Professor: David Pizarro (dap54)

Time: Wednesday 1:25-4:10

Meeting Place: TBD

GOALS

Morality seems to be a universal feature of human thinking. People across time, place, and culture have a strong sense of right and wrong. Where does this moral sense come from? Is it innate? Is it a product of socialization? Why do some people disagree so strongly about what is right and wrong? Are there any universally agreed upon moral rules?

Although morality was once of primary interest to psychologists, interest in the topic saw a sharp decline. In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in the science of morality. Recently, scientists across a wide range of disciplines have made discoveries that bear on the question of how and why humans have a sense of morality.

The goals of this course are to offer an introduction to the science behind our moral sense. In order to achieve this goal, we will read articles on religion, philosophy, and almost every area of scientific psychology (social psychology, developmental psychology, evolutionary psychology, cognitive psychology). By the end of the course you should be well versed in the primary issues and debates involved in the scientific study of morality.

EVALUATION

Your grade in this course will be based on:

Participation: Your participation in the course discussions will be an integral part of this course. Although I will often present material at the beginning of each meeting, I will turn to the members of the seminar to engage in more detailed discussions of the topics and readings for the week. I fully expect all members of the seminar to participate in these discussions and will call on individuals during class to provide their thoughts and opinions on the topic at hand.

Thought Papers: To facilitate discussion and class participation you will write short papers (up to 1 page in length) raising questions or issues for discussion or responding to questions I may pose.  These short papers need to be submitted to me via email by 4 pm on the day before the relevant class. These papers, combined with participation, will compose 50% of your grade.

Final paper: A 12-15 page research proposal or theoretical paper in APA format will be required at the end of the term. Students are welcome to set up individual meetings with me to discuss possible ideas.

READINGS & SCHEDULE

(readings may change a bit; many more will be added)

Week 1 (JANUARY 30): Philosophy and Evolution

  Rachels, J. (1999). The Elements of Moral Philosophy, Third Edition. McGraw-Hill: Boston. Ch. 1-3 (pp.1-47), Ch.7-9 (pp.91-129).

*(Not required, but might be helpful) Entry on Ethics [www.iep.utm.edu] in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

  DeWaal, F. Excerpt from “Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved”

  Okasha, Samir, "Biological Altruism," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). (web link)

    R. Axelrod and W. D. Hamilton, The evolution of cooperation. Science 211 (1981), pp. 1390–1396.

Week 2 (FEBRUARY 6): Morality in Animals; Development of Moral Reasoning

  Brosnan, S. F. and F. B. M. de Waal (2003). "Monkeys reject unequal pay." Nature 425, 297-299. 

  Stevens, J. R. and M. D. Hauser (2004). Why be nice? Psychological constraints on the evolution of cooperation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8, 60-65. 

   

    DeWaal, F. Excerpt from 1996 book: Good Natured – The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals

 

  Turiel, E. (1998) "The Development of Morality" in Handbook of Child Psychology.

Week 3 (FEBRUARY 13): Moral/Emotional Development

  Eisenberg, N. (2000). “Emotion, Regulation, and Moral Development”, Annual Review of Psychology, 51,665–697.

  Kochanska, G., Gross, J.N., Lin, M., Nichols, K.E., (2002). “Guilt in young children: Development, determinants, and relations with a broader system of standards.” Child Development, 73, 461-482.

Week 4 (FEBRUARY 20): Reason, Emotion, and Intuition in Moral Judgment

  Haidt, J . (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108, 814-834.

  Saletan, W. Shag the Dog. Slate Magazine [www.slate.com]

  Pizarro, D.A. & Bloom, P. (2003). The Intelligence of the Moral Intuitions: Comment on Haidt (2001) Psychological Review, 110, 193-196.

  Jonathan Haidt. The Emotional Dog Learns New Tricks. Psychological Review. 2003, Vol. 110, No. 1, 197-198.

Week 5 (FEBRUARY 27): Quirky Moral Reasoning: Heuristics and Taboos

  

  Sunstein, C. (2006). Moral Heuristics. Behavioral & Brain Sciences. 

  

  Tetlock, P. E. (2003). Thinking the unthinkable: Sacred values and taboo cognitions. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 320-324.

  Zhong, C. & Liljenquist, K. (2006). Washing away your sins: Threatened morality and physical cleansing

  

Week 6 (MARCH 5): What role does culture play in moral judgment?

  Shweder, R. A., Mahapatra, M., & Miller, J. (1987). Culture and moral development. In J. Kagan & S. Lamb (Ed.) The emergence of morality in young children. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (p. 1-83).

  Haidt, J., & Joseph, C. (2004). Intuitive Ethics: How Innately Prepared Intuitions Generate Culturally Variable Virtues. Daedalus, pp. 55-66, Special issue on human nature.

Week 7(MARCH 12):  How are Religion and Morality Related?

  The 10 commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) & The 7 Deadly Sins and 7 Heavenly Virtues.

   Cohen, A.B. & Rozin, P. (2001). Religion and the morality of mentality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

    Bloom, P. (2005) Is God an Accident?. The Atlantic Online, December 2005.

    Boyer, P. Religious thought and behaviour as by-products of brain function. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 119-124.

Week 8 (MARCH 26): Moral Action: Helping and Harming Others

  Batson, C. D. (1990). How social an animal? The human capacity for caring. American Psychologist, 45, 336-346.

    Batson, C. D., D. Kobrynowicz, et al. (1997). "In a very different voice: Unmasking moral hypocrisy." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 72, 1335-1348.

    Batson, C. D. and E. R. Thompson (2001). "Why don't moral people act morally? Motivational considerations." Current Directions in Psychological Science 10(2): 54-57.

Week 9 (APRIL 2): When Morality Fails--Psychopaths, Evil, and other Bad things

  Hare, R. (1993). Without Conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us (Ch. 10 "The roots of the problem")

  Blair, R.J.R. Article TBA

Week 10 (APRIL 9): Who and What Belongs in our "Moral Circle"?

  Saletan, W. (2001) The KKK vs. KFC. Slate Magazine [http://www.slate.com]

  Bloom, P. (2001) Descartes' Baby. Ch.5 (p.123-154): "The Moral Circle."

  Glover, J. (1999). Humanity: A moral history of the twentieth century. (Section on "Tribalism," pp. 119-154).

Week 11 (APRIL 16): Moral Responsibility and Freedom of the Will

  Wegner, D. (2004). The illusion of conscious will. Ch. 1-3.

  Bargh, J. A., & Ferguson, M. J. (2000). Beyond behaviorism: On the automaticity of higher mental processes. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 925-945.

Week 12 (APRIL 23): The Neuroscience of Morality

  Greene, J. & Cohen, J. (2004). For the law, neuroscience changes nothing and everything. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London.

  Pinker, S. (2002). The blank slate. (Chapter 15: The sanctimonious animal.)

Week 13 (MAY 30): Presentation of final paper topics and progress