The Capacity for Ethical Decisions: The Relationship Between Working Memory and Ethical Decision Making | Science and Engineering Ethics Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

The Capacity for Ethical Decisions: The Relationship Between Working Memory and Ethical Decision Making

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Science and Engineering Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although various models of ethical decision making (EDM) have implicitly called upon constructs governed by working memory capacity (WMC), a study examining this relationship specifically has not been conducted. Using a sense making framework of EDM, we examined the relationship between WMC and various sensemaking processes contributing to EDM. Participants completed an online assessment comprised of a demographic survey, intelligence test, various EDM measures, and the Automated Operation Span task to determine WMC. Results indicated that WMC accounted for unique variance above and beyond ethics education, exposure to ethical issues, and intelligence in several sensemaking processes. Additionally, a marginally significant effect of WMC was also found with reference to EDM. Individual differences in WMC appear likely to play an important role in the ethical decision-making process, and future researchers may wish to consider their potential influences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
¥17,985 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Japan)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Angie, A. D., Connelly, S., Waples, E. P., & Kligyte, V. (2011). The influence of discrete emotions on judgment and decision-making: A meta-analytic review. Cognition and Emotion, 25(8), 1393–1422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antes, A. L., Brown, R. P., Murphy, S. T., Waples, E. P., Mumford, M. D., Connelly, S., et al. (2007). Personality and ethical decision-making in research: The role of perceptions of self and others. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 2, 15–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K. Spence & J. Spence (Eds.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 2, pp. 89–195). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. (2007). Working memory, thought, and action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G. A. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., & Logie, R. H. (1999). Working memory: The multiple component model. In A. Miyake & P. Shah (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 28–61). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley, A. D., Thomson, N., & Buchanan, M. (1975). Word length and the structure of short term memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 14(6), 575–589. doi:10.1016/S0022-5371(75)80045-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagdasarov, Z., Harkrider, L. N., Johnson, J. F., Thiel, C. E., MacDougall, A. E., Devenport, L. D., et al. (2012). An investigation of case-based instructional strategies on learning, retention, and ethical decision-making. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 7(4), 79–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagdasarov, Z., Thiel, C. E., Johnson, J. F., Connelly, S., Harkrider, L., Devenport, L. D., et al. (2013). Case-based ethics instruction: The influence of contextual and individual factors in case content on ethical decision-making. Science and Engineering Ethics, 19(3), 1305–1322. doi:10.1007/s11948-012-9414-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagozzi, R. P., Dholakia, U. M., & Basuroy, S. (2003). How effortful decisions get enacted: The motivating role of decision processes, desires, and anticipated emotions. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 16(4), 273–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagozzi, R. P., & Pieters, R. (1998). Goal-directed emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 12(1), 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, J. T., & Morris, R. G. (1999). Working memory(s). Brain and Cognition, 41, 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blaney, P. H. (1986). Affect and memory: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 99(2), 229–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caughron, J. J., Antes, A. L., Beeler, C. K., Thiel, C. E., Wang, X., & Mumford, M. D. (2011). Sensemaking strategies for ethical decision making. Ethics and Behavior, 21, 351–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christianson, S. A. (Ed.). (1992). The handbook of emotion and memory: Research and theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway, A. R. A., Cowan, N., & Bunting, M. E. (2001). The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: The importance of working memory capacity. Psychological Bulletin & Review, 8, 331–335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway, A. R. A., Cowan, N., Bunting, M. F., Therriault, D. J., & Minkoff, S. R. B. (2002). A latent variable analysis of working memory capacity, short-term memory capacity, processing speed, and general fluid intelligence. Intelligence, 30, 163–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway, A. R. A., & Engle, R. W. (1994). Working memory and retrieval: A resource-dependent inhibition model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 354–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, A. R., Kane, M. J., & Engle, R. W. (2003). Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(12), 547–552. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2003.10.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cowan, N. (1997). Attention and memory. An integrated framework (Oxford Psychology Series 26). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 1–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19(4), 450–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Detert, J. R., Treviño, L. K., & Sweitzer, V. L. (2008). Moral disengagement in ethical decision making: A study of antecedents and outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 374–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty, M., Thomas, R., & Lange, N. (2010). Toward an integrative theory of hypothesis generation, probability judgment, and hypothesis testing. Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 52, 299–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford, R. C., & Richardson, W. D. (1994). Ethical decision making: A review of the empirical literature. Journal of Business Ethics, 13, 205–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaudine, A., & Thorne, L. (2001). Emotion and ethical decision-making in organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 31, 175–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimsley, G., Ruch, F. L., Warren, N. P., & Ford, J. S. (1985). Manual for the employee attitude survey, test of verbal reasoning. Glendale, CA: Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108, 814–834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harkrider, L. N., MacDougall, A. E., Bagdasarov, Z., Johnson, J. F., Thiel, C. E., Mumford, M. D., et al. (2013). Structuring case-based ethics trainings: How comparing cases and structured prompts influence training effectiveness. Ethics and Behavior, 23(3), 179–198. doi:10.1080/10508422.2013.774865.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harkrider, L. N., Thiel, C. E., Bagdasarov, Z., Mumford, M. D., Johnson, J. F., Connelly, S., et al. (2012). Improving case-based ethics training with codes of conduct and forecasting content. Ethics and Behavior, 22, 258–280. doi:10.1080/10508422.2012.661311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ilkowska, M., & Engle, R. (2010). Trait and state differences in working memory capacity. In A. Gruszka, G. Matthews, & B. Szymura (Eds.), Handbook of individual differences in cognition: Attention, memory, and executive control (pp. 295–320). New York, NY: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-1210-7_18.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J. F., Bagdasarov, Z., Harkrider, L. N., MacDougall, A., Connelly, S., Devenport, L. D., et al. (2013). The effects of note-taking and review processes on sensemaking and ethical decision making. Ethics and Behavior, 23(4), 299–323. doi:10.1080/10508422.2013.774275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J. F., Thiel, C. E., Bagdasarov, Z., Connelly, S., Harkrider, L., Devenport, L. D., et al. (2012). Case-based ethics education: The impact of cause complexity and outcome favorability on ethicality. