Motivation and Morality

This book offers an integrative examination of the role of motivation in shaping moral cognition, judgment, and behavior.

How do we define good and bad? Where do our moral systems originate? These questions have long sparked inquiry across multiple disciplines, and scholars have debated the answers both within and across academic fields for centuries.

Contributors to this volume cut across disciplines and modes of inquiry to answer key questions about moral motivation. They examine the sociocultural context of morality including norms and norm compliance; psychological frameworks that underlie virtuous behavior and help navigate competing moral obligations; the neurobiology of moral reasoning, and more.

In bringing together leading researchers across sociology, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, this book illustrates the complex motivational aspects of morality, which represents a crucial step toward understanding how and why our moral choices arise, and in turn can shape and guide our behavior.