Previous research suggests that pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) is viewed negatively due to perceived medical uncertainty, coercion, and unfairness and hollowness of the outcome. With the increasing advancement in and use of technology, along with a shift towards machines and gadgets, there seems to exist a need for humans to improve their mental functioning in order to keep up with the developing changes. The "unfairness-undeservingness" model suggests that the achievements (outcome) gained due to PCEs are considered unfair and therefore morally unacceptable. However, the influence of certain factors such as the speed of effect of a drug (slow/fast) and the amount of effort put in (more/less), on the moral judgment of an outcome, remains unexplored. The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of such factors. For example; how will people judge a drug X that improves attention overnight as compared to a drug Y that takes a month to improve attention? Second, even if a PCE improves attention, that alone will not be enough to produce desirable results (one has to read enough books to gain more marks). We hypothesise that slow/fast (speed of drug) and more/less (effort) will lead to fair/unfair moral judgment of the outcome. This research will help in the fundamental understanding of why people judge the outcomes of a user of PCE as unfair, and how that is modulated by speed of drug (slow/fast) and effort (more/less) required to achieve the desired outcome.

Authors:
Prarthana Suresh, FLAME University, India
Abhishek Sahai, FLAME University, India

About the Presenter(s)
I am Prarthana Suresh and am currently doing a post graduate diploma course at FLAME University, India. My main interest lies in Cognitive Psychology and I hope to add to existing knowledge in this field with my research paper.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/prarthana-suresh-b7096b21b/

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