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 7(3), 63–77. doi:10.1525/jer.2012.7.3.63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kane, M. J., Hambrick, D. Z., Tuholski, S. W., Wilhelm, O., Payne, T. W., & Engle, R. W. (2004). The generality of working memory capacity: A latent variable approach to verbal and visuospatial memory span and reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 189–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kensinger, E. A., & Corkin, S. (2003). Effect of negative emotional content on working memory and long-term memory. Emotion, 3(4), 378–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kensinger, E. A., & Schacter, D. L. (2006). Amygdala activity is associated with the successful encoding of item, but not source, information for positive and negative stimuli. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 2564–2570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kligyte, V., Connelly, S., Thiel, C. E., & Devenport, L. D. (2013). The influence of anger, fear, and emotion regulation strategies on ethical decision-making. Human Performance, 26(4), 297–326. doi:10.1080/08959285.2013.814655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stages in the development of moral thought and action. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1981). Essays on moral development: Vol. 1. The philosophy of moral development. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linnenbrink, E. A., Ryan, A. M., & Pintrich, P. R. (1999). The role of goals and affect in working memory functioning. Learning and Individual Differences, 11(2), 213–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikels, J. A., Reuter-Lorenz, P. A., Beyer, J. A., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2008). Emotion and working memory: Evidence for domain-specific processes for affective maintenance. Emotion, 8(2), 256–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81–97. doi:10.1037/h0043158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mumford, M. D., Connelly, S., Brown, R. P., Murphy, S. T., Hill, J. H., Antes, A. L., et al. (2008). Sensemaking approach to ethics training for scientists: Preliminary evidence of training effectiveness. Ethics and Behavior, 18, 315–339. doi:10.1080/10508420802487815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mumford, M. D., Devenport, L. D., Brown, R. P., Connelly, M. S., Murphy, S. T., Hill, J. H., et al. (2006). Validation of ethical decision-making measures: Evidence for a new set of measures. Ethics and Behavior, 16(4), 319–345. doi:10.1207/s15327019eb1604_4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nairne, J. S. (2002). Remembering over the short-term: The case against the standard model. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 53–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. A., & Shallice, T. (1986). Attention to action: Willed and automatic control of behavior. In R. J. Davidson, G. E. Schwartz, & D. Shapiro (Eds.), Consciousness and self-regulation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 4, pp. 1–18). New York: Plenum.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Peacock, J., Harkrider, L. N., Bagdasarov, Z., Connelly, S., Johnson, J. F., Thiel, C. E., et al. (2013). Effects of alternative outcome scenarios and structured outcome evaluation on case-based ethics instruction. Science and Engineering Ethics, 19(3), 1283–1303. doi:10.1007/s11948-012-9402-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perugini, M., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2001). The role of desires and anticipated emotions in goal-directed behaviours: Broadening and deepening the theory of planned behaviour. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40(1), 79–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rest, J. R. (1986). Moral development: Advances in research and theory. New York, NY: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, V. M., & Engle, R. W. (1997). Forward and backward serial recall. Intelligence, 25, 37–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruch, F. L., & Ruch, W. W. (1980). Employee aptitude survey. Los Angeles, CA: Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmeichel, B. J. (2007). Attention control, memory updating, and emotion regulation temporarily reduce the capacity for executive control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 241–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmeichel, B. J., Volokhov, R. N., & Demaree, H. A. (2008). Working memory capacity and the self-regulation of emotional expression and experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1526–1540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, W., & Chein, J. M. (2003). Controlled and automatic processing: Behavior, theory, and biological mechanisms. Cognitive Science, 27, 525–559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, P., & Miyake, A. (1996). The separability of working memory resources for spatial thinking and language processing: An individual differences approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 4–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sonenshein, S. (2007). The role of construction, intuition, and justification in responding to ethical issues at work: The sensemaking-intuition model. Academy of Management Review, 4, 1022–1040.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stenmark, C., Antes, A. L., Wang, X., Caughron, J., Thiel, C. E., & Mumford, M. D. (2010). Strategies in forecasting outcomes in ethical decision-making: Identifying and analyzing the causes of the problem. Ethics and Behavior, 20, 110–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thiel, C. E., Connelly, S., & Griffith, J. A. (2011). The influence of anger on ethical decision making: Comparison of a primary and secondary appraisal. Ethics and Behavior, 21(5), 380–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thiel, C. E., Connelly, S., Harkrider, L., Devenport, L. D., Bagdasarov, Z., Johnson, J. F., et al. (2013). Case-based knowledge and ethics education: Improving learning and transfer through emotionally rich cases. Science and Engineering Ethics, 19(1), 265–286. doi:10.1007/s11948-011-9318-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, R. P., Dougherty, M. R., Sprenger, A. M., & Harbison, J. I. (2008). Diagnostic hypothesis generation and human judgment. Psychological Review, 115, 155–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treviño, L. K. (1986). Ethical decision making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist model. Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 601–617.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. L., & Engle, R. W. (1989). Is working memory capacity task dependent? Journal of Memory and Language, 28(2), 127–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Unsworth, N., & Engle, R. W. (2007). The nature of individual differences in working memory capacity: Active maintenance in primary memory and controlled search from secondary memory. Psychological Review, 114, 104–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Unsworth, N., Heitz, R. P., Schrock, J. C., & Engle, R. W. (2005). An automated version of the operation span task. Behavior Research Methods, 37(3), 498–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vincent, A. S., Decker, B. P., & Mumford, M. D. (2002). Divergent thinking, intelligence, and expertise: A test of alternative models. Creativity Research Journal, 14(2), 163–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werhane, P. H. (2002). Moral imagination and systems thinking. Journal of Business Ethics, 38, 33–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woehr, D. J., & Huffcutt, A. I. (1994). Rater training for performance appraisal: A quantitative review. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 67, 189–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woiceshyn, J. (2011). A model for ethical decision making in business: Reasoning, intuition, and rational moral principles. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(3), 311–323. doi:10.1007/s10551-011-0910-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, 455 W. Lindsey St., Dale Hall Tower, Room 705, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

