The costs of impartial beneficence: The interaction between scenarios type and kinship distance in impartial beneficence moral judgment

Prior research suggests that people are more likely to trust non-utilitarian agents over utilitarian ones. However, previous studies on utilitarian consequences have primarily focused on instrumental harm, often neglecting the aspect of impartial beneficence. This study explored the effect of impartial beneficence on bystander cooperation behavior and its boundary conditions through three progressive experiments. The results indicate that: (1) Impartial judgment reduces bystander cooperation behavior compared with partial judgment; (2) The moderating effects of both the scenarios type and kinship distance are significant. In life-and-death scenarios involving close kinship, impartial judgment reduces bystander cooperation. Conversely, in daily scenarios with distant kinship, such judgment enhances bystander cooperation. Our findings suggest that the impact of impartial beneficence on bystander cooperation behavior varies depending on kinship distance and scenarios type, and it does not invariably lead to adverse outcomes.