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From actions to empathy and morality - A neural perspective

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  • Molnar-Szakacs, Istvan

Abstract

Our culturally varied, complex social world, governed by unwritten moral codes that encourage affiliative helping behavior, may be subserved by the unique properties of a neural system for understanding the intentions and actions of others. The firing pattern of neurons within this system appears to 'mirror' an action performed and seen, coding a functional correspondence between a motor action and sensory perception of that action. Indirect evidence acquired through various neuroimaging techniques supports the presence of such a neural system, termed the mirror neuron system (MNS) in the human brain. In this paper I discuss evidence suggesting that the human MNS - by linking intention and outcome, perception and action, observer and actor - forms part of the neural system for empathic concern, the capacity to understand and feel another's emotional state. By helping to establish a 'likeness' between interacting agents, the human MNS may support the active desire to understand others, to feel what they are feeling and to help alleviate another's suffering. By providing a biological substrate for such fundamental affiliative behaviors, the MNS may provide a neural scaffold for the evolution of our sophisticated sociality and the morality that governs it.

Suggested Citation

  • Molnar-Szakacs, Istvan, 2011. "From actions to empathy and morality - A neural perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 76-85, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:77:y:2011:i:1:p:76-85
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ernst Fehr & Klaus M. Schmidt, 1999. "A Theory of Fairness, Competition, and Cooperation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(3), pages 817-868.
    2. Rabin, Matthew, 1993. "Incorporating Fairness into Game Theory and Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1281-1302, December.
    3. J. Kiley Hamlin & Karen Wynn & Paul Bloom, 2007. "Social evaluation by preverbal infants," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7169), pages 557-559, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Haig, David, 2011. "Sympathy with Adam Smith and reflexions on self," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 4-13, January.
    2. Fogassi, Leonardo, 2011. "The mirror neuron system: How cognitive functions emerge from motor organization," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 66-75, January.
    3. Kamas, Linda & Preston, Anne, 2021. "Empathy, gender, and prosocial behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

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