The what, how, and why of moral character judgments

In this chapter, we review research on judgments of others’ moral character, focusing on three questions. First, what inputs affect such judgments? As we review, moral character judgments are driven by a wide range of inputs that vary in their normative relevance. Second, how are all of these inputs integrated into a holistic, overall evaluation of moral character? Based on limited research, we propose that moral character judgments are computed as an average of all available information, weighing negative information more heavily than positive information. Lastly, why do we make moral character judgments in the first place? Building on work that views moral character judgments as indicating another person's likely intentions, we propose that, more broadly, moral character judgments track the likely benefits or costs to the self of affiliating with another person. Our account of moral character judgments makes sense of many extant findings and raises new questions for future research.