John M. Doris

Resisting temptation for the good of the group: Binding moral values and the moralization of self-control.

When do people see self-control as a moral issue? We hypothesize that the group-focused “binding” moral values of Loyalty/betrayal, Authority/subversion, and Purity/degradation play a particularly important role in this moralization process. Nine studies provide support for this prediction. First, moralization of self-control goals (e.g., losing weight, saving money) is more strongly associated with endorsing binding moral values than with endorsing individualizing moral values (Care/harm, Fairness/cheating). Second, binding moral values mediate the effect of other group-focused predictors of self-control moralization, including conservatism, religiosity, and collectivism. Third, guiding participants to consider morality as centrally about binding moral values increases moralization of self-control more than guiding participants to consider morality as centrally about individualizing moral values. Fourth, we replicate our core finding that moralization of self-control is associated with binding moral values across studies differing in measures and design—whether we measure the relationship between moral and self-control language across time, the perceived moral relevance of self-control behaviors, or the moral condemnation of self-control failures. Taken together, our findings suggest that self-control moralization is primarily group-oriented and is sensitive to group-oriented cues.

An Open Letter to Our Students: Doing Interdisciplinary Moral Psychology

This chapter offers some recommendations and guiding principles for conducting interdisciplinary moral psychology research, which will benefit students and experienced scholars alike. It is especially helpful to scholars in the humanities looking to apply scientific methods to their work. Drawing from work at the intersection of philosophy and the cognitive and neural sciences, this chapter offers valuable advice for how to critically evaluate the scientific literature and avoid common pitfalls.

Current Perspectives in Moral Psychology

Moral psychology has undergone a renaissance in recent years. Methodological and theoretical advances promise new perspectives on old questions—and as academic disciplines become less siloed, the potential for cross-disciplinary collaboration becomes even greater. In this chapter, we ask leading scholars to offer their views on the future of moral psychology. Biologist and primatologist Frans de Waal, philosopher Hanno Sauer, social anthropologist Paolo Heywood, and marketing scholar Verena Wieser share their thoughts on recent developments and their implications. The chapter ends with a conversation between philosophers Edouard Machery and John M. Doris—two founders of modern moral psychology—about how the field has progressed in the academy.