The contributions of incidental affect, cognitive load and moral decision-making processes to moral-ethical choices in contextually rich dilemmas

Moral-ethical decision making in military contexts is often coloured with intense emotions and cognitive burden. How those factors impact the choices people make is unclear, although there is substantial research demonstrating that incidental affect and cognitive load can impact choices involving standard moral dilemmas (e.g., footbridge and trolley dilemmas). We used a 2 (Incidental affect: positive, negative) × 2 (Cognitive load: high, low) between-participant design (n = 266) to examine their effects on moral choices and decision-making processes in two military moral dilemmas drawn from the operational experiences of Canadian Armed Forces personnel, involving difficult trade-offs between obedience following orders vs. acting to help others in immediate need. Neither factor nor their interaction impacted choices. However, choices were correlated with moral decision-making processes involving considerations of moral intensity, justness, and moral philosophies, suggesting that our moral evaluations are important drivers of choices in scenarios rich in contextual information.