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Emotion and Cognition in Moral Judgment: Evidence from Neuroimaging

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Neurobiology of Human Values

Part of the book series: Research and Perspectives in Neurosciences ((NEUROSCIENCE))

Summary

Traditional theories of moral psychology emphasize reasoning and “higher cognition,” while more recent work emphasizes the role of emotion. In this article, I discuss neuroimaging data that support a theory of moral judgment according to which both “cognitive” and emotional processes play crucial and sometimes mutually competitive roles. These data suggest that brain regions associated with cognitive control (anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) are recruited to resolve difficult moral dilemmas in which utilitarian values require “personal” moral violations, violations associated with increased activity in brain regions associated with emotion and social cognition (medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus, posterior cingulate cortex, temporal poles, and the amygdala). We have also found that brain regions including the anterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortices predict inter-trial differences in moral judgment behavior, exhibiting greater activity for utilitarian judgments. I speculate that our emerging psychological and neuroscientific understanding of moral judgment may influence our responses to real-world moral dilemmas.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Green Hall, Washington Road, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Joshua Greene

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  1. Joshua Greene
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Moléculaire, Institut Pasteur, 25, Rue du Docteur Roux, 75015, Paris, France

    Jean-Pierre Changeux M.D, Ph.D.

  2. College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Antonio R. Damasio M.D.

  3. Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Deutschordenstr. 46, 60528, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Wolf Singer Ph. D.

  4. Pour la Recherche Thérapeutique, Fondation IPSEN, 24, rue Erlanger, 75781, Paris Cedex 16, France

    Yves Christen Ph.D.

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Greene, J. (2005). Emotion and Cognition in Moral Judgment: Evidence from Neuroimaging. In: Changeux, JP., Damasio, A.R., Singer, W., Christen, Y. (eds) Neurobiology of Human Values. Research and Perspectives in Neurosciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-29803-7_6

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