Role of Neurochemicals and Moral Judgement

On November 7th, Dr. Joe Vukov came in and talked about his research on neurochemical variability, and how it is possible that our moral judgement and our decisions can be affected by neurochemical influences. Serotonin and dopamine are neurotransmitters that are important for mood, which will affect behavior and decisions making. However, I was curious as to whether there have been studies done showing other neurotransmitters and how that influences morality and decision making. I came across a research study done on how chronic stress influences moral decision making, and results were interesting.  

            What Dr. Vukov first talked about was The Problem of Historical Variability. This tells us that our deeply held beliefs, such as our religious and political beliefs, are influenced by cultural and historical influences, rather than grounded in our personal considerations and rationalization. This means that if you were to be born in a different time period or a different part of the country, certain beliefs you have would have been different due to the people around you and their influences. What Dr. Vukov is saying is that instead of our moral judgments and decisions being affected by cultural and historical influences, it can also be affected by neurochemical influences. For example, artificially higher serotonin levels lead to changes in moral judgement, making people more likely to judge harmful actions as forbidden, compared to those with lower serotonin levels.

            I was curious to see if this would be true for other neurotransmitters, and read a study done on stress and moral judgements. In this research study, undergraduate students completed a stress scale, measuring their stress levels, and then made moral decisions based on moral dilemmas. What they found was that people with higher chronic stress levels related to them making more deontological moral choices, while those with lower stress levels were less likely to make deontological judgements. This study showed that chronic stress showed more preference for inaction compared to action. It also showed that those with higher stress would less likely engage in an action that was prohibited by a moral norm even through that action would have overall more well-being.  

            Analyzing this study with what Dr. Vukov talked about in class, there does seem to be a relation to the fact that different levels of neurochemicals in a person can affect their moral decision making, either more deontological or more utilitarian. What I am curious to see in the future is whether it can be proven that those with different neurochemical concentrations have different moral views overall. Does having different levels of neurochemicals change your political and religious views, for example if having more or less of a certain neurochemical transmitter will mean that you will have a different viewpoint on highly debated topics such as euthanasia or abortion?

References:

Zhang, Lisong et al. “Chronic Stress and Moral Decision-Making: An Exploration With the CNI Model.” Frontiers in psychology vol. 9 1702. 11 Sep. 2018, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01702. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6141736/