Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

This research project has two parts. First, I argue that empathy is not necessary and not sufficient for morality. I use autistic individuals and individuals who suffer from psychopathy as my primary examples to show that empathy is not a significant source of morality. I review the literature in moral psychology and emotion research to show that emotions other than empathy, primarily disgust, are responsible for morality. Second, I provide initial findings from my meta-analysis to show which emotions are most prominent in moral judgment and moral behaviour.