WASHINGTON — If you could go back in time and kill Adolf Hitler before World War II begins, would you do it?
Researchers recently analyzed data from more than 6,000 people who were asked this and other similar moral dilemma questions to see the difference between men’s answers and women’s,.
The result? Both sexes weighed the consequences, but women were more conflicted than men and therefore more likely to let Hitler live.
“Women seem to be more likely to have this negative, emotional, gut-level reaction to causing harm to people in the dilemmas, to the one person, whereas men were less likely to express this strong emotional reaction to harm,” Rebecca Friesdorf, the lead author of the study, tells NPR.
The questions each had two scenarios. While some respondents focused on the act of killing Hitler (deontologists) others weighed the cost of the act versus the benefit (utilitarians).
Esentially, utilitarians focused more on which response would benefit the most people. In this case, killing Hitler could save many lives.
But in another question, participants are asked whether they would let their daughter work for a man in their village making explicit films if it would keep their family fed for several growing seasons.
In this case most people said they wouldn’t, even though it would benefit more people.
Overall, the research shows men had an easier time making a decision than women did.
“Women seem to be feeling more equal levels of both emotion and cognition. They seem to be experiencing similar levels of both, so it’s more difficult for them to make their choice,” Friesdorf tells NPR.
