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{"id":31,"date":"2013-09-18T21:38:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T21:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2013\/09\/does-science-make-you-moral.html"},"modified":"2013-09-18T21:38:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T21:38:00","slug":"does-science-make-you-moral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2013\/09\/does-science-make-you-moral.html","title":{"rendered":"Does science make you moral?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

But there\u2019s another interpretation. Perhaps all that\u2019s happening here is that you\u2019re reminding people of social conventions and values. Maybe that is enough to encourage people to be more morally upstanding.<\/p>\n

Christine Ma-Kellams and Jim Blascovich at the University of California Santa Barbara wanted to learn whether the \u201c\u2026notion of science as part of a broader moral vision of society facilitates moral and prosocial judgments and behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, for example, in a simple study of 48 undergraduates they found that those who were science students were more likely than non-scientists to condemn date rape. Belief in science had a similar relationship, although belief in gods did not.<\/p>\n

Of course, science students are different from normal people in lots of ways. So then they did some priming studies. These involved giving their subjects a list of words to unscramble into sentences. Half of them got sentences with a science theme (containing the words \u201clogical\u201d, \u201chypothesis\u201d, \u201claboratory\u201d, \u201cscientists\u201d, and \u201ctheory\u201d).<\/p>\n

Priming had an effect . Students primed with science words were more likely to condemn date-rape, and were more likely to say that they were going to do worthy things, like giving blood, donating to charities or volunteering.<\/p>\n

They also ran some subjects (not students this time) through the \u2018dictator game\u2019. The subjects are given five dollars, and then told they can donate some (or none) to an anonymous other participants.<\/p>\n

Those primed with science gave slightly more to the anonymous other. The difference wasn\u2019t big \u2013 the average donation was $2.29 in the \u2018science primed\u2019 group versus $2.16 the the group primed with neutral words. But the difference was statistically significant.<\/p>\n

Compare that to the difference between men and women. Men donated $2.65 on average, whereas women donated only $1.68 \u2013 an interesting reflection on gender roles in US society!<\/p>\n

What this shows is that generalized notions of science \u2013 rather than specific scientific facts \u2013 can influence moral attitudes. Which is really though-provoking, when you think about it.<\/p>\n

After all, science is supposed to be values neutral. It isn\u2019t supposed to carry with it any moral baggage!<\/p>\n

But of course science exists within a social context. And, at least within a university environment, it seems that the social context views science as morally worthy!<\/p>\n

$\"ResearchBlogging.org\"$ <\/a><\/span>
Christine Ma-Kellams, & Jim Blascovich (2013). Does \u2018\u2018Science\u2019\u2019 Make You Moral? The Effects of Priming Science on Moral Judgments and Behavior PLoS One, 8<\/span> (3) DOI: 10.1371\/journal.pone.0057989<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

$\"Creative$ <\/a><\/span> This article by Tom Rees<\/b> was first published on Epiphenom<\/a>. It is licensed under Creative Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"