How the Brain Works The Facts Visually Explained by DK (z-lib.org)

COMMUNICATION

Morality

Morality

Most people living in normal environments develop instinctive

senses of right and wrong. Morality seems to be in part hardwired,

arising from the conjunction of rationality and emotion.

Where do right and wrong come from?

Social norms based on shared morals exist across all cultures,

enabling social cohesion. When making moral decisions, two

brain systems come into play: a “rational” system that effortfully

and explicitly weighs the pros and cons of possible actions; and

a system that rapidly generates emotional, intuitive feelings of

right and wrong. Interactions between rationality and emotion

are complex, but studying brain activity while people grapple

with moral dilemmas has identified the key areas involved.

Moral judgment

When we make decisions,

our emotions play a vital role.

In order to weigh moral

matters, brain areas that

are involved in emotional

experience coordinate with

areas that register facts and

consider possible actions

and consequences.

Ventromedial

prefrontal cortex

This area is an important

structure for allowing emotional

responses to influence rationalized

moral decisions. In psychopaths,

connections between this region

and both the amygdala and

reward pathways are

disrupted.

Dorsolateral

prefrontal cortex

This area integrates rational and

emotional information. It may

also counteract the ventromedial

area to suppress emotional drives

when dealing with complex moral

dilemmas that favor cognitive

solutions using memories

or other data.

Parietal lobe

Involved in working memory

and cognitive control, this area

of the cortex provides information

needed to help us perceive social

signals, to figure out others’ beliefs

and intentions—such as whether

an act was aggressive or how a

social context should

affect behavior.

Posterior superior

temporal sulcus

This part of the cortex functions

with the parietal lobe, providing

information to guide moral

intuition and attributing beliefs to

others and integrating this data

with the potential outcomes of

actions. It also helps assess

whether a person is

lying.

Temporal pole

The temporal pole functions

in both social processing, such

as face recognition and figuring

out the mental states of others,

and in emotional processing. It

may also help combine complex

perceptual inputs with

intuitive emotional

responses.

EXTERNAL VIEW

KEY

Rational

circuit

Emotional

circuit

Amygdala

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