Where do moral inclinations come from?

This was the essay for UCL course PSYC0283 Moral Cognition directed by Dr Dorottya Lantos and Dr Jess Rea in 2022. It comprises a 500-word blog post for the lay audience, and a 1500-word academic essay which both address the same question. Distinction achieved (80/100).

Moral principles guide human behaviours by determining right from wrong. Two major moral principles exist - deontology, which focuses on the consistency of actions with social norms, and utilitarianism, which focuses on the overall consequences of actions. These principles reflect how individuals approach moral dilemmas.

Early theories emphasised reasoning in developing morality, proposing that moral understanding progresses through cognitive stages as children mature. However, contemporary research highlights moral intuitions, suggesting judgments stem from automatic emotional evaluations beyond consciousness. Dual-system frameworks now integrate affective and cognitive contributions to moral judgments. Affective intuitions typically align with deontology, while controlled reasoning reflects utilitarianism.

To examine the origins of moral inclinations, it is necessary to differentiate between intuitive and abstract moral reasoning. This paper reviews evidence from developmental psychology and neuroscience to argue that both biological and social origins shape moral inclinations. Specifically, humans are predisposed to moral intuitions but accumulate cognitive resources for moral reasoning as they mature. Importantly, moral inclinations can vary greatly between dilemmas with similar settings due to differing emotional engagement, and reported moral intentions in hypothetical scenarios may not reflect realistic decisions or behaviours.