Applying the Relevance Realization Theory of Cognitive Function to Moral Decision-Making Across Adulthood

One of the markers of human cognitive agency is the capacity for moral cognition. Across a range of societies, older adults are perceived as more moral than younger adults. Interestingly, research shows that compared to younger adults, older adults are more likely to endorse deontological (as opposed to utilitarian) ethics. This age difference has been explained in terms of cognitive decline and socioemotional shifts. In this paper, I consider the Exploration-Exploitation (EE) model of aging, as well as the Relevance Realization (RR) framework, in explaining moral decision-making phenomena across younger and older adults. My analysis reveals that in older age, the mechanisms underlying moral decision-making gravitate toward efficiency-based processing more generally, as opposed to exploitation-based processing more specifically, thereby lending support in favour of the RR framework over the EE model of aging. I conclude that in light of the explanatory breadth offered by RR, the opponency of exploration-exploitation alone, a trade-off relationship subsumed by RR, is at times necessary but insufficient in explaining age differences in response to sacrificial moral dilemmas. Accordingly, I suggest that augmenting EE with RR could expand both its theoretical precision and explanatory power, while ameliorating its possible theoretical blind spots. I conclude by discussing the empirical limitations of the RR framework and proposing potential empirical avenues for future research on RR in the context of moral decision-making.