Mind Perception Is the Essence of Morality
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 1 April 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Psychological Inquiry
- Vol. 23 (2), 101-124
- https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840x.2012.651387
Abstract
Mind perception entails ascribing mental capacities to other entities, whereas moral judgment entails labeling entities as good or bad or actions as right or wrong. We suggest that mind perception is the essence of moral judgment. In particular, we suggest that moral judgment is rooted in a cognitive template of two perceived minds—a moral dyad of an intentional agent and a suffering moral patient. Diverse lines of research support dyadic morality. First, perceptions of mind are linked to moral judgments: dimensions of mind perception (agency and experience) map onto moral types (agents and patients), and deficits of mind perception correspond to difficulties with moral judgment. Second, not only are moral judgments sensitive to perceived agency and experience, but all moral transgressions are fundamentally understood as agency plus experienced suffering—that is, interpersonal harm—even ostensibly harmless acts such as purity violations. Third, dyadic morality uniquely accounts for the phenomena of dyadic completion (seeing agents in response to patients, and vice versa), and moral typecasting (characterizing others as either moral agents or moral patients). Discussion also explores how mind perception can unify morality across explanatory levels, how a dyadic template of morality may be developmentally acquired, and future directions.Keywords
This publication has 189 references indexed in Scilit:
- The intention-to-CAUSE bias: Evidence from children’s causal languageCognition, 2011
- Temporal view of the costs and benefits of self-deceptionProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011
- Impaired theory of mind for moral judgment in high-functioning autismProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011
- Mapping the moral domain.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011
- Distortions of mind perception in psychopathologyProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Disruption of the right temporoparietal junction with transcranial magnetic stimulation reduces the role of beliefs in moral judgmentsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010
- Chapter 4 Affect as a Psychological PrimitiveAdvances in Experimental Social Psychology, 2009
- Witnessing excellence in action: the ‘other-praising’ emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admirationThe Journal of Positive Psychology, 2009
- Deficits in facial affect recognition among antisocial populations: A meta-analysisNeuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2008
- Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgementsNature, 2007