Moralities of Everyday Life

About this course: How can we explain kindness and cruelty? Where does our sense of right and wrong come from? Why do people so often disagree about moral issues? This course explores the psychological foundations of our moral lives.

Created by:  Yale University

• Taught by:  Paul Bloom, Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University

  Psychology

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Syllabus


WEEK 1


Welcome to Moralities of Everyday Life!



1 video, 2 readings expand

1. Video: Introduction to the Course
2. Reading: Meet your instructors!
3. Reading: Course resources

The Big Questions
What is morality, anyway? What are the big debates in the field of moral psychology?


9 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Reading: Week 1 Readings
2. Video: What is Morality?
3. Video: Philosophical Approaches
4. Video: Reason vs. Emotions
5. Video: The Case of Disgust
6. Video: Cute and Sexy
7. Video: Return to the Trolley Problem
8. Video: The Big Questions
9. Video: Week 1 Office Hours (2015)
10. Video: Week 1 Office Hours (2014)

Graded: Week 1 Quiz

WEEK 2


Compassion
Where does concern for others come from? How is it related to empathy—and is more empathy necessarily a good thing? And what can we learn from the study of those who seemingly lack normal moral feelings, such as violent psychopaths?


6 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Reading: Week 2 Readings
2. Video: Caring About Others
3. Video: How Do We Treat Strangers?
4. Video: Empathy and Concern
5. Video: Empathy and its Limits
6. Video: Week 2 Office Hours (2015)
7. Video: Week 2 Office Hours (2014)

Graded: Week 2 Quiz

WEEK 3


Origins of Morality
Here, we ask about which aspects of morality are universal. We discuss evolution, cross-cultural research, and the fascinating new science of the moral life of babies.


10 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Reading: Week 3 Readings
2. Video: Moral Diversity
3. Video: Moral Universals
4. Video: Evolution of Morality
5. Video: Reciprocal Altruism
6. Video: Guest Lecture, Laurie Santos
7. Video: Development of Morality
8. Video: How Much Can Evolution Explain?
9. Video: Discussion with Laurie Santos
10. Video: Week 3 Office Hours (2015)
11. Video: Week 3 Office Hours (2014)

Graded: Week 3 Quiz

WEEK 4


Differences
How does culture influence our moral thought and moral action? What role does religion play? Why are some of us conservative and others liberal, and how do political differences influence our sense of right and wrong?


9 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Reading: Week 4 Readings
2. Video: Moral Differences
3. Video: Kinds of Societies
4. Video: Conservatives and Liberals
5. Video: Disgust and Honor I
6. Video: Disgust and Honor II
7. Video: Religion and Morality I
8. Video: Religion and Morality II
9. Video: Week 4 Office Hours (2015)
10. Video: Week 4 Office Hours (2014)

Graded: Week 4 Quiz

WEEK 5


Family, Friends, and Strangers



Our moral feelings are usually most powerful towards our kin (such as our parents and our children) and our friends and allies. We will discuss these special bonds, and then turn to the morality of racial and ethnic bias. Then we use the tools of behavioral economics to explore the controversial question of whether we are ever truly altruistic to strangers.


10 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Reading: Week 5 Readings
2. Video: Moral Circles
3. Video: The Morality of Group Preference
4. Video: What Groups Matter?
5. Video: Stereotypes
6. Video: Economic Games
7. Video: Criticisms of Economic Games
8. Video: How Do We Naturally Respond to Strangers?
9. Video: The Problem of Kindness
10. Video: Week 5 Office Hours (2015)
11. Video: Week 5 Office Hours Part (2014)

Graded: Week 5 Quiz

WEEK 6


The Big Answers



We’ll discuss some clever studies that show how our moral behavior is powerfully influenced—often at the unconscious level—by the situations that we find ourselves in. Such findings raise some hard problems about determinism, free will, and moral responsibility. Most of all, if our actions are determined by our brains, our genes, and our situations, in what sense can we be said to be moral agents? The course will end by trying to address this question.


6 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Reading: Week 6 Readings
2. Video: Morality as Part of Our Nature
3. Video: Skepticism About the Self
4. Video: Free Will and the Situation
5. Video: Conclusion
6. Video: Week 6 Office Hours (2015)
7. Video: Week 6 Office Hours (2014)

Graded: Week 6 Quiz