Common Medications Sway Moral Judgment

sciencehabit sends news that two commonly-prescribed drugs have been shown to influence how the human brain makes moral decisions. Citalopram is an SSRI used to treat depression, and levodopa is often used to combat Parkinson's disease. A new study (abstract) asked subjects to set a monetary value on receiving painful electric shocks — for themselves and for others (e.g. "Would you rather endure seven shocks to earn $10 or 10 shocks to earn $15?"). The study found that subjects on citalopram (which affects serotonin levels) were willing to give up more money to reduce shocks, both for themselves and others. Those on levodopa (which affects dopamine levels) made people just as willing to shock others as they were to shock themselves, when those on a placebo tended to be more reluctant to shock others. [Neuroscientist Molly] Crockett says those effects could suggests multiple underlying mechanisms. For example, excess dopamine might make our brain's reward system more responsive to the prospect of avoiding personal harm. Or it could tamp down our sense of uncertainty about what another person is experiencing, making us less hesitant to dole out pain. Serotonin, meanwhile, appeared to have a more general effect on aversion to harm, not just a heightened concern for another person. Such knowledge could eventually develop drugs that address disorders of social behavior, she says.

Comments

Psychoactive drugs may affect your thinking?

[Lumpio-]

Unfathomable! Stop the press!

Re:Psychoactive drugs may affect your thinking?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

'Common sense' and 'studies' are not interchangeable.

Interesting but the headline misses the mark

[Crashmarik]

Did anyone seriously doubt that psychoactive drugs can and do affect just about all decision making processes ?

Re:Disorders of social behavior

[digsbo]

If I were in a public school today and behaved as I did in the 80s and early 90s, I'm certain I'd be prescribed drugs for ADHD and sent to mandatory counseling for emotional problems. Because I acted like a boy, and drew pictures of horrible things in and out of art class. So really, this is already happening. If you want to be on the committee, get into school counseling, guidance, social work, and so on.

Common my ass

[Anonymous Coward]

When someone uses the phrase "common drugs" it is assumed that they are OTC drugs that are commonly found in people's homes. There is nothing "common" about either of the drugs in the summary unless you are being treated for depression or Parkinson's disease! Way to go with the tabloid headline writing and the death of editorial ethics in its entirety on /.

Re:Citalopram

[Anonymous Coward]

I went through an episode about a year ago where if I tried to sleep my face would start burning. If I got up, it would fade away. I suffered on roughly one hour's sleep per night for a year before I went to see a doctor. The solution was to take one pill per day, and in a few weeks I was sleeping full nights again. It took years to recover though, because that level of extended sleep deprivation is very damaging. Even now, I'm still not quite as sharp as I was before.
[...]
I suffered that entire year, and had years of recovery

Your story is not internally consistent. If this problem started a year ago and you suffered from it for a year, how is it that you have since experienced years of recovery? I would say check your meds, but...

Re: Blunting

[BarbaraHudson]

You're confusing cause and effect. The SSRIs didn't cause people to become crazy killers, they were taking these drugs because they already had problems. The emotional blunting helps take the edge off of the suicidal thoughts that come with major depression, as the study notes that participants were more adverse to harming to harming themselves or others. The side effects are better than killing yourself.