michael Veale, Ulrik Lyngs, Jun Zhao, and Nigel Shadbolt. 2018. 'It's Reducing a Human Being to a Percentage': Perceptions of Justice in Algorithmic Decisions. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 377. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173951Google ScholarDigital Library
- Derek C Bok. 1976. Can ethics be taught? Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 8, 9 (1976), 26--30. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.1976.10568973Google ScholarCross Ref
- Rich Caruana and Alexandru Niculescu-Mizil. 2006. An empirical comparison of supervised learning algorithms. In Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on Machine learning. ACM, 161--168. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1143844.1143865Google ScholarDigital Library
- Anne Colby and Lawrence Kohlberg. 2011. The measurement of moral judgment. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
- Keith E Davis and Edward E Jones. 1960. Changes in interpersonal perception as a means of reducing cognitive dissonance. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 61, 3 (1960), 402. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0044214Google ScholarCross Ref
- Neal Desai, Andre Pineda, Majken Runquist, Mark Andrew Fusunyan, Katy Glenn, Gabrielle Kathryn Gould, Michelle Rachel Katz, Henry Lichtblau, Maggie Jean Morgan, Sophia Wen, and others. 2010. Torture at times: Waterboarding in the media. (2010). https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/4420886Google Scholar
- Ernst Fehr and Simon Gächter. 2000. Fairness and retaliation: The economics of reciprocity. Journal of economic perspectives 14, 3 (2000), 159--181. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jep.14.3.159Google ScholarCross Ref
- Philippa Foot. 1967. The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect. Oxford Review 5 (1967), 5--15. https://philpapers.org/rec/FOOTPO-2Google Scholar
- Kathryn B. Francis, Charles Howard, Ian S. Howard, Michaela Gummerum, Giorgio Ganis, Grace Anderson, and Sylvia Terbeck. 2016. Virtual Morality: Transitioning from Moral Judgment to Moral Action? PLOS ONE 11, 10 (Oct. 2016), e0164374. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164374Google ScholarCross Ref
- Dorothea Frede. 2017. Plato's Ethics: An Overview. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (winter 2017 ed.), Edward N. Zalta (Ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/plato-ethics/Google Scholar
- Samuel Freeman. 1994. Utilitarianism, Deontology, and the Priority of Right. Philosophy & Public Affairs 23, 4 (Oct. 1994), 313--349. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1088--4963.1994.tb00017.xGoogle ScholarCross Ref
- M Fumagalli, Roberta Ferrucci, F Mameli, Sara Marceglia, Simona Mrakic-Sposta, Stefano Zago, Claudio Lucchiari, D Consonni, F Nordio, G Pravettoni, and others. 2010. Gender-related differences in moral judgments. Cognitive processing 11, 3 (2010), 219--226. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.01.003Google ScholarCross Ref
- Victor Grassian. 1981. Moral reasoning: Ethical theory and some contemporary moral problems. Prentice-Hall Wilmington California.Google Scholar
- Kurt Gray and Chelsea Schein. 2012. Two Minds Vs. Two Philosophies: Mind Perception Defines Morality and Dissolves the Debate Between Deontology and Utilitarianism. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 3, 3 (Sept. 2012), 405--423. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13164-012-0112--5Google ScholarCross Ref
- Sandra G. Hart and Lowell E. Staveland. 1988. Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of Empirical and Theoretical Research. In Advances in Psychology, Peter A. Hancock and Najmedin Meshkati (Ed.). Human Mental Workload, Vol. 52. North-Holland, 139--183. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166411508623869Google Scholar
- Roslin V Hauck, H Atabakhsb, Pichai Ongvasith, Harsh Gupta, and Hsinchun Chen. 2002. Using Coplink to analyze criminal-justice data. Computer 35, 3 (2002), 30--37. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/2.989927Google ScholarDigital Library
- Patricia M King and Matthew J Mayhew. 2002. Moral judgement development in higher education: Insights from the Defining Issues Test. Journal of moral education 31, 3 (2002), 247--270. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305724022000008106Google ScholarCross Ref
- Judith Lichtenberg. 2001. The ethics of retaliation. Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly 21, 4 (2001), 4--8. http://ojs2.gmu.edu/PPPQ/article/view/366Google Scholar
- Patrick Lin. 2015. Why ethics matters for autonomous cars. In Autonomes fahren. Springer, 69--85. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978--3--662--48847--8Google ScholarCross Ref
- Caitlin Lustig, Katie Pine, Bonnie Nardi, Lilly Irani, Min Kyung Lee, Dawn Nafus, and Christian Sandvig. 2016. Algorithmic authority: the ethics, politics, and economics of algorithms that interpret, decide, and manage. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 1057--1062. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2886426Google ScholarDigital Library
- Terrance McConnell. 2002. Moral Dilemmas. (April 2002). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/ entries/moral-dilemmas/Google Scholar
- Lee Kwan Min and Jung Younbo. 2005. Evolutionary nature of virtual experience. Journal of Cultural and Evolutionary Psychology 3 (2005), 159--178. https://akademiai.com/doi/abs/10.1556/JCEP.3.2005.2.4Google ScholarCross Ref
