Human Morality: Features and Bugs
Our social emotions, like anger, compassion, guilt and gratitude, are really designed to help us solve the Tragedy of the Commons.
Behavior
1 – 10 of 45 items
One Habit Leads To Another
Sources as ancient as the Talmud say that even if we know intellectually that a habit is wrong, we’ll often keep doing it. Why?
Violence and Amalekism in the Modern World
In recent centuries, we have internalized the problem of Amalek, recognizing that in every society there is the potential to be incited to violence and dominance.
Are Calls for Gun Policy Change the New #ThoughtsAndPrayers?
The policy action response—vis-à-vis that of “thoughts and prayers”—suggests a rejection of religion for solving the gun violence epidemic in the U.S. But it’s a bit more complicated and more faith-full than it appears upon first glance.
The Worth of an Angry God
How did supernatural beliefs allow societies to bond and spread?
What Maimonides – and Larry David – Knew About the Psychology of Giving
Maimonides had many forward-looking insights about intuitive psychology, some of which we are only beginning to appreciate today.
Who Shows Up?
Those who “know” and “care” can’t seem to understand why others don’t. But invoking guilt and disappointment is not the way to communicate it.
Science, Religion and Emerging Adults
Is science driving emerging adults from religion? Our Sinai and Synapses Fellows discuss.
Breaking Our Patterns: Behavioral Economics and T’shuvah
Out of ease, comfort, or inertia, our lives are made up largely of patterns. How do we re-examine them so we can let our minds guide our hearts?
Infant Weeping and Infant Abandonment
We are “cooperative breeders,” since we do not raise our children by ourselves, but rely heavily on a range of others to help us.
