ISSEP-2026-10

GRANT ID#: ISSEP-2026-10

GRANT TITLE: The moral psychology of the dead

GRANTEE: Cornell University

PRIMARY INVESTIGATORS: Jordan Wylie

GRANT AMOUNT: USD $3,000.00

DURATION OF GRANT PROJECT: June 01, 2026 – June 01, 2027.

Description of the Project

Executive summary:

Moral psychology has largely focused on how people judge the actions of the living. Research shows perceptions of agency and emotional capacity play central roles in moral evaluations: when someone is alive and capable of acting, their actions directly influence judgments of moral character. Yet this picture becomes more complicated once a person dies. Values associated with respecting the dead may conflict with a desire to continue to hold one accountable for their actions—the consequences of which can live on after death. Here, we examine how death affects moral evaluations—whether harms persist beyond death (S1), whether judgments vary across cultural contexts (S2), and whether other achievements in life (e.g., producing great art) alter these judgments (S3). Despite ongoing debates about how people should treat the moral legacy of the dead, this work will provide the first empirical investigation of how people make these judgments.

Itemized budget:

All funds will be used for participant payment. For all studies, we plan to first pilot the experiment, and then run a preregistered replication. For all preregistered studies, we plan to use samples that are representative of the US population in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, and political orientation.

Participants will be paid at a rate of $9.00/hour, and we expect that each study will cost approximately $2.00 per participant. In total, we plan to recruit 1,450 participants. All Ns are based on power analyses, large samples to account for interactions, and additional participants to account for exclusions (e.g., bots, failed attention checks).

The individual study payment breakdown is as follows:

Aim 1:

·        Study 1 (Total N = 350; Total Cost = $680.00)

·        Pilot: 50 participants; $80.00

·        Replication study: 300, participants; $600.00

Aim 2:

·        Study 2 (Total N = 750; Total Cost = $1,600)

·        Pilot: 50 participants, $80.00

·        Replication study: 700, participants, $1,680.00

Aim 3:

·        Study 2 (Total N = 350; Total Cost = $680.00)

·        Pilot: 50 participants, $80.00

·        Replication study: 300, participants, $600.00

Total cost/requested amount: $3,140.00. We plan to cover the slight overage with other funds.

The total amount approved for this project is USD $3,000.