André, Mieke (2025) Counterfactual Thinking, Racism and Moral Judgements. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Moral judgement is not only influenced by what actually happened, but also by what people imagine could have happened. A key cognitive mechanism behind these evaluations is counterfactual thinking, the mental simulation of alternative versions of the past. The type of counterfactuals people generate and how they interpret them may be shaped by personal biases such as racism. In the current study participants (N = 217) read a vignette describing a morally ambiguous medical scenario involving either a Moroccan-Dutch or White-Dutch doctor. They were then asked to generate a counterfactual, rate its difficulty, and evaluate the doctor's actions on a moral judgement scale. Finally, their level of subtle racism was assessed. Results revealed a near-significant interaction between racism and counterfactual direction: participants with high levels of subtle racism judged the actor less harshly when they generated downward counterfactuals compared to upward ones, a pattern not observed among participants with low levels of racism. Additionally, a separate analysis showed that participants who found it easier to generate a counterfactual issued harsher moral judgements, regardless of their level of subtle racism. Overall, upward counterfactuals were associated with harsher evaluations. No significant effects were found for race of the actor. These findings suggest that subtle prejudice may not directly alter moral judgement, but may influence the cognitive framing of moral evaluations through counterfactual thinking.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Epstude, K. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Sep 2025 09:37 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Sep 2025 09:37 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5941 |
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