    April Martin, Zhanna Bagdasarov & Shane Connelly

Authors
  1. April Martin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhanna Bagdasarov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shane Connelly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to April Martin.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Demographic Survey

Appendix 2: Friendswood City Council

You are an expert building contractor. You have a master’s degree in civil engineering, and after 20 years of working as a licensed contractor, you decided to retire. You and your spouse live in Friendswood, a small community in which you are very active. You often volunteer your services and expertise to local organizations that need your help. For instance, when city structures are being built, you often volunteer your expertise as a contractor free of charge, so that the city can save money. Whenever such opportunities arise, you are pleased to help because no one will place restrictions on you or your “vision”. Most of the time, you enjoy full autonomy to proceed with the projects as you see fit.

You are on the board of the Friendswood city council. There are twelve people that make up the council, including you. Members of the city council are elected by the residents of the city. You feel like the city council elections have become somewhat of a popularity contest, and it seems like the members of the council are the wealthiest members of the community, not necessarily the people who would benefit the community most. You feel like some of the members of the city council have no interest in giving back to the community; they just want to feel important by being a part of this organization.

Recently, two of the members of the council have begun to feud. Bill Knight and John Cosby got into an argument over which of them owns a lake that borders both of their property. The council members have begun to take sides, and the council is dividing into two factions. It is getting to the point where city council meetings are not productive. The meetings always turn into a political forum for Bill and John to voice why each is right in their arguments.

Furthermore, the in-fighting has caused the members not to communicate well. There are subcommittees in the council for various projects, including community fundraising, maintenance of Main Street, and community social events. The subcommittees have turned into cliques that are not communicating their progress to each other, and communication is essential for productive functioning of the city council. You think the whole argument is silly, and you refuse to take sides. You are still able to talk to most of the council members and the community still thinks highly of you. You are worried you won’t be able to prevent these conflicts and are doing what you can to prevent public opinion from turning against you too.

Recently, the city council began looking to fund a renovation project of your local community center. Because you are an expert in construction, you designed the application for constructing companies to bid on this project. Furthermore, because you did not want to work closely with your colleagues on projects, given the in-fighting, you decided to design the application by yourself. You were given full autonomy in designing the application and you applied your expertise to do what would be best for the community.

You are now a part of the committee reviewing and approving the proposals. The city has expressed a desire for the renovations to begin as soon as possible, and you feel like the committee is rushing the process a little. You are concerned that you will miss something important in the review that will result in critical errors that may result in the city hiring a contractor that is less than satisfactory. Nine proposals have passed a first screen by meeting the criteria outlined in the application you designed. You and several others conducted more extensive reviews of the nine proposals. The team of reviewers has identified the winning proposal, which has many outstanding features. As you scan it one more time, however, you notice that it does not meet one of the ten criteria used in the initial screening process; this proposal should never have even made it past the first round of evaluations. No one else has caught this. Now you wonder what you should do.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Martin, A., Bagdasarov, Z. & Connelly, S. The Capacity for Ethical Decisions: The Relationship Between Working Memory and Ethical Decision Making. Sci Eng Ethics 21, 271–292 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-014-9544-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-014-9544-x

Keywords