Common Sense Beliefs about the Central Self, Moral Character, and the Brain.

Diego Fernandez-Duque,Barry Schwartz

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02007

Abstract

To assess lay beliefs about self and brain, we probed people's opinions about the central self, in relation to morality, willful control, and brain relevance. In study 1, 172 participants compared the central self to the peripheral self. The central self, construed at this abstract level, was seen as more brain-based than the peripheral self, less changeable through willful control, and yet more indicative of moral character. In study 2, 210 participants described 18 specific personality traits on 6 dimensions: centrality to self, moral relevance, willful control, brain dependence, temporal stability, and desirability. Consistent with Study 1, centrality to the self, construed at this more concrete level, was positively correlated to brain dependence. Centrality to the self was also correlated to desirability and temporal stability, but not to morality or willful control. We discuss differences and similarities between abstract (Study 1) and concrete (Study 2) levels of construal of the central self, and conclude that in contemporary American society people readily embrace the brain as the underlying substrate of who they truly are.

Highlights

How much does your brain contribute to your core self? Can you willfully change who you truly are? Should your moral character be judged by core attributes of your self which you cannot willfully control? Science might 1 day provide answers to these fascinating questions, but for the purpose of our study, those scientific answers are beside the point
We set to uncover the common sense beliefs that people hold at the intersection of these three domains: “brain,” “self,” and “morality.” We explore the perceived relation of the brain to the constructs of “central self,” “moral character,” and “willful control,” to better understand the impact of neuroscience discourse on current lay theories of the mind
The Central Self was judged to be more positive than the Peripheral Self, and more indicative of moral character, as revealed by one Central vs. peripheral self

Summary

Introduction

How much does your brain contribute to your core self? Can you willfully change who you truly are? Should your moral character be judged by core attributes of your self which you cannot willfully control? Science might 1 day provide answers to these fascinating questions, but for the purpose of our study, those scientific answers are beside the point. We set to uncover the common sense beliefs that people hold at the intersection of these three domains: “brain,” “self,” and “morality.” We explore the perceived relation of the brain to the constructs of “central self,” “moral character,” and “willful control,” to better understand the impact of neuroscience discourse on current lay theories of the mind. We explore the possibility that in current American society people acknowledge that the brain is the underlying substrate of who they truly are, as well as the implications of this for lay theories of morality and free will. In all aspects of cognition, from perception to decision making, people are confronted with an amount and complexity of information that far exceeds their computational abilities This is true of the social world.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion