Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:25:28.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Optimism in unconscious, intuitive morality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2019

Cory J. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United [email protected]://www.dur.ac.uk/psychology/staff/?id=17418
Bo M. Winegard
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Marietta College, Marietta, OH 45750. [email protected]://www.marietta.edu/person/bo-winegard

Abstract

Moral cognition, by its very nature, stems from intuitions about what is good and bad, and these intuitions influence moral assessments outside of conscious awareness. However, because humans evolved a shared set of moral intuitions, and are compelled to justify their moral assessments as good and rational (even erroneously) to others, moral virtue and moral progress are still possible.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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

Clark, C. J., Baumeister, R. F. & Ditto, P. H. (2017) Making punishment palatable: Belief in free will alleviates punitive distress. Consciousness and Cognition 51:193211.Google Scholar
Clark, C. J, Chen, E. & Ditto, P. H. (2015) Moral coherence processes: Constructing culpability and consequences. Current Opinion in Psychology 6:123–28.Google Scholar
Festinger, L. (1957) A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Haidt, J. (2001) The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review 108:814–34.Google Scholar
May, J. (2018) Regard for reason in the moral mind. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mercier, H. & Sperber, D. (2011) Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34:5774.Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. E. & Wilson, T. D. (1977) Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review 84(3):231–59.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. (2011b) The better angels of our nature: Why violence has declined. Viking.Google Scholar
Schein, C. & Gray, K. (2018) The theory of dyadic morality: Reinventing moral judgment by redefining harm. Personality and Social Psychology Review 22:3270.Google Scholar
Vonasch, A. J., Reynolds, T., Winegard, B. M. & Baumeister, R. F. (2017) Death before dishonor: Incurring costs to protect moral reputation. Social Psychological and Personality Science 9(5): 604–13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617720271.Google Scholar