Morality

Are Religious People More Moral?

What is the relationship between religious commitment and morality?

The Conversation

Psychopaths Are Good for Society Because ‘They Would Throw One Person Under a Bus to Save Five’

Psychopaths are beneficial for society because in morally dubious situations they make pragmatic choices for the greater good, a new study suggests.

The Telegraph

What Would the Average Human Do?

Artificial intelligence researchers want to teach computers to make moral choices based on millions of human survey responses.

The Outline

A Growing Share of Americans Say It’s Not Necessary to Believe in God to Be Moral

Fifty-six percent of U.S. adults now say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values, up from 49 percent who expressed this view in 2011.

Pew Research Center

How Much Sacrifice Is Your Reputation Worth?

People would rather endure jail, death or a bucket of worms than be viewed as immoral.

Scientific American

‘But You Can’t Do That!’ Why Immoral Actions Seem Impossible

We are often blind to the possibility of immoral actions.

Aeon

Children as Young as 4 Believe in Karma – Good Things Happen to Those Who Do Good

In a new paper in Developmental Science, psychologists at Yale University have shown that children in the U.S. as young as 4 are inclined to believe in, and actively seek, karmic justice, regardless of whether they come from a religious family or not.

British Psychological Society Research Digest

Why Do People Die Fighting for a Cause?

To beat your enemies, you must understand them intimately. And so anthropologist Scott Atran and his colleagues have spent the last two years interviewing Islamic State group fighters and their opponents on the front lines.

Science

Can You Be Good Without God?

New research raises questions about whether or not people can be truly good or truly bad without a belief in religion.

Daily Beast

Why (We Think) Atheists Are More Likely to Be Serial Killers

There is a global moral prejudice against people who do not believe in a god or gods, according to a new study by UConn anthropologist Dmitris Xygalatas and colleagues.

UConn Today

There Is No Such Thing as the True Self, But It’s Still a Useful Psychological Concept

The concept of a true self is useful in terms of understanding people’s judgments and behavior. And we can speculate and investigate why most of us think about the true self in the ways that we do: for example, perhaps we’ve evolved to see the human true self as fundamentally good because assuming the best in others helps foster social ties.

British Psychological Society Research Digest

Our Enemies Are Human. That’s Why We Want to Kill Them

To understand why one person would actively desire to inflict suffering upon another, we have to look to a counterintuitive source: human morality.

Behavioral Scientist

The Serial Killer Test: Biases Against Atheists Emerge in Study

Most people around the world, whether religious or not, presume that serial killers are more likely to be atheists than believers in any god, a new study suggests.

The New York Times

Moral Luck

Two people drive drunk at night: one kills a pedestrian, one doesn't. Does the unlucky killer deserve more blame or not?

Aeon

Physical Remoteness Makes Killing Easier

People seem less reluctant to end the life of another being when they are not physically present for the distasteful act.

Pacific Standard

Morality Isn’t a Compass — It’s a Calculator

Moral disputes are a product of independent minds with independent agendas. Thus, there is little reason to see ourselves as unbiased sources of righteousness.

The Conversation

If Buddhist Monks Trained AI

Monks take on the trolley problem, a classic moral dilemma that has big implications for driverless cars.

The Atlantic

Do Unto Others? Sure — If They’re in Our Social Circle

New research reports the moral imperative to help those in need is much weaker if the needy person in question is a stranger.

Pacific Standard

Why There Are Costs to Moral Outrage

When outrage is misplaced or excessive, it can have negative consequences for a healthy public discourse.

The Conversation

Would a Crumbling of Faith Really Make Humanity Less Moral?

If people figured out how to get along before religion, asks Frans de Waal, do we really need it?

Big Think

Why Are We Reluctant to Trust Robots?

Psychology research provides a clue: we seem to have a fundamental mistrust of individuals who make moral decisions by calculating costs and benefits — like computers do.

The Guardian