Element contents
Series: Elements in Ethics
Moral Psychology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 May 2021
Summary
This Element provides an overview of some of the central issues in contemporary moral psychology. It explores what moral psychology is, whether we are always motivated by self-interest, what good character looks like and whether anyone has it, whether moral judgments always motivate us to act, whether what motivates action is always a desire of some kind, and what the role is of reasoning and deliberation in moral judgment and action. This Element is aimed at a general audience including undergraduate students without an extensive background in philosophy.
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Series: Elements in EthicsOnline ISBN: 9781108581011Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 03 June 2021
References
Alfano, Mark. (2013). Character as Moral Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, R. (1997). “The Sweet Smell of… Helping: Effects of Pleasant Ambient Fragrance on Prosocial Behavior in Shopping Malls.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 23: 498–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, Tom and Kleingeld, Pauline. (2018). “Virtue, Vice, and Situationism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Virtue. Ed. Snow, Nancy E.. New York: Oxford University Press, 524–545.Google Scholar
Batson, C., Dyck, J., Brandt, J., et al. (1988). “Five Studies Testing Two New Egoistic Alternatives to the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55: 52–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batson, C., Early, S., and Salvarani, G.. (1997). “Perspective Taking: Imagining How Another Feels Versus Imagining How You Would Feel.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 23: 751–758.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batson, C. and Weeks, J.. (1996). “Mood Effects of Unsuccessful Helping: Another Test of the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 22: 148–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batson, D. (1991). The Altruism Question: Toward a Social-Psychological Answer. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Batson, D. (2002). “Addressing the Altruism Question Experimentally,” in Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue. Ed. Post, S., Underwood, L., Schloss, J., and Hurlbut, W.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 89–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camerer, C. (2003). Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cuneo, Terence. (2002). “Reconciling Realism with Humeanism.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 80: 465–486.Google Scholar
Curzer, H. (2012). Aristotle and the Virtues. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damasio, A. (1994). Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York: Putnam.Google Scholar
Dana, J., Cain, D., and Dawes, R.. (2006). “What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Me: Costly (but Quiet) Exit in Dictator Games.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 100: 193–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dana, J., Weber, R., and Kuang, J.. (2007). “Exploiting Moral Wiggle Room: Experiments Demonstrating an Illusory Preference for Fairness.” Economic Theory 33: 67–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darley, J. and Batson, C.. (1973). “‘From Jerusalem to Jericho:’ A Study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 27: 100–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doris, John. (1998). “Persons, Situations, and Virtue Ethics.” Noûs 32: 504–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doris, John (2002). Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doris, John (2010). “Heated Agreement: Lack of Character as Being for the Good.” Philosophical Studies 148: 135–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreier, James. (1990). “Internalism and Speaker Relativism.” Ethics 101: 6–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinberg, Joel. (1958). “Psychological Egoism,” Reprinted in Reason and Responsibility. Ed. Feinberg, Joel and Shafer-Landau, Russ. Sixteenth Edition (2017). Boston: Centage Learning, 561–573.Google Scholar
Forsythe, R., Horowitz, J., Savin, N., and Sefton, M.. (1994). “Fairness in Simple Bargaining Experiments.” Games and Economic Behavior 6: 347–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankfurt, Harry. (1988). “Rationality and the Unthinkable,” in The Importance of What We Care About. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 177–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankfurt, Harry (1993). “On the Necessity of Ideals,” in Moral Self. Ed. Noam, G. and Wren, T.. Cambridge: MIT Press, 16–27. Reprinted in Volition, Necessity, and Love. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 108–116.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, Harry (2002). “Reply to Gary Watson,” in Contours of Agency: Essays on Themes from Harry Frankfurt. Ed. Buss, Sarah and Overton, Lee. Cambridge: MIT Press, 160–164.Google Scholar
