Moral judgments change across the lifespan in older adults
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
confidence 87/100
Empirical studies consistently demonstrate that moral judgments change across the lifespan, with older adults exhibiting a significantly higher tendency toward deontological (duty-based) rather than utilitarian decision-making compared to younger adults.
Evidence for · 4
Age differences in moral judgment: Older adults are more deontological than younger adults
2018 · cited by 78
Results from experiments indicate that older adults make significantly more deontological moral judgments compared to younger adults.
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More for · 3
Age Differences in Intuitive Moral Decision-Making: Associations with Inter-Network Neural Connectivity
2021 · cited by 21
Older adults were more likely to endorse deontological decisions, particularly when the choice was immediately compelling or intuitive.
Age-related differences in Default Mode Network resting-state functional connectivity but not gray matter volume relate to sacrificial moral decision-making and working memory performance.
2022 · cited by 4
Older adults make fewer utilitarian decisions than younger adults during sacrificial moral dilemmas, which relate to age-related neural connectivity changes.
MORAL GAIN OR DECAY? EXAMINING AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN MORAL JUDGMENT
2019 · cited by 2
Studies examining age-related changes demonstrate that older adults perceive immoral acts differently and show divergent patterns in cognitive and emotional dimensions of moral judgment.