Explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19
Abstract Disturbingly realistic triage scenarios during the COVID-19 pandemic provide an opportunity for studying discrimination in moral reasoning. Biases and favoritism do not need to be explicit and overt, but can remain implicit and covert. In addition to assessing laypeople’s propensity for eng...
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Nature Portfolio
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-50385-w |
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| _version_ | 1846158685621977088 |
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| author | Nico Gradwohl Hansjörg Neth Helge Giese Wolfgang Gaissmaier |
| author_facet | Nico Gradwohl Hansjörg Neth Helge Giese Wolfgang Gaissmaier |
| author_sort | Nico Gradwohl |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Disturbingly realistic triage scenarios during the COVID-19 pandemic provide an opportunity for studying discrimination in moral reasoning. Biases and favoritism do not need to be explicit and overt, but can remain implicit and covert. In addition to assessing laypeople’s propensity for engaging in overt discrimination, the present study examines whether they reveal implicit biases through seemingly fair random allocations. We present a cross-sectional online study comprising 6 timepoints and a total of 2296 participants. Each individual evaluated 19 hypothetical scenarios that provide an allocation dilemma between two patients who are in need of ventilation and differ only in one focal feature. Participants could either allocate the last ventilator to a patient, or opt for random allocation to express impartiality. Overall, participants exhibited clear biases for the patient who was expected to be favored based on health factors, previous ethical or caretaking behaviors, and in-group favoritism. If one patient had been pre-allocated care, a higher probability of keeping the ventilator for the favored patient indicates persistent favoritism. Surprisingly, the absence of an asymmetry in random allocations indicates the absence of covert discrimination. Our results demonstrate that laypeople’s hypothetical triage decisions discriminate overtly and show explicit biases. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a9dddae9b4c84f54bb6b375842f9311a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-a9dddae9b4c84f54bb6b375842f9311a2024-11-24T12:18:12ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-01-0114111010.1038/s41598-023-50385-wExplicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19Nico Gradwohl0Hansjörg Neth1Helge Giese2Wolfgang Gaissmaier3Department of Psychology, University of KonstanzDepartment of Psychology, University of KonstanzDepartment of Psychology, University of KonstanzDepartment of Psychology, University of KonstanzAbstract Disturbingly realistic triage scenarios during the COVID-19 pandemic provide an opportunity for studying discrimination in moral reasoning. Biases and favoritism do not need to be explicit and overt, but can remain implicit and covert. In addition to assessing laypeople’s propensity for engaging in overt discrimination, the present study examines whether they reveal implicit biases through seemingly fair random allocations. We present a cross-sectional online study comprising 6 timepoints and a total of 2296 participants. Each individual evaluated 19 hypothetical scenarios that provide an allocation dilemma between two patients who are in need of ventilation and differ only in one focal feature. Participants could either allocate the last ventilator to a patient, or opt for random allocation to express impartiality. Overall, participants exhibited clear biases for the patient who was expected to be favored based on health factors, previous ethical or caretaking behaviors, and in-group favoritism. If one patient had been pre-allocated care, a higher probability of keeping the ventilator for the favored patient indicates persistent favoritism. Surprisingly, the absence of an asymmetry in random allocations indicates the absence of covert discrimination. Our results demonstrate that laypeople’s hypothetical triage decisions discriminate overtly and show explicit biases.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-50385-w |
| spellingShingle | Nico Gradwohl Hansjörg Neth Helge Giese Wolfgang Gaissmaier Explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19 Scientific Reports |
| title | Explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19 |
| title_full | Explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | Explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19 |
| title_short | Explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism, but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during COVID-19 |
| title_sort | explicit discrimination and ingroup favoritism but no implicit biases in hypothetical triage decisions during covid 19 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-50385-w |
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