The Influence Of Approach-Avoidance Behavior On Moral Judgment

Moral judgment is one of the essential evaluative activities in social life, and it is a common and complex mental activity in our daily life. With the rise of Embodied Cognition view, it provides an effective and innovative way to understand and research the mor al judgment and the view consider that the body’s sensitivity has a certain influence on moral judgment. The moral research has yield ed fruitful results after the introduction of Embodied Cognition view, but few studies directly concerned approach-avoidance behavior.As the basic survival skill of human, approach-avoidance behav ior is particularly common in daily life, and it is the most fundame ntal reaction of people to the environment. Existing research shows that approach-avoidance behavior affect people’s attitudes and cogni tive decision-making. From the perspective of Embodied Cognition, this research want to investigate the influence of approach-avoidance behavior on the explicit and implicit moral judgment with two stu dies.Regarding the arm’s flexion/extension as approach-avoidance behavior, Study 1 examined the effects of the approach-avoidance be havior on explicit moral judgment.The result shows that under the beha vior of approach, neutral, avoid conditions,the moral judgment scores of s ubjects showed a trend of decline, and there are significant differences bet ween each other. In Study 2, pulling/pushing the joystick is regard ed as approach-avoidance behavior, and combine it with the implicit association test (IAT), in order to examine the impact of approach- avoidance behavior on implicit moral judgment. The result shows tha t in the inconsistent task of implicit association test, the reaction time t hat when the participants under the approach, neutral, avoid training cond itions showed a trend of increasing, and there are significant differences b etween each other; in the consistent task of implicit association test, th e reaction time that when the participants under the approach, neutral, av oid training conditions showed a trend of decreasing, and there are signifi cant differences between each other.This research mainly draws the following conclusion:1. The approach-avoidance behavior will affect the individual’s explicit moral judgment. Compared with the neutral and the avoidan ce behavior, the judgment under the approach behavior will be mor e looser. Compared with the approach and the neutral behavior,the j udgment under the avoidance behavior will be more strict.2. The approach-avoidance behavior will affect the individual’s implicit moral judgment. Compared with the neutral and avoidance tra ining, approach training can set up the link of " positive-immoral " faster, so that the individual’s moral judgments will be more looser. Compared with the approach and neutral training, avoidance training can set up the link of " negative-immoral " faster, so that the indi vidual moral judgment will be more strict.