Imperfect Utilitarians: Risk Assessment and 'High Conflict' Moral Questions

This work-in-progress examines how individuals calculate risk in cognitive "system conflict" situations where Kantian and Utilitarian values oppose each other. A survey was conducted in which respondents showed a significant change in value preferences compared to baseline when a risk element was introduced, indicating that individuals make systematic errors in risk calculation when faced with cognitively difficult choices between competing value systems. The Paper concludes by examining the implications of this finding for jury decisionmaking and regulatory policy choice.