- Alexander G Mirnig and Alexander Meschtscherjakov. 2019. Trolled by the Trolley Problem: On What Matters for Ethical Decision Making in Automated Vehicles. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 509. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300739Google ScholarDigital Library
- United Nations. 1985. Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/catcidtp/catcidtp.htmlGoogle Scholar
- C. David Navarrete, Melissa M. McDonald, Michael L. Mott, and Benjamin Asher. 2012. Virtual morality: Emotion and action in a simulated three-dimensional ?trolley problem". Emotion 12, 2 (2012), 364--370. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0025561Google ScholarCross Ref
- Indrajeet Patil, Carlotta Cogoni, Nicola Zangrando, Luca Chittaro, and Giorgia Silani. 2014. Affective basis of judgment-behavior discrepancy in virtual experiences of moral dilemmas. Social Neuroscience 9, 1 (Feb. 2014), 94--107. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2013.870091Google ScholarCross Ref
- Hernán Reyes. 2007. The worst scars are in the mind: psychological torture. International Review of the Red Cross 89, 867 (2007), 591--617. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1816383107001300Google ScholarCross Ref
- Barbara O Rothbaum, Larry F Hodges, David Ready, Ken Graap, and Renato D Alarcon. 2001. Virtual reality exposure therapy for Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. The Journal of clinical psychiatry (2001). https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.v62n0808Google ScholarCross Ref
- Aitor Rovira, David Swapp, Bernhard Spanlang, and Mel Slater. 2009. The use of virtual reality in the study of people's responses to violent incidents. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 3 (2009). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2802544/Google Scholar
- Neal E Seymour, Anthony G Gallagher, Sanziana A Roman, Michael K O'brien, Vipin K Bansal, Dana K Andersen, and Richard M Satava. 2002. Virtual reality training improves operating room performance: results of a randomized, double-blinded study. Annals of surgery 236, 4 (2002), 458. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00000658--200210000-00008Google ScholarCross Ref
- Alexander Skulmowski, Andreas Bunge, Kai Kaspar, and Gordon Pipa. 2014. Forced-choice decision-making in modified trolley dilemma situations: a virtual reality and eye tracking study. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 8 (2014), 426. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00426Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mel Slater and Sylvia Wilbur. 1997. A Framework for Immersive Virtual Environments (FIVE): Speculations on the Role of Presence in Virtual Environments. Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments 6 (1997), 603--616. https://doi.org/10.1162/pres.1997.6.6.603Google ScholarDigital Library
- Stephen J Thoma. 1986. Estimating gender differences in the comprehension and preference of moral issues. Developmental review 6, 2 (1986), 165--180. https://doi.org/10.1016/0273--2297(86)90010--9Google ScholarCross Ref
- Judith Jarvis Thomson. 1984. The Trolley Problem Comment. Yale Law Journal 94 (1984), 1395--1415. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/ylr94&i=1415Google ScholarCross Ref
- John Torous, Maria K Wolters, Greg Wadley, and Rafael A Calvo. 2019. 4 th Symposium on Computing and Mental Health: Designing Ethical eMental Health Services. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, Sym05. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3298997Google ScholarDigital Library
- Michael Veale, Max Van Kleek, and Reuben Binns. 2018. Fairness and accountability design needs for algorithmic support in high-stakes public sector decision-making. In Proceedings of the 2018 chi conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, 440. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174014Google ScholarDigital Library
- Allison Woodruff, Sarah E Fox, Steven Rousso-Schindler, and Jeffrey Warshaw. 2018. A qualitative exploration of perceptions of algorithmic fairness. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 656. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174230Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Would you do it?: Enacting Moral Dilemmas in Virtual Reality for Understanding Ethical Decision-Making
Recommendations
Capable but Amoral? Comparing AI and Human Expert Collaboration in Ethical Decision Making
CHI '22: Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsWhile artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly applied for decision-making processes, ethical decisions pose challenges for AI applications. Given that humans cannot always agree on the right thing to do, how would ethical decision-making by AI ...
Moral intensity and ethical decision-making: a contextual extension
This paper explores the role of an individual's perception of situation-specific issues on decision-making in ethical situations. It does so by examining the influence of moral intensity on a person's perceptions of an ethical problem, and subsequent ...
Exploring the human factors in moral dilemmas of autonomous vehicles
AbstractGiven the widespread popularity of autonomous vehicles (AVs), researchers have been exploring the ethical implications of AVs. Researchers believe that empirical experiments can provide insights into human characterization of ethically sound ...
Comments