Moral Psychology

New research reveals a fascinating hierarchy in human judgment: we see ourselves as exceptionally moral and give individual strangers the benefit of the doubt, yet we view society and groups as falling short.

When people feel physically closer to someone who could be harmed, they are less willing to sacrifice that person for the greater good, according to a new finding reported in Cognition & Emotion.

New research published in the Journal of Personality analyzes over 43,000 daily moments to determine how virtues like compassion impact individual well-being. The findings suggest these traits benefit the practitioner, not just the recipient.

Research shows that highlighting female victims elicits as much outrage as highlighting children. However, this protective instinct disappears when women step outside traditional gender roles, such as serving as soldiers.

A recent study indicates that political leanings are shaped by internal moral trade-offs. The findings suggest that conservatives tend to prioritize binding values like loyalty over individualizing values like care.

Research on inmates and jihadists links spiritual formidability to extreme sacrifice through a sense of group entitlement.

New findings suggest the connection between family environment and moral development may vary based on individual temperament.

A new study finds that the presence of a person dressed as Batman on the subway significantly increased passengers' willingness to give up their seats to a pregnant woman.

A new study finds that one's moral philosophy, more than their political ideology, predicts their support for banning practices they find immoral. This difference helps explain a deep-seated source of political disagreement.

A new study published in Nature Human Behaviour explores how emotions like guilt and shame influence generous behavior across cultures. By examining decision-making in diverse societies, the researchers aimed to understand what drives people to help others.

Handing off a task to an artificial intelligence system creates a psychological distance that encourages unethical behavior. New research published in Nature demonstrates this "machine delegation" significantly lowers the moral cost for people who want to cheat for personal gain.

A pair of studies conducted in Spain provides evidence of a striking moral asymmetry in politics: both leftists and rightists feel more morally obligated to defend progressive causes, and conservatives tend to view liberals as more morally upright than vice...

Physically attractive women tend to report greater interest in casual sex, but a new study finds that traditional moral values—especially those emphasizing social order and purity—can override this tendency, particularly among women with rural or conservative backgrounds.

A large study has found that individuals with greater cognitive ability are less likely to endorse moral values such as compassion, fairness, loyalty, and purity. The results point to a consistent negative relationship between intelligence and moral intuitions.

Can you trust AI with your toughest moral questions? A new study suggests thinking twice. Researchers found large language models consistently favor inaction and "no" in ethical dilemmas.