With great(er) power comes great(er) responsibility: an intercultural investigation of the effect of social roles on moral responsibility attribution

This paper investigates the relevance of social roles and hierarchies for the attribution of blame and causation in five culturally different countries, namely China, Germany, Poland, the United Arabic Emirates, and the United States of America. We demonstrate that in all these countries, hierarchical differences between the social roles occupied by two agents and associated differences in duties to care for others affect how these two agents are morally and causally judged when they make a decision together. Agents higher in a hierarchy are attributed more blame and considered more causally responsible for an action's consequences. We also demonstrate that the degree of this effect depends on culture-specific differences in how hierarchies are conceived.

Automated summary

This study investigates how social roles and hierarchies influence the attribution of blame and causation in China, Germany, Poland, the United Arabic Emirates, and the United States of America. The results show that differences in hierarchical positions and responsibilities to care for others affect moral and causal judgments when two agents make a decision together across all these countries. Higher-ranking agents are attributed more blame and considered more causally responsible for the consequences of their actions. The degree of this effect varies based on culture-specific conceptions of hierarchies.