SAGE Lecture by Fiery Cushman

Apr 17, 2025 3:30pm

Speaker

Fiery Cushman
Harvard University

Location

Sage, Psych 1312

Info

Fiery Cushman is Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, where he directs the Moral Psychology Research Laboratory. Dr. Cushman's research aims to organize the astonishing complexity of moral judgment around basic functional principles. Much of it is motivated by a simple idea: Because we use punishments and rewards to modify others’ behavior, one function 

of morality is to teach others how to behave, while another complementary function is to learn appropriate patterns of behavior. His laboratory investigates these issues using a wide range of methods, including surveys, laboratory behavioral studies, psychophysiology, infant and child

research, functional neuroimaging, economic games and formal modeling. The ultimate goal is to use the moral domain to understand phenomena of more general importance: the balance between learned and innate contributions to cognition; the human capacity to explain, predict and evaluate others’ behavior; the relationship between automaticity and control; and the architecture of learning and decision-making in a social context. Dr. Cushman's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the John Templeton Foundation.

Host

Hongbo Yu
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