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SUMMARY:Modern Outrage and the Perversion of Punishment - Molly J Crockett
 \,  Assistant Professor of Psychology\, Yale University
DTSTART:20200214T120000Z
DTEND:20200214T130000Z
UID:TALK135901@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\nPunishment of wrongdoing is a hallmark of human mor
 al psychology. Humans are willing to punish moral transgressions even when
  they are personally unaffected\, often at great personal cost. Recent wor
 k in neuroeconomics has begun to characterize the neurobiology of moralist
 ic punishment behavior and its affective precursors such as moral outrage.
  This work indicates that moral outrage and punishment engage the brain's 
 reinforcement learning circuitry\, which in turn suggests that moralistic 
 punishment is susceptible to habitization. If this is the case\, then expr
 essions of moral values through punishment may sometimes be involuntary an
 d vulnerable to external control (e.g.\, via social media algorithms that 
 prioritize user engagement). I will provide preliminary evidence for this 
 possibility with analyses of moral outrage expressions in millions of soci
 al media posts. I will argue that new technologies may be altering moral o
 utrage and punishment such that the ultimate function of punishment -- the
  enforcement of social cooperation -- is being perverted\, with potentiall
 y troubling implications for democratic public discourse.\n\nDr Molly Croc
 kett is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Yale University and a Dist
 inguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics. Prior to j
 oining Yale\, Dr Crockett was a University Lecturer at the University of O
 xford's Department of Experimental Psychology and a Fellow of Jesus Colleg
 e. She holds a BSc in Neuroscience from UCLA and completed a PhD in Experi
 mental Psychology from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar\, an
 d was a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow\, working with economists a
 nd neuroscientists at the University of Zürich and University College Lon
 don.
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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