Models Of Morality Flashcards
What is MFT?
Jonathon Haidt and collegues
Gene X culture interaction
Evolutionary psychology 5 “moral foundations”
Founded on intuitionism (emotion)
“Modular mind”
What is moral intuitionism?
According to Haidt, we make moral value judgements
intuitively, not rationally like many moral philosophers say
we do/should
Moral reasoning is not the cause of moral judgment
Moral reasoning is usually a post- hoc construction, generated after a judgment has already been reached
What are the 5 moral foundations?
Explain each…
- Care/harm
- evolved to care and bond w/ others
- social beings (attachment theory)
- strong (-) to those who cause harm - Degradtion/purity
- evolved from emotion of disgust
- now transferred to moral domain - Authority/subversion
- emerged from living in hierarchical groups
- defer to leaders/authority - Fairness/cheating
- reciprocal altruism (“back stratching”)
- we become upset when ppl “freeride”
- justice & rights - Loyalty/betrayal
- GROUP LOYALTY NOT INDIVIDUAL
- emerged history of tribal animals
- value those who remain loyal to the group
- patriotism & sacrifice
**EACH ROOTED IN EVOLUTIONARY CONCERN
What are binding and individual values
Moral values are separated into two types:
- Binding values, which govern behavior in groups…
• Loyalty
• Authority
• Purity - Individualizing values, which promote personal rights and freedoms
• Harm
• Fairness
The 5 moral foundations are “__________”
MFT argues that we can understand cultural differences in a way similar to a “___-_____ ___”
Universal; 5-band eq
“Profiles” have been found cross-culturally
Haidt found what 4 distinct profiles in the US?
- Secular liberals
- Libertarians
- Religions left
- Social conservatives
One of the critiques (especially recently) of MFT is that Haidt moves from “__________” evidence to “__________” prescriptions (that happen to be somewhat right leaning)
Should we try to expand our moral palate?
Descriptive; normative
Yes
Pluralistic VS monism is the biggest debate, what is the monistic theory against MFT?
Theory of Dyadic Morality
True or false. Haidt believes that all optimal societies embrace all 5 foundations
Yes
What are the 5 criteria’s it takes to be a moral foundation?
Criterion 1: A COMMON CONCERN in third-
party normative judgments
Criterion 2: AUTOMATIC EFFECTIVE
evaluations
Criterion 3: CULTURALLY widespread
Criterion 4: Evidence of INNATE PREPAREDNESS
Criterion 5: Evolutionary model
demonstrates ADAPTIVE ADVANTAGE
What is Theory of Dyadic Morality?
Is it an intuitionist model like MFT?
Kurt Gray and colleagues
All about “harm” single foundation
Morality is understood in terms of INTENTION (agency) and suffering (experience)
Dynamic causal model that suggests bidirectional, and mutually reinforcing, causal links between harm and moral
judgment.
Like MFT, it is an intuitionist model: (intuitively) PERCIEVED harm causes acts to be judged as immoral
i.e., when acts seem harmful, they seem morally
wrong
What is mind perception?
What are the 2 dimensions it exists along?
“__________” is key
Ascribing a mind (agency/experience) to others (objects in some cases)
AUTOMATIC process
(Evolutionary adaptive ex. snakes in grass)
Can be thought to be the first step towards theory of mind (ToM)
Exists along:
1. Agency
2. Experience
Perception
What do agents and patients mean?
Intentional agent (A) —> harmful act —> suffering patient (P)
ex) think of dalamation Disney movie
What is heroism according to Kurt Gray?
When an individual high in agency chooses to use that agency for
good, to help a patient
That’s what we consider a good deed, or in its extreme, heroism. In this case, patients become beneficiaries (as opposed to victims).
What are the 3 components that makes an act immoral according to Kurt Gray?
- Norm violations
- Negative affect (intuitive component)
- Perceived intentional harm
Ex) involuntary man slaughter VS murder
TDM explains “moral” harm is?
(4 aspects)
- Synthetic
•meaning CREATED, which is to say that it requires an intentional agent causing harm to a vulnerable patient - Perceived
•harm must be PERCEIVED (but not necessarily real) - Intuitive
•moral harm is perceived INTUITIONALLY and then justified afterwards - On a continuum
•some acts are going to be viewed as MORE harmful than other
Harm pluralism (MFT) suggests there are different types of harm…
What are these?
It is NOT always about physical damage but can also be psychological or spiritual
(such as desecrating a church, the planet, or a loved one’s grave).
What is harmful is SUBJECTIVE and will vary by person and culture.
MFT argues that only “______” of the moral foundations implicate harm
Which ones? ^
—————————————————————————————-
TDM argues that harm is “________” in violations of “____” of the foundations
Which ones? ^
Some
Harm and fairness
—————————————————————————————
Percieved; all
Harm and fairness
AND
In-group loyalty
Authority
Purity
What is dyadic comparison VS dyadic completion?
DYADIC COMPARISON:
The more something seems HARMFUL, the more is seems IMMORAL
Bottom-up process (perceived harm —> judgments of immortality)
***BEST PREDICTOR
—————————————————————————————
DYADIC COMPLETION:
Top-down process (judgments of immorality —> perceived harm)
What is the dyadic loop?
What does it explain?
The feedback loop between dyadic comparison
and completion is referred to as the dyadic loop
Explains moral acquisition and polarization
What is the TDM argument against MFT?
All the foundations are strongly correlated with each
other (rs ~ .7-.8)
Harm is the primary concern when people make moral judgments
Harm as the most accessible ”foundation”
What is the MFT argument against TDM?
The different profiles of moral foundations
The usage of “harm pluralism” undermines TDM’s initial argument of a harm just being an intentional harmful act from an agent against a patient
Unique predictive ability of each foundation
What are the arguments for adding liberty/harm as a MFT?
Ex) the people VS Larry Flint
Liberty/oppression: This foundation is about the feelings of
reactance and resentment people feel toward those who
dominate them and restrict their liberty. Its intuitions are often
in tension with those of the authority foundation. The hatred of
bullies and dominators motivates people to come together, in
solidarity, to oppose or take down the oppressor.”
