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Scientists discover moral compass in the brain which can be controlled by magnets
The Daily Mail (UK) ^
| 30th March 2010
| David Derbyshire
Posted on 03/31/2010 1:47:34 PM PDT by llevrok
Scientists have discovered a real-life 'moral compass' in the brain that controls how we judge other people's behaviour.
The region, which lies just behind the right ear, becomes more active when we think about other people's misdemeanours or good works.
In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral.
The study highlights how our sense of right and wrong isn't just based on upbringing, religion or philosophy - but by the biology of our brains.
Dr Liane Young, who led the study, said: 'You think of morality as being a really high-level behaviour. To be able to apply a magnetic field to a specific brain region and change people's moral judgements is really astonishing.'
The moral compass lies in a part of the brain called the right temporo-parietal junction.(snip) just behind the right ear.
The researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used a non-invasive technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation
The technique generates a magnetic field on a small part of the skull which creates weak electric currents in the brain. These currents interfere with nearby brain cells and prevent them from firing normally.
In the first experiment, 12 volunteers were exposed to the magnetic field for 25 minutes before they were given a series of 'moral maze' style scenarios. For each of the 192 scenarios, they were asked to make a judgement about the character's actions on a scale of 1 for 'absolutely forbidden' to 7 for 'absolutely permissible'.
It's not the first time that scientists have found parts of the brain that specialise in ethics and morality. Last year American scientists claimed to have found a "god spot" - a region of the brain that controls religious belief.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 666; anotherstudy; catastrophism; culturewar; freewill; godsgravesglyphs; godspot; moralcompass; morality; quacks; science
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Explains why I have been acting "strange" since getting hearing aids...
1
posted on
03/31/2010 1:47:34 PM PDT
by
llevrok
To: llevrok
My 3 MRI scans really screwed me then................
2
posted on
03/31/2010 1:49:11 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Education makes people easy to lead, difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.)
To: llevrok; Slings and Arrows; JoeProBono
In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral. I'm getting in the living room...
3
posted on
03/31/2010 1:49:13 PM PDT
by
a fool in paradise
(VP Biden on Obamacare's passage: "This is a big f-ing deal". grumpygresh: "Repeal the f-ing deal")
To: llevrok
In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral.They registered as Democrats.
4
posted on
03/31/2010 1:49:14 PM PDT
by
Publius
(The prudent man sees the evil and hides himself; the simple pass on and are punished.)
To: llevrok
The region, which lies just behind the right ear, becomes more active when we think about other people's misdemeanours or good works. The Schadenfreude Zone?...........
5
posted on
03/31/2010 1:50:04 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Education makes people easy to lead, difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.)
To: llevrok
Great! Now let’s find out why it is missing in the brains of leftists.
6
posted on
03/31/2010 1:50:30 PM PDT
by
Soothesayer
(The United States of America Rest in Peace November 4 2008)
To: a fool in paradise
In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral. Jack Daniels works good too..............
7
posted on
03/31/2010 1:50:39 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Education makes people easy to lead, difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.)
To: llevrok
What kind of a person participates in a study like this?
8
posted on
03/31/2010 1:51:16 PM PDT
by
brytlea
(Jesus loves me, this I know.)
To: a fool in paradise
9
posted on
03/31/2010 1:51:34 PM PDT
by
Bean Counter
(I keeps mah feathers numbered, for just such an emergency...)
To: llevrok
10
posted on
03/31/2010 1:52:43 PM PDT
by
Perdogg
(Nancy Pelosi did more damage to America on 03/21 than Al Qaeda did on 09/11)
To: llevrok
So what explains “changing morals” in a culture like acceptance of homosexuality? Are there magnetic pulses in tv and radio broadcasts?
11
posted on
03/31/2010 1:53:29 PM PDT
by
a fool in paradise
(VP Biden on Obamacare's passage: "This is a big f-ing deal". grumpygresh: "Repeal the f-ing deal")
To: llevrok
Somewhere a teenage boy is holding a magnet behind his new girlfriends right ear . . .
12
posted on
03/31/2010 1:54:10 PM PDT
by
Woebama
(Never, never, never quit)
To: llevrok
>> In an extraordinary experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets to disrupt this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral. <<
Well, I guess we have to look forward to them cutting into our heads at the re-education camps...
Maybe they will remove the “God Center” too.
I wonder if they will let us keep the pieces of brain they cut out of us, maybe we can put them in a jar of formaldehyde and talk to them when we are lonely...
13
posted on
03/31/2010 1:54:43 PM PDT
by
GraceG
To: Bean Counter
This will make it better.
14
posted on
03/31/2010 1:54:56 PM PDT
by
a fool in paradise
(VP Biden on Obamacare's passage: "This is a big f-ing deal". grumpygresh: "Repeal the f-ing deal")
To: llevrok
What a load. One can get the same results by getting someone drunk!
15
posted on
03/31/2010 1:56:18 PM PDT
by
RobbyS
(Pray with the suffering souls.)
To: llevrok
Is that a magnet in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?
16
posted on
03/31/2010 1:56:30 PM PDT
by
TruthShallSetYouFree
(Barack Obama: Government:: Bernie Madoff: Finance)
To: llevrok
Maybe a treatment for sociopaths could be developed.
17
posted on
03/31/2010 1:56:52 PM PDT
by
pa_dweller
(Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves:... Isa 1:23)
To: llevrok
Honey, look, I got you some magnetic earrings.
18
posted on
03/31/2010 1:59:07 PM PDT
by
tet68
( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
To: llevrok
So my moral compass depends on what lattitude I’m at and which way I’m facing.
And during a geomagnetic reversal all sorts of trouble brews...
19
posted on
03/31/2010 1:59:22 PM PDT
by
DBrow
To: llevrok
Nike must have placed magnets in Tiger Wood’s cap.
20
posted on
03/31/2010 2:01:57 PM PDT
by
Moonman62
(The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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