The origins and social consequences of moral realism

这一建议结合了发展心理学、社会神经科学和哲学的方法来研究道德现实主义的发展起源和社会后果：道德现实主义的概念，就像事实一样，可以客观上是真的和假的。这一立场与反现实主义形成了对比：反现实主义认为，道德就像偏好一样，是主观的。虽然现实主义和反现实主义传统上一直是哲学领域的研究对象，但最近的心理学研究为外行人是现实主义者的假设提供了一些支持。其他研究表明，道德现实主义既有积极的后果（例如，增加对慈善事业的捐款），也有消极的后果（例如，增加与不同意自己观点的人的人际关系不适）。提出的工作建立在这些先前的心理学和哲学文献之上。研究1-2考察了学龄前儿童在多大程度上认为不同背景下的道德主张是客观真实的，并检验了道德现实主义增强和反现实主义减弱群体间偏见的假设。研究3A-3B利用功能性神经影像学研究了成人道德现实主义的社会后果。这些研究验证了这样一种预测，即成年人会使那些与自己的道德信仰不一致的人失去人性，而道德现实主义会增强这种影响，而反现实主义则会减弱这种影响。知识价值。这些研究解决了两个重要的理论问题。第一，社会经验在道德认知中的作用是什么？一方面，如果成年人成熟的道德认知是长期社会学习的产物，那么儿童的推理就会与成年人不同。另一方面，儿童和成人之间的相似性表明，在成年期间积累的额外的社会学习对于特定形式的道德认知是不必要的。第二，儿童和成人如何对不同类型的道德信仰进行推理？先前的研究基于对明确的道德信念（例如，谋杀是错误的）的调查，得出了关于“道德现实主义”的结论。然而，许多道德信念更加模棱两可（例如，是说一个不讨人喜欢的真相好，还是说一个小谎言好？）与明确的道德信仰不同，模糊的道德信仰会导致个人和文化之间的分歧。除了解决这些问题外，目前的研究还阐明了道德现实主义令人不安的后果。包括内隐偏见，外显偏见和非人化？并测试道德反现实主义可以减轻这些后果的预测。为了实现这些目标，目前的研究整合了发展心理学、社会神经科学和哲学的方法，从而获得了任何领域都无法获得的独特见解。更广泛的影响。拟议的工作在其具体研究成果的贡献和研究方法的使用方面对社会有益。首先，这些研究将探讨元伦理信念对群体间偏见的影响，表明采取道德现实主义立场会增强偏见，而采取道德反现实主义立场会减少偏见。这些结果可能为干预提供信息，旨在通过对人们的元伦理信仰采取行动来减少群体间的敌意。其次，本研究中使用的发展方法也将使公众受益，为儿童提供了解和参与研究的机会。数据将在儿童博物馆收集，为研究人员提供充足的机会与感兴趣的家庭讨论方法，假设和发现。此外，与来自不同种族背景的男女实验人员互动可能会鼓励来自科学中代表性不足的群体的儿童追求科学兴趣。

This proposal unites approaches from developmental psychology, social neuroscience, and philosophy to investigate the developmental origins and social consequences of moral realism: the notion that morals, like facts, can be objectively true and false. This position is contrasted with anti-realism:the notion that morals, like preferences, are subjective. Although realism and anti-realism have traditionally been investigated within philosophy, recent work in psychology has provided some support for the hypothesis that laypeople are realists. Other studies indicate that moral realism has both positive (e.g., increasing donations to charity) and negative (e.g., increasing interpersonal discomfort with those who disagree with one's views) consequences. The proposed work builds on this prior literature in psychology and philosophy. Studies 1-2 examine the extent to which preschoolers consider moral claims across diverse contexts to be objectively true and test the hypothesis that moral realism enhances, and anti-realism attenuates, intergroup bias. Using functional neuroimaging, Studies 3A-3B investigate the social consequences of moral realism among adults. These studies test the prediction that adults dehumanize those who do not share their morally relevant beliefs and that moral realism enhances, and anti-realism attenuates, this effect. Intellectual Merit. These studies address two key questions of theoretical interest. First, what is the role of social experience in moral cognition? On the one hand, if mature moral cognition in adults is the product of prolonged social learning, children would be expected to reason differently from adults. On the other hand, similarities between children and adults would indicate that the additional years of social learning accumulated during adulthood are unnecessary for particular forms of moral cognition. Second, how do children and adults reason about different types of moral beliefs? Previous work has drawn conclusions about "moral realism" based on investigations of unambiguous moral beliefs (e.g., murder is wrong). However, many moral beliefs are more ambiguous (e.g., is it better to tell an unflattering truth or a small lie?) Unlike unambiguous moral beliefs, ambiguous moral beliefs can lead to disagreements across individuals and cultures. In addition to addressing these questions, the current studies elucidate the troubling consequences of moral realism?including implicit bias, explicit bias, and dehumanization?and test the prediction that moral anti-realism can attenuate these consequences. To achieve these goals, the present studies integrate methodological approaches from developmental psychology, social neuroscience, and philosophy, leading to unique insight unobtainable from any field alone. Broader Impacts. The proposed work benefits society both in its contribution of specific research findings and in its use of research methods. First, these studies will investigate the impact of meta-ethical beliefs on intergroup bias, suggesting that adopting a moral realist stance enhances bias, whereas adopting a moral anti-realist stance decreases bias. These results may inform interventions aimed at reducing intergroup hostility by acting on people's meta-ethical beliefs. Second, the developmental methods used in this research will also benefit the public by providing children with the opportunity to learn about and participate in research. Data will be collected at a children's museum, providing ample opportunity for the researcher to discuss the methods, hypotheses, and findings with interested families. Additionally, interacting with male and female experimenters from diverse racial backgrounds may encourage children from groups under-represented in the sciences to pursue scientific interests.