Experiments change moral judgments

• April 16, 2024

A recent study by MIT has shown that with a simple magnet close to the brain, it is possible to change moral judgments deeply rooted in our person.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute have discovered that the so-called right temporo-parietal conjunction is the brain area responsible for controlling moral judgments. The interruption of certain brain activity by means of magnetic impulses to said area it could make you see that poisoning your friend is more permissible than not doing it.

Through two experiments, one where the volunteers judged actions without stimulation and the other where they did with transcranial magnetic stimulation, which consists of giving magnetic impulses of 500 milliseconds in a specific area of ​​the head. Subsequently, the volunteers had to rate actions as prohibited or allowed.

The scientists achieved alter perception of some moral judgments as good or bad in 20 participants, especially on the moral judgments about aggression actions, where the participants judged "less forbidden" morally, actions that had previously been qualified as less allowed.

Brain manipulation

The scientists involved in the experiment agree that the realization of a moral judgment is a response to the sum of a number of factors, including not only the beliefs and desires of a person, but the measurement of the possible consequences, the reasons of an individual to do some harmful action, among many others. So the experiment did not have enough information in some cases presented, for the volunteers to make a fully analyzed moral judgment.

Although studies have been developed focusing on the ability of participants to assess intentional violations of moral standards as bad or good, the results could lead to new research for people with developmental disorders, such as autism .