Setayesh Radkani

Diverse cognitive processes underlying human moral judgment can be understood as resource rational approximations of full bargaining of social contracts. We extend this theory by highlighting delegation to legitimate representatives as another key resource rational strategy. Considering delegation introduces a new set of cognitive mechanisms and heuristics that could be incorporated in a resource rational contractualist theory of morality.

Actions that do not have instrumental goals can communicate social goals that are not rituals. Many non-instrumental actions such as bowing or kissing communicate a commitment to or roles in dyadic relationships. What is unclear is when people understand such actions in terms of ritual and when they understand them in terms of relationships.

Group representations based on recursive utilities can be used to derive the same predictions as Pietraszewski in conflict situations. Additionally, these representations generalize to non-conflict situations, asymmetric relationships, and represent the stakes in a conflict. However, both proposals fail to represent asymmetries of power and responsibility and to account for generalizations from specific observed individuals to collections of non-observed individuals.