UK people would push a fat man off a bridge to stop a runaway train killing five people

Three out of five people in UK would push a fat man off a bridge to stop a runaway train killing five people – much more than in China, Japan and Korea, a study finds.

Researchers from the University of Exeter wanted to understand the morals of people around the world, so posed them the famous ‘trolley question’.

The question asks whether someone would actively kill a single person – in this case by pushing a fat man off a bridge – in order to save a larger group of people.  

It may be that people in the UK are more prejudiced against overweight people, but researchers say it is more likely that Brits aren’t afraid to voice their opinion. 

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View of the end of La Rambla walking street, called ‘La Rambla del Mar’ which is a rotating bridge in Port Vell marina, Barcelona, Spain. The study examines whether people would kill a single person by pushing them off a bridge in order to save five people under the bridge. Stock Image

In the UK, almost 60 per cent of people asked said the fat man should be pushed and killed to save the five people’s lives. 

That was the fourth highest result in a league table of 42 countries.

Dr Edmond Awad, first author of the study from the University of Exeter, said: ‘We know from previous studies that people who say they would sacrifice one person to save more are seen as less trustworthy.

‘Choosing to push the large man in the footbridge option may be seen by many as horrible, but one the other hand it saves five lives.’

‘It seems like the approval of this choice has steadily increased in the last few decades,’ he added.

‘So these findings certainly do not suggest that people in the UK are more evil!’ 

The study asked people if an animated man should save the five people on a railway track by switching the carriage to another track, where just one other person stood and would be killed.

On a website called the Moral Machine, people were then asked if the animated man should push a fat man off the bridge.

Importantly, he could not throw himself off the bridge to stop the train carriage as his body was not large enough to bring it to a halt.

As a general rule, people in western countries were more willing than those in eastern countries to switch the track, or to sacrifice the fat man, to save more lives.

High rates of people willing to sacrifice the fat man were seen in the US, UK and Australia, but low rates were seen in China, Japan and Korea, where people are less likely to admit this ‘morally questionable’ view.

Train tracks leading into the sunset. As a general rule, people in western countries were more willing than those in eastern countries to switch the track and actively kill a single individual rather than passively allow a group of five to die

In traditional communities, where people may stay in close, small communities their whole life for financial and cultural reasons, they don’t want to alienate people by suggesting they would kill someone, expert suggest.

In western countries, where it is easier to move on and find new social groups if someone disagrees with you, people may find it easier to voice, or think, such thoughts.

The study asked 70,000 people across 42 countries the ethical dilemma, although most who engaged with the website were young adults, male and college-educated.

Overall, 81 per cent were willing to switch the carriage to a separate train track to kill one person instead of five, and half would throw the fat man on to the tracks.

The second option is seen as so difficult, according to research, because it involves an act of physical violence.

The findings have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

WHAT IS THE TROLLEY PROBLEM? 

The trolley problem is a thought experiment dates back as early as 1905.

Classic view of historic traditional Cable Cars riding on famous California Street in morning light at sunrise. Would you push one person on the tracks to save five?

It was first posed in a moral questionnaire given to undergraduates at the University of Wisconsin.

However, the idea has persisted with new versions regularly posed and is still included in moral psychology research.

It’s considered a classic clash between two schools of moral thought – utilitarianism and deontological ethics. 

It generally takes this form: 

• A runaway trolley (carriage) is hurtling down the railway tracks.
• Ahead on the tracks are five people tied up and unable to move.
• The trolley is headed straight for them.
• You are standing a distance away in the yard next to a level where you could change the track the trolley goes down.
• There is one person on the side track that the trolley would move on to if you pull the level.

Do you pull the level and actively kill one person or leave the trolley to continue on its path and passively let five people be killed?