Science &
Moral Reflection

Can science help us make better decisions?

Module Description

Extensive empirical work suggests that our moral processes can be deeply influenced by biases. These biases may lead us to make moral judgments that betray our moral values. Science can help us understand our moral processes better. In particular, by understanding our moral processes, we can correct for these biases and learn to make judgments that are better in sync with our moral values. If we do this, we’ll be more satisfied in the long run. In this module, we will examine the many findings in moral cognition that reveal the surprising ways in which our moral judgments can wander away from our underlying moral principles. If we understand our moral cognition better, we’ll be able to correct for these biases. And more importantly, involving science in our moral deliberations will lead to us feeling more satisfied when we reflect on them.

In this module, our research will take two paths that often will intersect: (1) scientific studies on moral cognition and (2) moral philosophy. We’ll look for ways that our moral processes can be corrected and we’ll look for philosophical reasons to support the use of scientific information in our moral deliberations.

Zoom Link


Learning Objectives

  1. Interns will be able to identify key components of literature reviews.

  2. Interns will analyze the moral contributions of scientific articles.

  3. Interns will reflect on how we can use science in our moral decision-making and present their original work.

Meetings

We’ll meet twice per week for two hours each meeting. One reading will be suggested before each meeting. During our meetings, we’ll start with a round of brief and informal check-ins. Then I’ll give a mini-lecture (around 20 min) about the reading, followed by about 10 min of Q&A. For the last hour, we’ll have focused discussions in smaller groups (about 30 min) and then a large-group discussion/debrief (about 30 min). Interns are expected to attend meetings regularly and turn in weekly write-ups. At the end of the internship, they are also expected to turn in a “white paper” and a 30-sec video about their experience in the module.

June 28 - July 21

  • Tuesdays & Thursdays

  • Module 1a: 1pm-3pm

  • Module 1b: 10am-12pm

We had a program-wide Welcome Meeting [recording] Monday, June 27 at noon.

We will have an internship-wide Zoom event (with other modules) on Friday, July 22 at 1pm. Here is the Zoom link. The password is the same as the Welcome Meeting (and was emailed to everyone on July 15.

Expectations

Weekly Write-Ups

Please submit these by Friday of Weeks 1-3.

  • Reflections: One page of reflections on the week’s topics.

  • Analyses: Find one paper and review it. Each analysis should be approximately two pages.


Projects

Please submit these by Thursday, July 21.

  • White Paper on your findings (may be individual or group).

    • “White papers” are often used by businesses to give an overview of a topic to a particular audience. Here, we’ll be using this idea loosely, adapting it for a slightly more academic use. The goals of this paper are (1) to serve as an introduction to skills needed for academic literature reviews, but also (2) to be of practical use for a wide audience. So, in this white paper, interns will join three article analyses (assigned in Weeks 1-3) under the common theme of “How can science help us make better moral decisions?” The format is flexible -- this is just meant to provide creative opportunities for interns to present their work. It should be somewhere around 10 pages. We’ll talk about this during the first meeting.

  • 30-Second Video of what you learned in this module.

    • We’ll compile these short videos into a module presentation on the last day of the internship (when we’ll meet with the other modules).