Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2015

Abstract

The implications of sleep for morality are only starting to be explored. Extending the ethics literature, we contend that because bringing morality to conscious attention requires effort, a lack of sleep leads to low moral awareness. We test this prediction with three studies. A laboratory study with a manipulation of sleep across 90 participants judging a scenario for moral content indicates that a lack of sleep leads to low moral awareness. An archival study of Google Trends data across 6 years highlights a national dip in Web searches for moral topics (but not other topics) on the Monday after the Spring time change, which tends to deprive people of sleep. Finally, a diary study of 127 participants indicates that (within participants) nights with a lack of sleep are associated with low moral awareness the next day. Together, these three studies suggest that a lack of sleep leaves people less morally aware, with important implications for the recognition of morality in others.

Keywords

behavioural ethics, ethics, moral awareness, sleep

Discipline

Mental and Social Health | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Journal of Sleep Research

Volume

24

Issue

2

First Page

181

Last Page

188

ISSN

0962-1105

Identifier

10.1111/jsr.12231

Publisher

Wiley

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12231

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