Culture, theory-of-mind, and morality: How independent and interdependent minds make moral judgments. 2022

BoKyung Park, and Swathi Vepachedu, and Poorvi Keshava, and Sean Minns
The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W Campbell Rd., Richardson, TX 75080, USA. Electronic address: bokyung.park@utdallas.edu.

Although the investigation of the neural mechanisms of morality has increased in recent years, the neural underpinnings of cultural variations in judgments of morality is understudied. In this paper, we propose that the well-established cultural differences in two cognitive processes, consideration of mental state and causal attribution, would lead to differences in moral judgment. Specifically, North Americans rely heavily on the mental state of a protagonist and dispositional attributions, whereas East Asians focus more on situational attributions and place less emphasis on the mental state of a protagonist. These differences would be accounted for by activity in brain regions implicated in thinking about others' minds, or theory-of-mind (ToM), which would underlie the cultural shaping of moral judgment. This proposed cultural neuroscience approach may broaden the scope of morality research, better predict moral behavior, and reduce disparities in diverse groups' moral judgment.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007600 Judgment The process of discovering or asserting an objective or intrinsic relation between two objects or concepts; a faculty or power that enables a person to make judgments; the process of bringing to light and asserting the implicit meaning of a concept; a critical evaluation of a person or situation. Judgement,Judgements,Judgments
D009014 Morals Standards of conduct that distinguish right from wrong. Morality
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012938 Social Perception The perceiving of attributes, characteristics, and behaviors of one's associates or social groups. Perception, Social,Perceptions, Social,Social Perceptions
D056345 Theory of Mind The ability to attribute mental states (e.g., beliefs, desires, feelings, intentions, thoughts, etc.) to self and to others, allowing an individual to understand and infer behavior on the basis of the mental states. Difference or deficit in theory of mind is associated with ASPERGER SYNDROME; AUTISTIC DISORDER; and SCHIZOPHRENIA, etc.

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