Prelim 2

Why does dehumanization not make people more willing to commit moral violence?

Dehumanization strips victims of qualities that make them deserving of blame and understanding, removing the moral meaning from the act.

What are the two forms of violence distinguished in the study of dehumanization?

Instrumental violence and moral violence.

What is instrumental violence?

Harm inflicted as a means to some other end, where the perpetrator is indifferent to the victim's suffering.

What is moral violence?

Harm inflicted because the perpetrator believes the victim deserves it, requiring the victim to be recognized as a full human agent.

What is a hostile attribution bias?

The tendency to interpret ambiguous social cues as intentionally hostile rather than accidental.

How does hostile attribution bias relate to environments of violence?

Children and adults exposed to more violence are more likely to develop this bias, leading to reactive aggression.

What is the difference between moral piggybacking and moral expansion?

Moral piggybacking applies an existing moral principle to a new domain, while moral expansion adopts a new moral principle.

Give an example of moral expansion.

Adopting the principle that killing animals is wrong after reading Singer's Animal Liberation.

Give an example of moral piggybacking.

Learning that secondhand smoke harms bystanders, thus moralizing smoking.

What is the core argument of Bloom (2010) regarding moral change?

Deliberate persuasion, rational reflection, and narrative are critical drivers of moral change, alongside emotion.

What does Bloom critique about the social intuitionist model?

It suggests moral reasoning is mostly post-hoc rationalization of gut feelings, which cannot explain moral evolution.

What is the contact hypothesis?

Moral circles expand as social circles do through travel, economic interdependence, and information access.

What role does storytelling play in moral change according to Bloom?

Storytelling can expand or contract the moral circle and is a powerful tool for motivating sympathy.

What is moralization?

The process by which preferences are converted into values, leading to moral judgments.

Why are moralized entities treated differently from mere preferences?

Moralized entities are regulated and resisted very differently than preferences.

What is the significance of the generative capacity of storytelling in moral psychology?

It highlights how people produce and transmit moral views, which is often overlooked in studies.

What is the relationship between hostile attribution bias and reactive aggression?

Hostile attribution bias makes reactive aggression seem reasonable as provocation appears intentional.

How does dehumanization affect moral violence?

Dehumanization is incompatible with moral violence as it requires a human target to be meaningful.

What is the impact of early exposure to violence on children?

It increases the likelihood of developing hostile attribution bias and acceptance of reactive aggression.

What is the main contribution of Bloom's work in moral psychology?

Highlighting the role of reason and deliberate persuasion in moral change.

What does Rozin (1999) argue about the process of moralization?

It converts preferences into values, which significantly alters how entities are perceived and treated.

What is the difference in routes for moral expansion and moral piggybacking?

Moral expansion can occur through cognitive-rational or affective routes, while moral piggybacking also uses these routes but applies existing principles.

What is an example of historical moral progress that challenges emotion-based accounts?

The opposition to slavery emerged before widespread contact with affected groups.

What does Bloom suggest is underappreciated in moral psychology?

The role of deliberate persuasion, rational argument, and narrative in driving moral change.

What is the significance of moral judgments evolving?

It indicates that morality is not solely based on emotional reactions but also on rational deliberation.

How does moral expansion affect behavior compared to moral piggybacking?

Moral expansion leads to stronger internalized reasons and resistance to temptation compared to moral piggybacking.

What are the implications of moralization for societal norms?

Moralized behaviors are subject to different regulations and societal expectations than mere preferences.

What does Rozin's work emphasize about moral judgments?

Moral judgments are influenced by both cognitive and affective processes.

What is an example of how narratives can shift moral perspectives?

Uncle Tom's Cabin helped shift public opinion on slavery.

What are the consequences of moralization?

Governments may tax, regulate, or prohibit the behavior; institutions fund research confirming the moral concern; individual censure becomes licensed; the behavior becomes more central to the self and more internalized; parent-to-child transmission becomes more robust; disgust is often recruited as an emotional amplifier.

