The Moral Brain (eBook)

Contents 5
Contributors 7
Introduction 9
Science at the Edge of Science Fiction 9
The Moral Brain: A New Climate A New Technique 10
The Breakthroughs 16
There is No Moral Center 17
Each Moral Task Has Its Own Neural Network 20
Engineering the Moral Brain 23
The Immoral Brain 25
Prospects and Limits 27
Morality and Evolution 29
Indirect Reciprocity and Strong Reciprocity 34
Towards a Deep History of Human Morality 36
A Misleading Analogy? 37
The Importance of Brain Imaging 39
Plan of the Book 42
Conclusion 47
References 48
The Immoral Brain 52
The Evolution of Moral Behavior 52
The Prisoners Dilemma Model of Social Interactions 53
The Neurobiology of Morality and Social Emotions 54
The Evolution of Immoral Behavior 57
The Neurobiology of Immoral / Antisocial Behavior 59
Neurobiology of Psychopathy in the Prisoners Dilemma 64
The Neurobiology of Deception 65
Cheater Detection 66
Neuroethics 67
Summary 68
References 69
Extended Attachment and the Human Brain: Internalized Cultural Values and Evolutionary Implications 75
Attachment Operationally Defined 75
Scope and Aims 77
Culture, Extended Attachment and the Human Brain 78
The Neural Basis of Social Attachment and Aversion 79
Evolutionary Implications 82
Prospects and Final Remarks 85
References 88
Neuro-Cognitive Systems Involved in Moral Reasoning 92
The Development of Morality 92
Morality as a Unitary System 92
Multiple Moralities 94
The Development of Care-Based Morality 96
Reciprocity 99
Disgust-Based Morality 100
Social Convention 100
Theory of Mind and Morality 102
Theory of Mind and Social Convention 103
Summary 104
Empathy and Morality: Integrating Social and Neuroscience Approaches 113
Evolutionary Origins of Empathy 115
Shared Neural Circuits Between Self and Other 118
Perspective-Taking, Self-Other Awareness, and Empathy 120
Modulation of Empathic Responding 123
Empathy and Morality 126
Conclusion 127
References 128
Moral Judgment and the Brain: A Functional Approach to the Question of Emotion and Cognition in Moral Judgment Integrating Psychology, Neuroscience and Evolutionary Biology 132
Two Competing Psychological Models on Moral Judgment Moral Reasoning from a Cognitive-Developmental Perspective 133
The Role of Emotions and Intuitive Feelings in Moral Judgment 134
The Neuroscientific Study of Moral Judgment 136
Lesion Studies Provide First Evidence for a Neurobiological Basis of Morality 136
Some Methodological Considerations on Imaging Brain Activity 138
A Distributed Functional Network of Brain Regions Activated During Moral Judgment 140
Neuroimaging Studies with a Focus on Emotion and Cognition in Moral Judgment 143
Evidence for Competing Emotional and Cognitive Subsystems During Dilemmatic Moral Judgments 143
The Influence of Bodily Harm on Neural Correlates of Moral Decision Making 144
The Influence of Individual Differences in Moral Judgment Competence on Neural Correlates of Moral Judgment 145
A Functional Approach to Moral Judgment Integrating Psychological Models, Neuroscientific Results, and Evolutionary Biology 149
References 153
Moral Dysfunction: Theoretical Model and Potential Neurosurgical Treatments 158
Introduction 158
The Moral Brain 160
The Moral Brain Circuit 161
Reward System and Morality 162
Dysfunctional Moral Brain 164
Antisocial Personality Disorders (APD)/Psychopathy 164
Pedophilia 167
Developing Neurosurgical Treatments for Moral Dysfunctions 169
Pedophilia 171
Electrical Stimulation of the Nucleus Accumbens 172
Electrical Stimulation of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex 172
Electrical Stimulation of the Amygdala 173
Electrical Stimulation of the OFC 174
Electrical Stimulation of the DLPFC 175
Psychopathy/Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) 176
What Surgical Treatment to Chose in Individual Cases ? 177
Ethical Implications of Neurosurgical Interventions for Moral Dysfunction 178
References 180
Does It Pay to be Good? Competing Evolutionary Explanations of Pro-Social Behaviour 187
Brain, Behaviour, Evolution 187
What Moral Behaviour? 188
Altruism 188
Box 1 Other-Regarding Utility Functions 188
Reciprocity, Indirect Reciprocity, Altruistic Punishment and Third Party Punishment 192
Different Types of Models 193
Kin Selection 193
Natural Selection at the Individual Level 194
Group Selection 195
Sexual Selection 198
Which One Is Right? 198
Verbal Versus Formal 199
Brain Scanning: Proximate and Ultimate Causes 200
References 201
How Can Evolution and Neuroscience Help Us Understand Moral Capacities? 203
Evolution 205
Evolution and Pathology 207
Neuroscience 208
Conclusion 209
References 210
Runaway Social Selection for Displays of Partner Value and Altruism 212
Social Selection 213
Social Selection in Nature 215
Domestication 216
Social Selection for Cooperation 217
Social Selection for Prosocial Traits in Humans 220
Models 222
The Invisible Hand 224
Caveats and Conclusions 225
References 227
The Evolved Brain: Understanding Religious Ethics and Religious Violence 233
Introduction 233
Evolutionary Models for Morality 236
Evolutionary Psychology and Moral Religions 238
The Evolutionary Bases of Religious Ethics/Religious Violence 241
The Evolutionary Logic of Religious Violence 245
Conclusion 250
References 253
An Evolutionary and Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective on Moral Modularity 255
Introduction 255
Evolutionary Psychology 257
Modularity Hypothesis 257
Moral Modularity 258
Cognitive Neuroscience 260
The Role of Reasoning Processes in Some Forms of Moral Judgment 261
Focus on Learning Processes 262
Neural Modularity 263
Massive Moral Modularity: Confronting EP and CN 263
Learning 264
Higher Cognition 266
Neural Modularity? 266
Conclusion 267
References 268
Index 271