Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T05:26:10.799Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

United we stand, divided we fall: Cognition, emotion, and the moral link between them

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Andrea Manfrinati*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milano, Italy. [email protected]://www.unimib.it/

Abstract

Contrary to Greene's dual-process theory of moral judgment (Greene 2013), this commentary suggests that the network view of the brain proposed by Pessoa, in which emotion and cognition may be used as labels in the context of certain behaviors, but will not map clearly into compartmentalized pieces of the brain, could represent a better explanation of the rationale behind people's moral behavior.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Damasio, A. (1994) Descartes' error: Emotion, reason and the human brain. Avon.Google Scholar
Feldman Barrett, L., Ochsner, K. N. & Gross, J. J. (2007) On the automaticity of emotion. In: Social psychology and the unconsciousness: The automaticity of higher mental processes, ed. Bargh, J. A., pp. 173219. Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Gray, K. & Schein, C. (2012) Two minds vs. two philosophies: Mind perception defines morality and dissolve the debate between deontology and utilitarianism. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 3:405–23.Google Scholar
Greene, J. D. (2008) The secret joke of Kant's soul. In: Moral psychology. Vol. 3: The neuroscience of morality: Emotion, brain disorders, and development, ed. Sinnot-Armstrong, W., pp. 3579. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Greene, J. D. (2013) Moral tribes. Emotion, reason, and the gap between us and them. Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Greene, J. D., Nystrom, L. E., Engell, A. D., Darley, J. M. & Cohen, J. D. (2004) The neural bases of cognitive conflict and control in moral judgment. Neuron 44:389400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greene, J. D., Sommerville, R. B., Nystrom, L. E., Darley, J. M. & Cohen, J. D. (2001) An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science 293(5537):2105–108. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=11557895.Google Scholar
Keren, G. & Schul, Y. (2009) Two is not always better than one: A critical evaluation of two-system theories. Perspectives on Psychological Science 4(6):533–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manfrinati, A., Lotto, L., Sarlo, M., Palomba, D. & Rumiati, R. (2013) Moral dilemmas and moral principles: When emotion and cognition unite. Cognition and Emotion 27:1276–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moll, J., de Oliveira-Souza, R., Garrido, G. J., Bramati, I. E., Caparelli-Daquer, E. M. A., Paiva, M. L. M. F., Zahn, R. & Grafman, J. (2007) The self as a moral agent: Linking the neural bases of social agency and moral sensitivity. Social Neuroscience 2:336–52.Google Scholar
Moll, J., de Oliveira-Souza, R., Zahn, R. & Grafman, J. (2008b) The cognitive neuroscience of moral emotions. In: Moral psychology. Vol. 3: The neuroscience of morality: Emotion, brain disorders, and development, ed. Sinnot-Armstrong, W., pp. 117. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ochsner, K. N. & Gross, J. J. (2005) The cognitive control of emotion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9:242–49.Google Scholar
Pessoa, L. (2008) On the relationship between emotion and cognition. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience 9(2):148–58. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18209732.Google Scholar
Pessoa, L. (2013) The cognitive-emotional brain. From interactions to integration. MIT Press.Google Scholar