Moral psychology

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Moral psychology is a field of study in both philosophy and psychology. Historically, psychologists interested in moral psychology have carried out empirical research on the ways in which people make decisions about issues that raise moral concerns. For example, the psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg questioned boys and young men about their thought processes when they were faced with a moral dilemma. In contrast, philosophers historically tended to ignore the results of empirical research and study theoretical issues to do with ethics, action and psychology. When Plato, in The Republic, asked questions about what could motivate a person to act morally, he was asking a questions about moral psychology. Since the late twentieth century, many philosophers working on moral psychology have taken the results of research in psychology and neuroscience seriously, and some psychologists working in this area have considered the philosophical assumptions that lie behind their work.^[1]

The subjects covered by moral psychology include:

• action
• Agency (philosophy)
• Identity
• Moral commitment
• Altruism
• Human character
• Ethical temperament
• Standards of evaluation for moral action
• Moral luck
• Standards of personal moral success
• The structure of action
• Perceived causes and events of moral action
• The role of emotions in morality
• The faculties of the mind involved in moral decision
• The interaction of those faculties and the emotions
• Rationality in moral matters
• Moral judgement
• The relationship between ethics and moral action
• The means by which moral agents understand each other

[edit] See also

• Carol Gilligan
• Jonathan Haidt
• Kohlberg's stages of moral development

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Kohlberg, Lawrence.
• Plato. The Republic.
• Thagard, Paul. 2007. 'The Moral Psychology of Conflicts of Interest: Insights from Affective Neuroscience'. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 24(4):367-380.