Norms Inform Mental State Ascriptions: A Rational Explanation for the Side-Effect Effect

This chapter explains how norms influence mental state ascriptions by examining the relationship between prescriptive norms (moral and conventional) and ascriptions of intentional action. According to Joshua Knobe, there is an imbalance in judgments about whether morally good actions against bad side effects were done "intentionally," a phenomenon he dubbed as the side-effect effect. It looks at the two contrasting perspectives in response to the side-effect effect, the Intuitive Moralist view and the Biased Scientist view, and proposes a third approach, the "Rational Scientist". The chapter then presents studies testing the Rational Scientist as a conjecture about the relationship between moral evaluation and the theory of mind.