Event overview
Department of Psychology - Departmental Seminar
Abstract
A growing body of research has suggested that morality dominates person perception. Yet little is known about how the different kinds of moral judgments people make, the values they hold, and the behaviours they perform impact person perception. What should one do, for example, if the only way to prevent a major terrorist attack is to torture the child of the suspected terrorist until she releases the information of where her father is? Different ethical traditions give different answers: drawing on consequentialist theories one might say that you should torture the child because it will maximise overall welfare, but drawing on deontological ethical theories one might say that one should not torture the child because even if this helps bring about the best consequences overall, some things are just wrong. Different ethical traditions give different answers, and drawing on these different traditions might have different implications for person perception. In this talk I will I discuss some of my recent research on how deontological and consequentialist decision makers are perceived, and the implications this might have for why we hold the moral intuitions we do. I will highlight that that person perception is not just sensitive to whether someone has moral qualities, but the kinds of moral judgments they make.
Bio
Jim A.C. Everett is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the University of Kent and Research Associate at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, specializing in moral judgment, perceptions of moral character, and parochial altruism. Jim completed his BA, MSc, and D.Phil at the University of Oxford, before receiving a Fulbright Fellowship to work at Harvard University, and a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie PostDoctoral Fellowship to work at Leiden University.
Jim’s work is deeply interdisciplinary, and alongside traditional social psychological approaches he draws from philosophy, evolutionary theory, and behavioural economics. In his work, he investigates topics such as how we incorporate (im)partiality into our moral judgments; how we infer character from moral judgments and why this is important; how we think about the moral worth of animals; how our moral beliefs influence our understanding of free will and determinism; how morality is central to perceptions of personal and social identity; and how group processes shape moral judgment and vice versa.
Jim has published his work in leading journal such as Psychological Review, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. His research has been featured in The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The New York Times, Scientific American, and more.
This talk is part of the Departmental Seminar Series. All are welcome to attend, and no tickets are required. Any queries can be directed to Dr Daniel Yon (d.yon@gold.ac.uk).
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Jan 2020 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm |
Accessibility
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