Kant argued that individuals should be punished “proportional to their internal wickedness,” and recent work has demonstrated that essentialism—the notion that observable characteristics reflect internal, biological, unchanging “essences”—influences moral judgment. However, these efforts have yielded conflicting results: essentialism sometimes increases and sometimes decreases moral condemnation. To resolve these discrepancies, we investigated the mechanisms by which essentialism influences moral judgment, focusing on perceptions of actors’ control over their behavior, the target of essentialism (particular behaviors vs. actors’ character), and the component of essentialism (biology vs. immutability). Participants punished people described as having a criminal essence more than those with a non-criminal essence or no essence. Probing potential mechanisms underlying this effect, we found a mediating role for perceptions of control and weak influences of essentialism focus (behavior vs. character) and component of essentialism (biology vs. immutability). These results extend prior work on essentialism and moral cognition, demonstrating a causal link between perceptions of “internal wickedness” and moral judgment. Our findings also resolve discrepancies in past work on the influence of essentialism on moral judgment, highlighting the role that perceptions of actors’ control over their behavior play in moral condemnation.

中文翻译：

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“内部邪恶”：调查本质主义如何以及为何影响惩罚和道德谴责

康德认为个人应该受到“与其内在邪恶成比例的惩罚”，最近的工作表明本质主义——可观察到的特征反映了内在的、生物的、不变的“本质”的概念——会影响道德判断。然而，这些努力产生了相互矛盾的结果：本质主义有时会增加，有时会减少道德谴责。为了解决这些差异，我们研究了本质主义影响道德判断的机制，重点关注对行为者对其行为控制的看法、本质主义的目标（特定行为与行为者性格）以及本质主义的组成部分（生物学与行为主义）。不变性）。参与者对被描述为具有犯罪实质的人的惩罚要多于具有非犯罪实质或没有实质的人。探索这种效应背后的潜在机制，我们发现了控制感知和本质主义焦点（行为与性格）和本质主义组成部分（生物学与不变性）的微弱影响的中介作用。这些结果扩展了先前关于本质主义和道德认知的工作，证明了“内在邪恶”的看法与道德判断之间存在因果关系。我们的研究结果还解决了过去关于本质主义对道德判断的影响的工作中的差异，强调了对行为者对其行为的控制的看法在道德谴责中所起的作用。这些结果扩展了先前关于本质主义和道德认知的工作，证明了“内在邪恶”的看法与道德判断之间存在因果关系。我们的研究结果还解决了过去关于本质主义对道德判断的影响的工作中的差异，强调了对行为者对其行为的控制的看法在道德谴责中所起的作用。这些结果扩展了先前关于本质主义和道德认知的工作，证明了“内在邪恶”的看法与道德判断之间存在因果关系。我们的研究结果还解决了过去关于本质主义对道德判断的影响的工作中的差异，强调了对行为者对其行为的控制的看法在道德谴责中所起的作用。