What are the two mechanisms of individual moralization?

Moral expansion and moral piggybacking.

What is moral expansion?

Adopting a new moral principle, under which previously neutral activities now fall.

What is moral piggybacking?

New information causes a previously neutral activity to fall under an existing moral principle.

What are cultural predictors of moralization?

Protestantism, harm to children, association with stigmatized groups, and availability of multiple independent reasons against the behavior.

What is an example of moralization in culture?

The case of cigarette smoking, which shifted from a mere preference to a morally laden behavior.

What is unmoralization?

The process of something morally charged becoming a mere preference.

What is moral reasoning?

Transitions in thought in accordance with endorsed moral principles about welfare, rights, equality, fairness, and justice.

How does Killen & Dahl's view differ from intuitionism?

They argue that moral reasoning is a genuine driver of developmental and societal change, while intuitionists define reasoning as slow and effortful.

What is the developmental trajectory of children's moral reasoning?

Age 3: Understand harming others is wrong; Ages 5-6: Recognize group-based inequalities; Ages 6-8: Balance equality, equity, and need; Late childhood/adolescence: Recognize costs of challenging group norms.

What are the two mechanisms of societal moral change?

Changed informational assumptions and changed circumstances.

What is the core argument of Friedland (2011) regarding modern carnivorous sensibilities?

They trace to a fusion of the Cartesian view that animals are machines and the sentimentalist view that humans are compassionate.

What did Descartes argue about animals?

He argued that animals lack rational thought and are therefore automata.

What was Montaigne's view on the distinction between humans and animals?

He challenged the sharp distinction and argued for mutual obligation between humans and animals.

What is moral deflection?

Focusing moral concern on suffering rather than on killing itself.

What was the spectacle problem in relation to animal slaughter?

As sensibilities about suffering intensified, slaughterhouses and executions were removed from public view.

What is the significance of the examples of Tinker v. Des Moines and Greta Thunberg?

They illustrate how moral reasoning drives societal change.

What does the term 'moralization' refer to?

The process by which a behavior or entity becomes imbued with moral significance.

What is the role of disgust in moralization?

Disgust is often recruited as an emotional amplifier.

What is the impact of parent-to-child transmission in moralization?

It becomes more robust as moralization occurs.

What is the significance of the vegetarian and cigarette examples in moral reasoning?

They serve as ideal illustrations of moralization and its consequences.

What does the term 'moral change' encompass according to Killen & Dahl?

It encompasses the shifts in moral reasoning that drive both individual and societal development.

How can moral reasoning become fluent?

Through rehearsal, moral principles can become fast and fluent, similar to expertise in other domains.

What is the relationship between moral reasoning and compassion according to Killen & Dahl?

They emphasize compassion and care as motivators, contrasting with intuitionists' focus on negative emotions.

What does the term 'moral urgency' refer to in the context of cultural predictors?

It refers to the amplified sympathy and moral concern regarding harm to children.

What is the significance of the citation for Killen & Dahl (2021)?

It provides a scholarly reference for their arguments about moral reasoning and societal change.

What are the three main psychological processes that govern how people judge the moral status of animals?

Attribution and categorization, emotion, and identity.

How does mind attribution affect moral concern for animals?

Greater mind attribution increases moral concern.

Who tends to attribute more mental capacity to animals, vegetarians or omnivores?

Vegetarians.

What happens to moral concern for cows when people eat beef?

They report lower moral concern for cows.

How does labeling an animal as food affect its perceived moral standing?

It reduces its perceived moral standing.

What is motivated cognition in the context of moral judgments about animals?

People adjust mind attribution based on self-interest.

How do fear and disgust affect moral standing?

They reduce moral standing.

What emotional response increases with perceived intelligence and emotional capacity of animals?

Sympathy.

What effect do baby animals have on moral standing compared to adults?

