Magnets & Morality

[€uroMeinke]

I was intrigued listening to this story (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125304448) on NPR on my way home,

A person's moral judgments can be changed almost instantly by delivering a magnetic pulse to an area of the brain near the right ear, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Now my understanding about what the study show is that, in delivering said pulse it results in people discounting "intention" in another's actions, focusing rather on the "ends" instead of the means.

The conspiracy theorist in me started thinking about future corporations handing out headgear at the door to keep you from thinking to hard about how their products are made. Then I thought about the electromagnetic waves coming from a cell phone, held to the right ear - are cell phones making us less moral? Do corporate types with cell phones firmly planted on ear less concerned about how they get results? Has the conspiracy already begun?

Anyway, I'm sure a detailed reading of the actual study would ruin the magic for me, so I'll leave it to others to do that.

[CoasterMatt]

I just read your whole post, hearing the voice of Dr. Everett Scott in my head. Thank you, and goodnight. :)

[Alex]

This can't be right.

"Moral judgment is just a brain process," he says.

I know for a fact that god gave us free will and obviously this study was done by atheistic materialists refusing to include the evidence of God's plan in their work.

[scaeagles]

I don't see this as anything ground breaking....all sorts of various stimuli change moral judgments and affect the brain. I suppose this is unique in the speed and type of stimulus used, but any number of drugs do the same by altering brain chemistry - whether illegal or perscription.

[Capt Jack]

I blame my bluetooth

[Alex]

I Tried to read the paper to see if there was any interesting detail but it is behind a paywall. Did find that it is a busy month for lead research Liane Young.

She has another paper out this month (http://www.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/moral-judgment-0325.html) as well describing how damage in another part of the brain causes one to no longer focus so much on intent but on the outcome. In the press summaries, it sounds like the same outcome.

Maybe the lesson is that no matter what, if you **** with the brain it makes you go easier on failed attempted murder.

[€uroMeinke]

Could be useful in jury selection too then

[Tref]

I imagine sales of magnetic hats are going to plummet.

[€uroMeinke]

I imagine sales of magnetic hats are going to plummet.

Not at all -all the good corporation's employees will be sporting fine magneto-fedoras - to which they'll also be able to attach and collect refrigerator magnets and other logo merchandise

[scaeagles]

Tin foil hats. Gotta break mine out.

[Betty]

If you can still find TIN foil that is.

[scaeagles]

That's all part of the conspiracy, Betty.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

This story is pretty astounding in that it's so cut and dried.

"If no harm was done, then subjects would judge [Grace's behavior] as OK," she says, even if the story made it clear Grace was trying to poison her friend. That's the sort of moral judgment you often see in kids who are 3 or 4 years old, Young says. Talk about a black and white situation.

I'm not saying I'm surprised that the brain is ruled by magnets, it's just that this is the most direct study I've seen.