Greene, J. and Haidt, J.. (2002) “How (and Where) Does Moral Judgment Work?” TRENDS in Cognitive Science 6: 517–523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haidt, J. (2001) “The Emotional Dog and Its Rational Tail: A Social Intuitionist Approach to Moral Judgment.” Psychological Review 108: 814–834.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haidt, J. (2003) “The Emotional Dog Does Learn New Tricks: A Reply to Pizarro and Bloom (2003).” Psychological Review 110: 197–198.Google Scholar
Haidt, J. and Bjorklund, F.. (2008a) “Social Intuitionists Answer Six Questions about Moral Psychology,” in Moral Psychology. The Cognitive Science of Morality: Intuition and Diversity. Ed. Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. Volume 2. Cambridge: MIT Press, 181–217.Google Scholar
Haidt, J. and Bjorklund, F. (2008b) “Social Intuitionists Reason, in Conversation,” in Moral Psychology. The Cognitive Science of Morality: Intuition and Diversity. Ed. Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. Volume 2. Cambridge: MIT Press, 241–254.Google Scholar
Haidt, J. and Joseph, C.. (2004) “Intuitive Ethics: How Innately Prepared Intuitions Generate Culturally Variable Virtues.” Daedalus 133: 55–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haney, C., Banks, C., and Zimbardo, P.. (1973). “A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison,” in Readings about the Social Animal. Ed. Aronson, E. Third Edition. San Francisco: Freeman, 52–67.Google Scholar
Harman, Gilbert. (1999). “Moral Philosophy meets Social Psychology: Virtue Ethics and the Fundamental Attribution Error.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 99: 315–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harman, Gilbert (2000). “The Nonexistence of Character Traits.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 100: 223–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harman, Gilbert (2001). “Virtue Ethics without Character Traits,” in Fact and Value. Ed. Byrne, A., Stalnaker, R., and Wedgewood, R.. Cambridge: MIT Press, 117–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harman, Gilbert (2003). “No Character or Personality.” Business Ethics Quarterly 13: 87–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harman, Gilbert (2009). “Skepticism about Character Traits.” The Journal of Ethics 13: 235–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horgan, Terry and Timmons, Mark. (2007). “Morphological Rationalism and the Psychology of Moral Judgment.” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 10: 279–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horgan, Terry and Timmons, Mark (forthcoming). Illuminating Reasons: An Essay in Moral Phenomenology.Google Scholar
Hursthouse, Rosalind. (1981). “A False Doctrine of the Mean.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 81: 57–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isen, A. and Levin, P.. (1972). “Effect of Feeling Good on Helping: Cookies and Kindness.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 21: 384–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobson, Daniel. (2008). “Does Social Intuitionism Flatter Morality or Challenge It?” in Moral Psychology. The Cognitive Science of Morality: Intuition and Diversity. Ed. Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. Volume 2. Cambridge: MIT Press, 219–232.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J., and Thaler, R.. (1986). “Fairness and the Assumptions of Economics.” Journal of Business 59: S285–S300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohlberg, L. (1969) “Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Socialization,” in Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research. Ed. Goslin, David. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company, 347–480.Google Scholar
Kristjánsson, Kristján. (2008). “An Aristotelian Critique of Situationism.” Philosophy 83: 55–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latané, B. and Darley, J.. (1970). The Unresponsive Bystander: Why Doesn’t He Help? New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Latané, B. and Rodin, J.. (1969). “A Lady in Distress: Inhibiting Effects of Friends and Strangers on Bystander Intervention.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 5: 189–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
List, J. (2007). “On the Interpretation of Giving in Dictator Games.” Journal of Political Economy 115: 482–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, Joshua. (2018). Regard for Reason in the Moral Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McDowell, John. (1978). “Are Moral Requirements Hypothetical Imperatives?” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplement 52: 13–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McPherson, Tristram. (2020). Epistemology and Methodology in Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mele, Alfred. (2003). Motivation and Agency. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merritt, Maria, Doris, John, and Harman, Gilbert. (2010). “Character,” in The Moral Psychology Handbook. Ed. Doris, J. and the Moral Psychology Research Group. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 355–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mikhail, J. (2011). Elements of Moral Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Christian. (2008a). “Motivational Internalism.” Philosophical Studies 139: 233–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Christian (2011). “Overview of Contemporary Metaethics and Normative Theory,” in The Continuum Companion to Ethics. Ed. Miller, Christian. London: Continuum Press, xiv–lii.Google Scholar
