The Social Judgement and Behavioral Decision Making Colloquium series presents Dr. Kurt Gray on “Mind Perception and Morality” on Friday, April 18, at 11:50 a.m. in Porter 102.
Dr. Kurt Gray
Gray is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He studies the mysteries of subjective experience and asks such deep philosophical questions as: Why are humanoid robots creepy? Why do ghosts always have unfinished business? Why do grandma’s cookies taste the best? And why do adult film stars seem stupid? His research suggests that these questions—and many more—are rooted in the phenomenon of mind perception. Mind perception also forms the essence of moral cognition, according to his website.
Abstract: Decisions about animal rights, prison sentences and capital punishment are matters of life and death; yet, people base these decisions upon something ambiguous – the apparent mental capacities of others. Although we can never be certain of the exact nature of others’ minds, studies show that moral judgments hinge upon such mind perception. In this talk, I present evidence for the link between mind perception and morality. In particular, I explore dyadic morality – the idea that people understand good and evil as the combination of two perceived minds: an agent (the perpetrator) and a patient (the victim). Dyadic morality not only provides a template to unify morality, but also suggests two unique phenomena: dyadic completion and moral typecasting. Dyadic completion is the tendency to see blameworthy agents in response to suffering patients (and vice versa) and can help explain why people believe in God and the lasting sting of malicious harms. Moral typecasting is the tendency to see others as either moral agents or moral patients, and can help explain why we hurt the saintly, how best to escape blame, and why good deeds make people physically stronger.
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