Altruistic suicide in the trolley problem1

Abstract

Abstract Sixty-four students enrolled in psychology courses were given the “trolley dilemma” in which either the person on the bridge pushed a stranger (who was killed) into the path of a train, diverting it and thereby saving the lives of five workmen on the train tracks, or the person himself or herself jumped off the bridge (and was killed) in order to divert the train. The suicide received significantly higher scores for heroism than the murderer, and the act of suicide was given higher scores for being “the right thing to do.”