Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - October 2011 - Volume 34, Issue 05  

Open Peer Commentary

Normative theory in decision making and moral reasoning

Natalie Golda1, Andrew M. Colmana2 and Briony D. Pulforda2

a1 School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, Scotland, United Kingdom. Natalie.Gold@ed.ac.uk http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/ngold

a2 School of Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom. amc@le.ac.uk http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/psychology/ppl/amc bdp5@le.ac.uk http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/psychology/ppl/staff/bdp5

Abstract

Normative theories can be useful in developing descriptive theories, as when normative subjective expected utility theory is used to develop descriptive rational choice theory and behavioral game theory. “Ought” questions are also the essence of theories of moral reasoning, a domain of higher mental processing that could not survive without normative considerations.

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