By Greg Borzo, UChicago News An excerpt: That the new study of virtues has come to embrace a systematic, organized body of knowledge was evident at the third annual conference of the New Science of Virtues project at the University of Chicago, March 14-16, 2012. “The rigorous scientific method can be...

From Science Daily An excerpt: A study by University of Iowa neuroscientist and neuro-marketing expert William Hedgcock confirms previous studies that show self-control is a finite commodity that is depleted by use. Once the pool has dried up, we're less likely to keep our cool the next time we're...

By Amy Dockser Marcus, Wall Street Journal online Some scientists find inspiration in the lab. Others trek into the field. Laurie Santos likes the local coffee house. The 36-year-old runs Yale University's Comparative Cognition Laboratory, which examines the origins of the human mind by studying...

By Ferris Jabr, Scientific American An excerpt: The English language is not especially kind to rats. We say we "smell a rat" when something doesn't feel right, refer to stressful competition as the "rat race," and scorn traitors who "rat on" friends. But rats don't...

Moral Disgust Carries Foul Flavour, Researchers Say By Misty Harris in The Montreal Gazette Moral revulsion literally leaves a bad taste in people's mouths, a new study suggests. Researchers have found that some people of Christian faith were more likely to describe a lemon-water drink as disgusting...

By Jenny Mardner, The Rundown- PBS/Science Nation Summary: What can one baby, three puppets and a tricky Tupperware lid tell us about the roots of morality? Can infants distinguish between good and bad at such a young age? NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on research being conducted...

By Daisy Grewal, Scientific American Mind 4/5/11 An excerpt: Psychologists have long known that many people are prejudiced towards others based on group affiliations, be they racial, ethnic, religious, or even political. However, we know far less about why people are prone to prejudice in the first place...

By David Brooks, The New Yorker 1/17/11 Harold and Erica got their first glimpse of each other in front of a Barnes & Noble. They smiled broadly as they approached, and a deep, primeval process kicked in. Harold liked what he saw, from the waist-to-hip ratio to the clear skin, all indicative of health...

By Laurie Santos from TED Talks Science of Virtues Scholar Laurie Santos looks for the roots of human irrationality by watching the way our primate relatives make decisions. A clever series of experiments in "monkeynomics" shows that some of the silly choices we make, monkeys make too. See...

From The Economist To create life is the prerogative of gods. Deep in the human psyche, whatever the rational pleadings of physics and chemistry, there exists a sense that biology is different, is more than just the sum of atoms moving about and reacting with one another, is somehow infused with a divine...

The role of social cognition in moral judgment in frontotemporal dementia. By Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht, Teresa Torralva, Maria Roca, Mariángeles Pose, and Facundo Manes. Abstract: The role of social cognition in moral judgment in frontotemporal dementia. Abstract: Patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal...

By John D. Yoon, M.D.; Kenneth A. Rasinski, M.D.; and Farr A. Curlin, M.D. "...Providing nondirective counsel to their patients appears to have become the norm among certain obstetrician–gynecologists in the United States, particularly when dealing with morally controversial medical decisions. These...

Friends-they are generous and cooperative with each other in ways that appear to defy standard evolutionary expectations, frequently sacrificing for one another without concern for past behaviors or future consequences. In this fascinating multidisciplinary study, Daniel J. Hruschka synthesizes an array...

By Bernard G. Prusak Bioethicists often use the “nonidentity problem”—the idea that a child born with a disability would actually be a different child if she were born without the disability—to defend parents’ rights to have whatever children they want. After all, a child is not harmed by being brought...

By John A. Robertson Egg donation fills an important niche in American infertility practice. It helps women with ovarian failure, women over forty, and gay men to have children. It does so, to a large extent, because donors are paid for their services. Some people, however, are uncomfortable with paying...

By David B. Edelman and Anil K. Set "Despite anecdotal evidence suggesting conscious states in a variety of non-human animals, no systematic neuroscientific investigation of animal consciousness has yet been undertaken. We set forth a framework for such an investigation that incorporates integration...

Abstract: Coercion is a powerful means to enforce altruism and promote social cohesion in animal groups, but it requires the reliable identification of selfish individuals. Experiments in a desert ant provide the first direct proof that a single cuticular hydrocarbon elicits the policing of reproductive...

Abstract: Moral evolution theories have emphasized kinship, reciprocity, group selection, and equilibrium selection. Yet, moral virtues are also sexually attractive. Darwin suggested that sexual attractiveness may explain many aspects of human morality. This paper updates his argument by integrating...

Abstract: Marmoset monkeys devalue rewards requiring travel to acquire, but tamarin monkeys do not, despite the greater patience of marmosets when rewards are delayed in time. Such preference reversals, not predicted by standard economic theory, may reflect behavioral mechanisms adaptively specialized...

Abstract: Social animals are provisioned with prosocial orientations that operate to transcend self-interest. Morality , as used here, describes human versions of such orientations. We explore the evolutionary antecedents of morality in the context of emergentism, giving considerable attention to the...