Moral psychology — how we make ethical decisions

Moral psychology examines the actual processes by which ethical judgments are made — and consistently finds that these processes are less rational and more driven by intuition, emotion, and social influence than moral philosophy has typically assumed. Jonathan Haidt's social intuitionist model, Greene's dual-process account, and Kohlberg's developmental stages each illuminate different aspects of how citta navigates the moral domain. Understanding the actual mechanisms of moral cognition is the beginning of genuine ethical development, not its substitute.