Baby animals elicit more tenderness and higher moral standing.

What are the 4Ns that omnivores invoke to rationalize eating meat?

Natural, Normal, Necessary, Nice.

What does dehumanization refer to in the context of violence?

The failure to attribute an inner life to others.

What did the first experiment by Rai et al. show about dehumanizing attitudes?

They predicted support for sweatshop labor and animal experimentation.

How does perceiving Iraqi civilians as less human affect support for drone strikes?

It predicts support for drone strikes.

What is the primary effect of dehumanization according to Rai et al.?

Creating indifference in observers and bystanders.

What is the constraint view of conventions?

Conventions are alterable only within limits set by non-conventional concerns.

What are the two puzzles of conventionality?

1. Why do people judge that some conventions should not be adopted? 2. Why do people judge some violations would be wrong even without a rule?

What does the jersey example illustrate in the context of conventions?

Some possible norms are excluded because they would harm agents or others.

What did Study 1 reveal about evaluations of common acts?

They reflected effects on the agent and effects on others.

What pattern did preschoolers show in Study 4 regarding harmful variants?

They accepted neutral alternatives but rejected harmful variants.

What illustrates the conflict between religious rules and secular conventions?

The disqualification of the Iranian women's soccer team for wearing hijabs.

What are the two types of cultures defined by social norms?

Tight cultures and loose cultures.

What characterizes tight cultures?

Strong social norms, low tolerance for deviance, high order and coordination.

What characterizes loose cultures?

Weak norms, permissiveness, more openness and creativity.

What historical factors contribute to cultural tightness?

Natural disasters, disease, resource scarcity, and invasion.

What was the key quantitative finding regarding COVID-19 cases in tight vs. loose cultures?

Nations with high cultural looseness had approximately 5 times as many COVID-19 cases per million as tight nations.

What is the proposed mechanism for tight cultures' better performance during collective threats?

Tight cultures are better at rapid cooperative behavior.

What does cultural evolutionary theory explain?

How beliefs, norms, and behaviors are transmitted and adapted through social learning.

What is path dependence in psychology?

Current psychology reflects historical processes, not just current conditions.

What is the significance of the medieval Catholic Church in shaping WEIRD psychology?

It promoted individual land ownership and banned cousin marriage, affecting social organization.

What are the key mechanisms of cultural evolutionary theory?

Prestige bias and conformist bias.

What does the term 'WEIRD' stand for?

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic.

What does the contact hypothesis state?

Moral circle expands as social circle does through increased association with others.

What is dehumanization?

Failure to attribute full human mental capacities to others.

What is the constraint view in moral psychology?

Conventions are alterable within limits set by effects on agents and others.

What is the difference between tight and loose cultures?

Tight cultures have strong norms and low tolerance for deviance, while loose cultures have weaker norms and more permissiveness.

What is an instrumental variable?

A causal inference technique using an exogenous variable to isolate the effect of a historical factor on a present outcome.

What does motivated cognition refer to?

Adjusting perception based on self-interest to reduce cognitive dissonance.

What are the 4Ns in moral psychology?

Rationalizations that meat eating is Natural, Normal, Necessary, and Nice.

What is speciesism?

Unjustified preference for members of one's own species.

What is the role of historical data methods in psychology?

To analyze historical evidence and understand psychological variation.

What is the significance of the Seshat Databank?

It is a structured database for historical and anthropological data.

What does the term 'moral piggybacking' mean?

New information causes a previously neutral activity to fall under an existing moral principle.

What is the impact of the slave trade on trust in African ethnic groups?

Groups more exposed to the Atlantic slave trade show lower levels of trust today.

What is the relationship between plow agriculture and gender inequality?

Societies with historical plow agriculture have greater gender inequality today.

What is the main argument of Gelfand et al. (2021) regarding cultural tightness and COVID-19?

Cultural tightness explains a significant portion of cross-national variation in COVID-19 cases and deaths.