Miller, Christian (2013). Moral Character: An Empirical Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Christian (2014). Character and Moral Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Christian (2015). “Distributive Justice and Empirical Moral Psychology.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice-moral-psych/.Google Scholar
Miller, Christian (2016). “Assessing Two Competing Approaches to the Psychology of Moral Judgments,” Philosophical Explorations 19: 28–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Christian (2017). “Categorizing Character: Moving Beyond the Aristotelian Framework,” in Varieties of Virtue Ethics. Ed. Carr, David. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 143–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Christian (2019a). “Some Philosophical Concerns about How the VIA Classifies Character Traits and the VIA-IS Measures Them.” Journal of Positive Psychology 14: 6–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Christian (2019b). “Rationalism and Intuitionism,” in The Routledge Handbook on Moral Epistemology. Ed. Timmons, Mark, Jones, Karen, and Zimmerman, Aaron. New York: Routledge, 329–346.Google Scholar
Miller, Christian (2020). “Moral Relativism and Virtue,” in Virtues in Theory and Practice: Local or Universal? Ed. Darnell, Catherine A and Kristjánsson, Kristján. Routledge, 11–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, Christian (2021). Honesty: The Philosophy and Psychology of a Neglected Virtue. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narvaez, D. (2008). “The Social Intuitionist Model: Some Counter-Intuitions,” in Moral Psychology. The Cognitive Science of Morality: Intuition and Diversity. Ed. Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. Volume 2. Cambridge: MIT Press, 233–240.Google Scholar
Nichols, Shaun. (2004). Sentimental Rules: On the Natural Foundations of Moral Judgment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M. (1988). “Non-Relative Virtues: An Aristotelian Approach.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 13: 32–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C. and Seligman, M. (Eds.). 2004. Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pizarro, D. and Bloom, P. (2003) “The Intelligence of the Moral Intuitions: Comment on Haidt (2001),” Psychological Review 110: 193–196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prinz, Jesse. (2007). The Emotional Construction of Morals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Railton, Peter. (2014) “The Affective Dog and Its Rational Tale: Intuition and Attunement,” Ethics 124: 813–859.Google Scholar
Rosati, Connie. (2016). “Moral Motivation.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-motivation/.Google Scholar
Roskies, Adina. (2003). “Are Ethical Judgments Intrinsically Motivational? Lessons from ‘Acquired Sociopathy’.” Philosophical Psychology 16: 51–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sauer, Hanno. (2011) “Social Intuitionism and the Psychology of Moral Reasoning,” Philosophy Compass 6: 708–721.Google Scholar
Scanlon, T. M. (1998). What We Owe to Each Other. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shafer-Landau, Russ. (2003a). Whatever Happened to Good and Evil? Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shafer-Landau, Russ (2003b). Moral Realism: A Defence. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sneddon, Andrew. (2007) “A Social Model of Moral Dumbfounding: Implications for Studying Moral Reasoning and Moral Judgment,” Philosophical Psychology 20: 731–748.Google Scholar
Sobel, David and Copp, David. (2001). “Against Direction of Fit Accounts of Belief and Desire.” Analysis 61: 44–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, Robert. (2003). “Victims of Circumstances? A Defense of Virtue Ethics in Business.” Business Ethics Quarterly 13: 43–62.Google Scholar
Stich, Stephen, Doris, John, and Roedder, Erica. (2010). “The Science of Altruism,” in The Moral Psychology Handbook. Eds. Doris, J. and the Moral Psychology Research Group. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 147–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stocker, Michael. (1976). “The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories.” The Journal of Philosophy 73: 453–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stocker, Michael (1979). “Desiring the Bad: An Essay in Moral Psychology.” The Journal of Philosophy 76: 738–753.Google Scholar
Svavarsdóttir, Sigrún. (1999). “Moral Cognitivism and Motivation.” The Philosophical Review 108: 161–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiberius, Valerie. (2015). Moral Psychology: A Contemporary Introduction. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Toi, M. and Batson, C.. (1982). “More Evidence that Empathy is a Source of Altruistic Motivation.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 43: 281–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Roojen, Mark. (2018). “Moral Cognitivism versus Non-Cognitivism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/entries/moral-cognitivism/index.html.Google Scholar
- 17
- Cited by