Studies Show That, in General, Sleep Depriva- Tion Impairs Performance of a Wide Range of Cognitive Tasks and Sensory Functions, Such

1086 Moral Reasoning and Sleep-Deprivation—Olsen et al STUDIES SHOW THAT, IN GENERAL, SLEEP DEPRIVATION IMPAIRS PERFORMANCE OF A WIDE RANGE OF COGNITIVE TASKS AND SENSORY FUNCTIONS, SUCH as mental arithmetic, logical reasoning, memory, vigilance, and meta-cognition.1,2 The detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on cognition, motor performance, and mood have also been documented by meta-analyses and other reviews.3 In contrast, some studies show that the ability to apply standard operational procedures, drills, and regulations may counteract some detrimental effects of sleep deprivation.4 Research has shown that tasks that are dependent on the prefrontal cortex are particularly sensitive to loss of sleep,5 indicating a neuroanatomical localization of the observed cognitive impairments. Military operations often entail sleep deprivation. Such operations also involve a multitude of moral judgments, ranging from managerial decisions to extremely difficult choices, such as whether to attack insurgents in a setting surrounded by civilians. Great importance is therefore assigned to morals in military operational and leadership doctrines6 as well as in contemporary leadership theory.7 In the wake of moral scandals such as Enron and the Abu Grahib prison abuse scandal in Iraq, leadership research has shown increasing interest in contextual antecedents of leaders’ moral behavior. Based on observations, it has been reported that sleep deprivation appears to foster laissez-faire leadership.8 Killgore and coworkers9 conducted the only known experimental study until now on the effects of sleep deprivation on moral judgments. They found that sleep deprivation caused longer response latencies for moral personal dilemmas, but not for moral impersonal or non-moral dilemmas. Sleep deprivation also led to an overall increase in permissiveness in terms of judging difficult courses of action to be appropriate. It was also found that subjects with a high score on emotional intelligence were less susceptible to the effects of sleep deprivation. However, the authors stated that their study did not investigate whether sleep deprivation caused any qualitative changes in moral reasoning. The evaluation of qualitative aspects of moral reasoning is normally based on theories of cognitive moral development (CMD), of which Kohlberg’s10 stage theory is probably the most well known. According to Rest, Narvaez, Bebeau, and Thoma,11 the most mature moral level is defined as the post-conventional schema (PCS). This schema includes Kohlberg’s stages 5 and 6 and is characterized by autonomous reasoning on the grounds of universal moral principles such as justice and equality. According to Narvaez and Bock,12 such moral reasoning requires higher-order cognitive processing, where the individual deduces moral principles from observing, assessing, and inferring potential moral consequences from the situation. This schema implies a decentration from self-oriented personal perspectives13 in favor of a principled community focused moral orientation. The maintaining norms schema (MNS) equals Kohlberg’s stage 4, which represents a moderate level of CMD.11 Here, moral reasoning is structured by external factors such as rules and regulations, motivated by an aim to maintain stability and the established social order. The moral content of judgments based on the MNS rests heavily on the moral substance of the applied set of rules. Finally, the personal interest schema (PIS), which encompasses Kohlberg’s stages 2 and 3, represents the least mature level of CMD.11 Here, moral reasoning is instrumentally oriented towards pursuing self-serving ends, based on an egocentric and opportunistic outlook on the external world (i.e., “what’s fair is what serves my personal interests best”). In EFFECT OF PARTIAL SLEEP DEPRIVATION ON MORAL REASONING