S2 E11: Your Mind on Moral Curiosity, with Dr. Jordan Wylie
Listen now
Have you ever wondered why we are drawn to characters like Tony Soprano, even though he carries out morally bad actions? One possible explanation is our moral curiosity. This week on the podcast Dr. Jordan Wylie helps us understand what moral curiosity is and why we are allured by morally ambiguous characters. Dr. Wylie also speaks to us about her research on ‘phantom rules’, rules such as jay-walking that are rarely enforced, as well as how our moral values influence what we believe about harm-reduction policies. Ava and Beth discuss what they believe a ‘moral saint’ to be and we find out one of our hosts is a Marvel fan!
​
Learn More
Dr. Jordan Wylie
Research discussed
Dr Wylie's advisor during her PhD was Dr. Ana Gantman
Moral Curiosity
​
-
Wylie, J., & Gantman, A. (2022). What is moral ambiguity and when does it trigger curiosity?. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.
​
-
Wylie, J. & Gantman, A. (R&R). People are curious about immoral and morally ambiguous others. Preprint
​
Phantom Rules
​
-
Wylie, J. & Gantman, A. (R&R). Doesn’t everybody jaywalk? On the motivated enforcement of frequently violated rules. Cognition. Preprint
​
Harm Reduction ​
​
-
Wylie, J., Sharma, N., & Gantman, A. (2022). Moralization predicts opposition to harm-reduction policies. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Preprint
​
Susan Wolf's article on Moral Saints 'I don’t know whether there are any moral saints. But if there are, I am glad that neither I nor those about whom I care most are among them.'