Beyond emotion and reason: the social function of morality.

Title:
Beyond emotion and reason : the social function of morality
Creator:
Valdesolo, Piercarlo (Author)
Contributor:
DeSteno, David A. (Advisor)
Harkins, Stephen G., 1948- (Committee member)
Reeves, Adam J. (Committee member)
Publisher:
Boston, Massachusetts : Northeastern University, 2008
Date Accepted:
June 2008
Date Awarded:
August 2008
Type of resource:
Text
Genre:
Dissertations
Format:
electronic
Digital origin:
born digital
Abstract/Description:
Three studies explore the hypothesis that morality is defined by evolved social-cognitive abilities and social emotions tailored to the development of trusting and cooperative relationships with others. Study 1 will show a fundamental bias in moral judgment that functions to elevate one?s conception of one?s own moral reputation relative to others, and show that this bias extends to group-level social identities. Study 2 will address the cause of this bias, showing that the phenomenon does not result from self-serving automatic intuitions, but rather from the effect of self-serving motivated reasoning which operates in direct competition with more basic and automatic selfless intuitions. Study 3 will extend the social model beyond moral judgment to moral action, investigating the implications of group-membership on the experience of prosocial emotions as well as the frequency and degree of altruistic behavior. Taken together these studies suggest a need for a shift away from traditional arguments debating the relative importance of emotion and reason in moral judgment, and towards a consideration of the function of our moral capacities. Subjects were recruited from the Northeastern University introductory psychology participant pool.
Subjects and keywords:
Psychology
Social psychology
Morality
Emotion
Ethics -- Psychological aspects
Judgment (Ethics)
Social ethics
Psychology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17760/d10016302
Permanent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d10016302
Use and reproduction:
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