Norms and the Knobe effect

摘要

In a justly famous study, Joshua Knobe found an asymmetry in the way wenascribe intentional action (Knobe 2003). Consider an executive who, moti-nvated entirely by the goal of maximizing profit, embarks on a policy that henknows will also cause environmental damage. Does he intentionally harm thenenvironment? Most people hold that he does. In contrast, when consideringnan otherwise identical case in which the side effects would be beneficial to thenenvironment, most people hold that the executive does not intentionally helpnthe environment. A number of follow-up studies have found that the findingnis robust, that it applies to children as young as four, and that it occurs innother languages and cultures (Knobe 2006).