The Dark Side of Morality – Neural Mechanisms Underpinning Moral Convictions and Support for Violence

Workman, Clifford I.; Yoder, Keith J.; Decety, Jean

doi:10.1080/21507740.2020.1811798

Cited by 20 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…The importance of vmPFC activation in these circumstances agrees well with changes in patterns of activation at this region detected, in ordinary people, while they approved images of politically violent protests in the US [47], and also with measures of imagined aggression [48]. Adjacent prefrontal cortex regions process how situational factors may shape attitudes toward deliberate killing.…”

Section: Studies With Extremistssupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Research on the biological underpinnings of dominance, risk-seeking, dogmatism, parochialism, dishonesty, machiavellianism, and other relevant traits has accrued a good amount of associations with extremism proneness, at different levels of neural analysis. Links that go from gene markers and neurohormones to brain subsystems [4,5,30,47,56,[63][64][65][66]. These interdependencies have already been used to improve the deployment of provisional but increasingly detailed depictions.…”

Section: Include Temperamental Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distinguishing Partisan and Extremist Brains?: Research Paths Toward Neural Signatures of Violent Radicalism

Tobeña

2023

Global War on Terrorism - Revisited

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Neuroimaging of political ideologies (left-wing vs. right-wing; conservatism vs. liberalism), unveiled brain systems for mediating the cognitive and affective inclinations of partisanship. Brain networks related to deliberation and cognitive control, as well as those processing subjective values and social norms, were mainly involved. Correlational links from normative people were corroborated by brain lesions and focal transcranial stimulation techniques. Neuroimaging studies with extremists ready to endorse violent actions are scarce and do not provide fully concordant maps with those coming from people with strong partisanship allegiances. The present review discusses the advances made in the description of the neural systems that mediate both ordinary partisanship (the “partisan brain”), and radicalized extremism prone to violence (the “extremist brain”), signaling concomitances and differences. Further advances might come from unveiling distinctive interactions between prefrontal cortex areas with other cortical and subcortical regions that may help to outline dedicated maps and modes of operation. Moreover, measuring the hardness of beliefs and the strength of value adscriptions together with cognitive flexibility/rigidity, aggressiveness, ambition, high-risk seeking and other individual traits rooted in psychobiological substrates appear indispensable to distinguish between partisanship alignments and violent extremism proneness.

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Section: Studies With Extremistssupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Include Temperamental Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing Partisan and Extremist Brains?: Research Paths Toward Neural Signatures of Violent Radicalism

Tobeña

2023

Global War on Terrorism - Revisited

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“…The relevance of vmPFC activation on these circumstances coheres with the changes in patterns of activation at this region detected with the approval of images of politically violent protests at US (Workman et al, 2020) and also with studies of imagined aggression (Pietrini et al, 2000). Nearby prefrontal cortex regions process how situational factors shape attitudes towards killing.…”

Section: Neurobiological Systems Mediating Violent Ideological Extremismsupporting

confidence: 60%

Psychobiology of Extremist Violence: The Comeback of Individuality

Tobeña¹

2021

PSYCH

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Research on the psychological paths leading towards involvement in violent extremism and terrorism has not produced a consistent layout of traits describing recurrent dispositions or plausible vulnerabilities. Extremist/terrorizing violence can adopt many forms from lone-actor attacks to guerrilla actions and other war-like tactics, and such versatility defies unifying depictions. Advances achieved at identifying important elements of ingroup dynamics and commitment ties mediating the surge and activities of violent groups neglected individual factors. Recent research has re-established the relevance of individual temperament traits to explain the attraction, engagement and support to these combative coalitions and the different roles and involvement that people enact in them. This essay presents some of these research forefronts and proposes further integration between individuality-based measures with ingroup-related mechanisms when studying proneness to violent extremism. A merge between Personality and Forensic Psychology with Social Neuroscience appears as a particularly fruitful track to generate consistent advancement in the area.

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“…Moral convictions have specific influence on attitudes and behaviors, from positive collective action to intolerance and violence (Decety, 2024). Past studies have established that strong moral conviction is related to social and political intolerance, which provides a motivational basis to distinguish "us" from "them", and potentially leads to approval of sociopolitical violence congruent with ones' own views and to diminished social conformity (Skitka et al, 2013;Wright et al, 2008;Workman et al, 2020;Yoder & Decety, 2022). This study expands upon the existing knowledge by investigating the mechanisms through which support, moral conviction, and metacognitive sensitivity guide decisions about sociopolitical protests and provides a basis for future research investigating the psychological roots of political and social action.…”

Section: Neural Activity Related To the Moral Conviction Level Of Soc...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This circuit includes the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), the ventral striatum (VS), the lPFC, and aINS (Qu et al, 2022;Yoder & Decety, 2018). Consistent with the common-currency hypothesis, some studies have demonstrated that the valuation system, including the vmPFC and VS, tracks the subjective value of voluntary donations and the appropriateness ratings of sociopolitical violence (Clithero et al, 2011;Hare et al, 2010;Workman et al, 2020). Other studies have shown that distinct brain regions, including the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), lPFC and insula, track moral values (Crockett et al, 2017;Qu et al, 2020;Ugazio et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Moral conviction interacts with metacognitive ability in modulating neural activity during sociopolitical decision-making

Cao,

Cohen,

Bakkour

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The extent to which a belief is rooted in one’s sense of morality has significant societal implications. While moral convictions can inspire positive collective action, they can also prompt dogmatism, intolerance, and societal divisions. These negative effects may be exacerbated by poor metacognition. There has been extensive research in social psychology about the characteristics of moral convictions, but their neural mechanisms and how they are incorporated into the valuation and decision-making process remain unclear. This study was designed to examine the neural mechanisms of decision-making on sociopolitical issues that vary on moral conviction, as well as how metacognitive abilities relate to these mechanisms. Participants (N = 44) underwent fMRI scanning while deciding on each trial which of two groups of political protesters they supported more. As predicted, stronger moral conviction was related to faster response times. Hemodynamic response in the anterior insula (aINS), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) were elevated during decisions with higher moral conviction level, supporting both the emotional and cognitive dimensions of moral conviction. Functional connectivity between lPFC and vmPFC was also higher on trials higher in moral conviction, elucidating mechanisms through which moral conviction is incorporated into valuation. Support for protesters was positively associated with brain activity in regions involved in valuation (particularly vmPFC and amygdala). Metacognitive sensitivity, measured in a separate perceptual task, negatively correlated with parametric effects of moral conviction in the brain, providing new evidence that metacognition modulates responses to morally convicted issues.

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The Dark Side of Morality – Neural Mechanisms Underpinning Moral Convictions and Support for Violence

Cited by 20 publications

References 99 publications

Distinguishing Partisan and Extremist Brains?: Research Paths Toward Neural Signatures of Violent Radicalism

Distinguishing Partisan and Extremist Brains?: Research Paths Toward Neural Signatures of Violent Radicalism

Psychobiology of Extremist Violence: The Comeback of Individuality

Moral conviction interacts with metacognitive ability in modulating neural activity during sociopolitical decision-making

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