Cold or calculating? Reduced activity in the subgenual cingulate cortex reflects decreased emotional aversion to harming in counterintuitive utilitarian judgment

► We investigated the role of two personality traits in moral judgment using fMRI. ► Psychoticism and need for cognition correlated with number of utilitarian decisions. ► Only psychoticism was associated with reduced activation in the subgenual ACC. ► Our data suggest that utilitarian judgments can reflect a reduced aversion to harm. ► They offer little support to a tie between utilitarian judgment and greater deliberation.