GRATITUDE AND CONFORMITY: TESTING THE SOCIAL ALIGNMENT FUNCTION IN A MORAL DILEMMA JUDGEMENT TASK

Abstract

Recent research has provided evidence for the social alignment function of gratitude, where gratitude has been shown to increase conformity to social norms in various tasks. The present study sought to extend the existing gratitude and conformity research by testing the social alignment function in the context of a moral dilemma judgement task. Hence, this study examined whether experiencing gratitude would increase conformity to moral dilemma judgements. Using a 3 (emotion: gratitude vs. amusement vs. neutral) x 2 (normative acceptance: low vs. high) x 2 (confederate acceptance: low vs. high) mixed design, participants underwent an emotion induction recall task, before completing a moral dilemma judgement task. Fabricated survey results purportedly displaying judgement responses from past participants were displayed with each vignette. We replicated conformity effects, where participants aligned themselves with the fabricated responses. Contrary to previous research, our study found that grateful participants were not more likely than amused or neutral participants to conform to confederates' responses. Hence, the results do not support the hypothesis that the social alignment function of gratitude operates in a moral dilemma judgement task.