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Open AccessArticle
Permissibility, Moral Emotions, and Perceived Moral Agency in Autonomous Driving Dilemmas: An Investigation of Pedestrian-Sacrifice and Driver-Sacrifice Scenarios in the Third-Person Perspective
by
Chaowu Dong
Chaowu Dong ,
Xuqun You
Xuqun You and
Ying Li
Ying Li
Prof. Ying Li obtained her PhD degree from Shaanxi Normal University in 2008. She is a professor at [...]
Prof. Ying Li obtained her PhD degree from Shaanxi Normal University in 2008. She is a professor at the School of Psychology of Shaanxi Normal University and a doctor of basic psychology. She is also the deputy director of the Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience and the executive director of the Shaanxi Psychological Association. She has been engaged in psychology teaching and scientific research for a long time, and her research directions are teachers’ professional mental health, applied cognition, and human factors
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School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710062, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Behav. Sci. 2025, 15(8), 1038; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081038 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 26 June 2025
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Revised: 26 July 2025
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Accepted: 29 July 2025
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Published: 30 July 2025
Abstract
Automated vehicles controlled by artificial intelligence are becoming capable of making moral decisions independently. This study investigates the differences in participants’ perceptions of the moral decision-maker’s permissibility when viewing scenarios (pre-test) and after witnessing the outcomes of moral decisions (post-test). It also investigates how permissibility, ten typical moral emotions, and perceived moral agency fluctuate when AI and the human driver make deontological or utilitarian decisions in a pedestrian-sacrificing dilemma (Experiment 1, N = 254) and a driver-sacrificing dilemma (Experiment 2, N = 269) from a third-person perspective. Moreover, by conducting binary logistic regression, this study examined whether these factors could predict the non-decrease in permissibility ratings. In both experiments, participants preferred to delegate decisions to human drivers rather than to AI, and they generally preferred utilitarianism over deontology. The results of perceived moral emotions and moral agency provide evidence. Moreover, Experiment 2 elicited greater variations in permissibility, moral emotions, and perceived moral agency compared to Experiment 1. Moreover, deontology and gratitude could positively predict the non-decrease in permissibility ratings in Experiment 1, while contempt had a negative influence. In Experiment 2, the human driver and disgust were significant negative predictor factors, while perceived moral agency had a positive influence. These findings deepen the comprehension of the dynamic processes of autonomous driving’s moral decision-making and facilitate understanding of people’s attitudes toward moral machines and their underlying reasons, providing a reference for developing more sophisticated moral machines.
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Dong, C.; You, X.; Li, Y.
Permissibility, Moral Emotions, and Perceived Moral Agency in Autonomous Driving Dilemmas: An Investigation of Pedestrian-Sacrifice and Driver-Sacrifice Scenarios in the Third-Person Perspective. Behav. Sci. 2025, 15, 1038.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081038
AMA Style
Dong C, You X, Li Y.
Permissibility, Moral Emotions, and Perceived Moral Agency in Autonomous Driving Dilemmas: An Investigation of Pedestrian-Sacrifice and Driver-Sacrifice Scenarios in the Third-Person Perspective. Behavioral Sciences. 2025; 15(8):1038.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081038
Chicago/Turabian Style
Dong, Chaowu, Xuqun You, and Ying Li.
2025. "Permissibility, Moral Emotions, and Perceived Moral Agency in Autonomous Driving Dilemmas: An Investigation of Pedestrian-Sacrifice and Driver-Sacrifice Scenarios in the Third-Person Perspective" Behavioral Sciences 15, no. 8: 1038.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081038
APA Style
Dong, C., You, X., & Li, Y.
(2025). Permissibility, Moral Emotions, and Perceived Moral Agency in Autonomous Driving Dilemmas: An Investigation of Pedestrian-Sacrifice and Driver-Sacrifice Scenarios in the Third-Person Perspective. Behavioral Sciences, 15(8), 1038.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081038
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