Lecture 22

Cognitive 2

1. Sympathetic Magic
1. Defined
2. Two Laws
3. Illustration
2. Moral Judgment
1. Two Ways to Decide Moral Issues
2. Damasio's Research
3. Class Data
3. Consciousness and Free Will
1. Nature of Consciousness
2. Consciousness and Free Will
3. Libet's Research
4. Split Brain Research

Overview

Most people believe they are in control of their behavior, and that their actions are the result of deliberate intentions. There is reason to believe, however, that this is often not the case and that the conscious reasons we give for our actions (our explanations) are frequently rationalizations. In this lecture, we discussed various research areas that support this claim.

Specifics

• Describe two laws of sympathetic magic.
• Know what is meant by the term, moral intuition, and compare it with moral judgment.
• Know the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in moral decisions.
• Identify 3 psychological theories that oppose the notion of free will.
• Discuss Libet's research on conscious intent and describe its importance.
• What do split brain studies reveal about the probative value of people's conscious explanations for why they have acted as they have?