Is the moral virtuoso evaluated in the same way as the physically or cognitively skilled virtuoso?Ī major focus of social neuroscience research has been on the role of empathic action simulation in understanding and learning from others (Gallese et al., 2004 Iacoboni, 2009). However, people’s outstanding actions encompass many different domains, ranging from expressions of bravery, compassion or self-sacrifice to demonstrations of high competence and skill. Witnessing other people’s exemplary actions triggers strong positive feelings that inspire us to better ourselves (Haidt, 2003). In appreciating virtue, dPCC may support individuals in transcending the viewable context, facilitating ipPMC activity and moral construals.Īdmiration, construal level theory, default mode network, abstract cognition, moral elevation Introduction No such relationships existed for reactions to skill, despite participants reporting equivalently strong positive emotion. Critically, dPCC and ipPMC activity sequentially mediated the relationship between individuals’ gaze and abstract construal tendencies. The inferior-posterior posteromedial cortices (ipPMC), a default mode network hub involved in abstract thought, activated only to virtue, and activity level reflected individuals’ tendency to abstract construals.
Gaze aversion to virtue narratives predicted greater subsequent activation for those narratives in dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (dPCC), involved in visual attention control. When participants averted their gaze, they were more likely to mention abstract construals, and both behaviors were more likely when reacting to virtue.
We analyzed participants’ gaze aversion (an indicator of disengaging from the immediate environment) and cognitive construals (mentions of concrete characteristics vs abstract beliefs and values) during the interview, and relations to individuals’ subsequent neural activations. Participants reacted to narratives depicting skilled or virtuous protagonists first during a videotaped interview then during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Witnessing exemplary actions triggers admiration, a positive emotion that can pertain to concrete skills, or move the onlooker beyond physical characteristics to appreciate the abstract, moral implications.
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