Upcoming Events
This is the third and final panel of the Expanding Empathy 2024 Speaker Series, hosted by the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making. We will be joined by three speakers: Stephanie Preston (Psychology, University of Michigan), Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Philosophy, Duke University), and Aleksandra Cichocka (University of Kent). The theme of this session is conceptualization compassion and concern. Each speaker will give short talks and there will be much time for interdisciplinary conversation and questions from the audience.
In this meeting, we will devote about ninety minutes to developing action-able ideas on topics related to political polarization and moral decision-making. We will use the time as a “hack-a-thon” to work together to coordinate and structure novel empirical and conceptual projects. The aim will be to walk away from the meeting with several abstracts for projects that would then serve as the basis for continued conversation into the fall of 2024.
During this special event, recipients of the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making seed grants will give short flash talks about their proposed or ongoing work that is supported. The event is open to members of the Consortium, as well as the broader Penn State academic community and interested public.
This special event will bring together psychologists and philosophers who study empathy, morality, and their interface with artificial intelligence. More details about the speakers will be announced soon. The event is free and open to the public, it will also be streamed via Zoom (see Event Registration link).
Speakers will include:
Michael Inzlicht (University of Toronto)
Anat Perry (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Jason D’Cruz (University at Albany)
Angelica Lim (Simon Fraser University)
Alan Wagner (Penn State University)
Jana Schaich Borg (Duke University)
Brett Karlan (Purdue University)
Gus Skorburg (University of Guelph)
Jim A. C. Everett (University of Kent)
Madeline Reinecke (Oxford University)
Yochanan Bigman (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Ali Ladak (University of Edinburgh, Sentience Institute)
Danica Dillion (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Agnieszka Wykowska (Istituto Italiano di Technologia)
This is the second panel of the Expanding Empathy 2024 Speaker Series, hosted by the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making. We will be joined by three speakers: Linda Skitka (Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago), Evan Westra (Philosophy, Purdue University), and Matti Wilks (University of Edinburgh). The theme of this session is moral convictions, norms, and the moral circle. Each speaker will give short talks and there will be much time for interdisciplinary conversation and questions from the audience.
This is the first panel of the Expanding Empathy 2024 Speaker Series, hosted by the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making. We will be joined by three speakers: Sa-kiera Hudson (Psychology, University of California, Berkeley), Felipe De Brigard (Philosophy, Duke University), and Eran Halperin (Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem). The theme will be empathy, forgiveness, and conflict. Each speaker will give short talks and there will be much time for interdisciplinary conversation and questions from the audience.
Past Events
Consortium on Moral-Decision Making
Recordings
Political Polarization Hack-a-Thon
We convened several researchers in psychology, political science, media studies, communication arts and sciences, and sociology to brainstorm new actionable ideas in political polarization and morality.
Consortium Seed Grant Presentations
Many of the seed grant award teams presented on their projects.
Seed Grant Talk: Empathy and Ovarian Hormones
David Puts (Professor in Anthropology) talked about his seed-grant funded work with Sojung Bank and colleagues on empathy and the activation of ovarian hormones. Watch the presentation below.
Seed Grant Talk: Empathic Signaling and Social Capital Among Bangladeshi Women
Sojung Baek (doctoral candidate in Anthropology) talked about her seed grant-funded work with David Puts (Anthropology) and others.
When “not caring” makes little sense
Dr. Sean Laurent (Assistant Professor in Psychology) presented in progress work related to democratic virtues and decision-making called “When ‘not caring’ makes little sense: The role of desire in moral character judgments of side-effect effects”.
What Impact Does Race Have on Support for Public Safety Alternatives to the Police?
Dr. Ben Jones (Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Assistant Director of Rock Ethics Institute) talked about a project examining race, policing, and policy alternatives.
Civic Education for a Serious People
Dr. Christopher Beem (Associate Research Professor and Managing Director, McCourtney Institute for Democracy) presented in progress work related to democratic virtues and decision-making called “Civics Education for a Serious People: 2 Proposals”. This meeting built from our previous meeting, in which we convened several different researchers to discuss complementary approaches to studying political polarization, with the aim of cultivating new projects.
Consortium Meeting on Political Polarization
During this meeting, faculty and graduate students had some great discussion surrounding our multidisciplinary interests in political polarization.
We are hoping that this meeting was a valuable starting point for considering grant applications, long term projects, etc.
First Consortium Meeting of the Semester
Dr. Terri Vescio, Professor of Psychology, presented a talk discussing idealized notions of masculinity that are culturally valued and linked to power, status, and success. She discussed the role of empathy in the socialization of masculinity. She also discussed the causes and consequences of threats to masculinity, with a specific focus on empathy and the sexualization of women.