In a series of studies, we ask whether and to what extent the base rate of a behavior influences associated moral judgment. Previous research aimed at answering different but related questions are suggestive of such an effect. However, these other investigations involve injunctive norms and special reference groups which are inappropriate for an examination of the effects of base rates per se. Across five studies, we find that, when properly isolated, base rates do indeed influence moral judgment, but they do so with only very small effect sizes. In another study, we test the possibility that the very limited influence of base rates on moral judgment could be a result of a general phenomenon such as the fundamental attribution error, which is not specific to moral judgment. The results suggest that moral judgment may be uniquely resilient to the influence of base rates. In a final pair of studies, we test secondary hypotheses that injunctive norms and special reference groups would inflate any influence on moral judgments relative to base rates alone. The results supported those hypotheses.

在一系列研究中，我们询问行为的基本比率是否以及在多大程度上影响了相关的道德判断。先前旨在回答不同但相关问题的研究表明了这种效果。但是，这些其他调查涉及禁令规范和特殊参考小组，这对于检查基本费率本身的影响是不合适的。在五项研究中，我们发现，如果适当地隔离基准利率，确实会影响道德判断，但是影响很小。在另一项研究中，我们测试了基本税率对道德判断的非常有限的影响可能是由普遍现象（例如根本归因错误）导致的，这不是道德判断所特有的。结果表明，道德判断可能对基准利率的影响具有独特的弹性。在最后的一对研究中，我们测试了次要假设，即禁令规范和特殊参考群体会增加对道德判断的影响（相对于基本费率而言）。结果支持了这些假设。