Unwavering Moral Motives: Comparing Deontological and Utilitarian Punishment Motivations in a Cost-Framing Context

In the present study, participants made sentencing decisions after reading a fictional crime and were presented with varying costs ($0-$100k) of incarcerating the criminal. Individuals endorsing primarily retributive motives punished more and were less likely to reduce their punishments when costs increased as compared to individuals endorsing primarily utilitarian motives.