Tag Archives: moral psychology

“Us” and “Them” and That Notorious Trolley

Posted on 30 November 2025 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

I recently read a very well written and thought-provoking book, Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them, by Joshua Greene, which came out in 2013.  I had so many thoughts that I decided to put them … Continue reading →

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Fantasy worlds as thought experiments

Posted on 19 July 2022 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Reading a fantasy or science fiction novel gives your imagination a good workout. Not only are you constantly watching for clues to help you paint a coherent picture of the story world and how it works, you’re sharing the viewpoint … Continue reading →

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Whose Law? Whose Order?

Posted on 8 January 2021 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

The shocking, yet not at all surprising, events in the U.S. Capitol this week revitalized a question I’ve been asking myself lately: How do we reconcile a president’s repeated call for “law and order” with his obvious delight in sheer, … Continue reading →

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What Moral Foundation Theory gets wrong

Posted on 25 August 2013 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Moral Foundations Theory is very popular with the media. Its creator, Jonathan Haidt, speaks to standing-room-only crowds around the nation. Our local, modest-sized public library owns ten (ten!) hardcover copies of his book, The Righteous Mind. In social psychology, it’s … Continue reading →

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The four elements of moralization: How things become “right” and “wrong”

Posted on 16 July 2013 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Last time, I described my model of the cultural process that leads people to adopt new ideas about right and wrong. Before I can really tell the story properly, though, I need to invest a few paragraphs in the nitty-gritty … Continue reading →

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Moralization: How we, as a society, decide what’s right and what’s wrong

Posted on 15 July 2013 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Q: What do marine biologist Rachel Carson, civil rights activist Malcolm X, evangelist Jerry Falwell, and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler all have in common? A. Each of them is, or was, an expert in moralization, the cultural process of changing … Continue reading →

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