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Modern moral psychology: An introduction to the terrainIn Bertram Malle & Philip Robbins (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Moral Psychology, Cambridge University Press. 2021.
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23The Cambridge Handbook of Moral Psychology (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2021.Moral psychology—broadly speaking, the study of how people reason and act morally—has a long and productive history. Initially a subfield of philosophy, it posed groundbreaking questions about the nature of values and virtues, the balance of reason and emotion, and the gap between “is” and “ought.” In the twentieth century, the rise of psychology expanded the a priori philosophical enterprise into an empirical science. In psychology, perspectives of development, social interaction, cognition, an…Read more
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3Intentional Action in Folk PsychologyIn Timothy O'Connor & Constantine Sandis (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Action, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.This chapter contains sections titled: What Intentional Action Is The Folk Concept of Intentionality Development The Judgment Process Intentionality and Moral Judgment Explanations of Intentional Action Reason Explanations Causal History of Reason Explanations Enabling Factor Explanations Synopsis References Further reading.
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8The now and future of social robots as depictionsBehavioral and Brain Sciences 46. 2023.The authors at times propose that robots are mere depictions of social agents (a philosophical claim) and at other times that people conceive of social robots as depictions (an empirical psychological claim). We evaluate each claim's accuracy both now and in the future and, in doing so, we introduce two dangerous misperceptions people have, or will have, about social robots.
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28Robotics and Well-Being (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2019.This book highlights some of the most pressing safety, ethical, legal and societal issues related to the diverse contexts in which robotic technologies apply. Focusing on the essential concept of well-being, it addresses topics that are fundamental not only for research, but also for industry and end-users, discussing the challenges in a wide variety of applications, including domestic robots, autonomous manufacturing, personal care robots and drones.
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19Spontaneous perspective taking toward robots: The unique impact of humanlike appearanceCognition 224 (C): 105076. 2022.
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42AI in the Sky: How People Morally Evaluate Human and Machine Decisions in a Lethal Strike DilemmaIn Maria Isabel Aldinhas Ferreira, João Silva Sequeira, Gurvinder Singh Virk, Mohammad Osman Tokhi & Endre E. Kadar (eds.), Robotics and Well-Being, Springer Verlag. pp. 111-133. 2019.Even though morally competent artificial agents have yet to emerge in society, we need insights from empirical science into how people will respond to such agents and how these responses should inform agent design. Three survey studies presented participants with an artificial intelligence agent, an autonomous drone, or a human drone pilot facing a moral dilemma in a military context: to either launch a missile strike on a terrorist compound but risk the life of a child, or to cancel the strike …Read more
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24Folk theories of consciousnessIn William P. Banks (ed.), Encyclopedia of Consciousness, Elsevier. pp. 251-263. 2009.People’s folk theory of consciousness encompasses three prototypes of conscious mental functioning: monitoring (awareness), choice, and subjective experience. All three are embedded in a broader folk theory of mind and thus closely linked to the concept of intentionality, action explanation, and a conception of free will. At least some of the prototypes of consciousness play a critical role in the assignment of personhood and responsibility. Recent discussions question the viability of folk conc…Read more
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13This Isn’t the Free Will Worth Looking For: General Free Will Beliefs Do Not Influence Moral Judgments, Agent-Specific Choice Ascriptions DoSocial Psychological and Personality Science 8 (2): 191-199. 2016.According to previous research, threatening people’s belief in free will may undermine moral judgments and behavior. Four studies tested this claim. Study 1 used a Velten technique to threaten people’s belief in free will and found no effects on moral behavior, judgments of blame, and punishment decisions. Study 2 used six different threats to free will and failed to find effects on judgments of blame and wrongness. Study 3 found no effects on moral judgment when manipulating general free will b…Read more
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10Directions and Challenges in Studying Folk Concepts and Folk JudgmentsJournal of Cognition and Culture 6 (1-2): 321-329. 2006.
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33The relationship between joint attention and theory of mind in neurotypical adultsConsciousness and Cognition 51 268-278. 2017.Joint attention (JA) is hypothesized to have a close relationship with developing theory of mind (ToM) capabilities. We tested the co-occurrence of ToM and JA in social interactions between adults with no reported history of psychiatric illness or neurodevelopmental disorders. Participants engaged in an experimental task that encouraged nonverbal communication, including JA, and also ToM activity. We adapted an in-lab variant of experience sampling methods (Bryant, Coffey, Povinelli, & Pruett, 2…Read more
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83A Strawsonian look at desertPhilosophical Explorations 16 (2): 133-152. 2013.P.F. Strawson famously argued that reactive attitudes and ordinary moral practices justify moral assessments of blame, praise, and punishment. Here we consider whether Strawson's approach can illuminate the concept of desert. After reviewing standard attempts to analyze this concept and finding them lacking, we suggest that to deserve something is to justifiably receive a moral assessment in light of certain criteria – in particular, eligibility criteria (a subject's properties that make the sub…Read more
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29Of windmills and straw men: Folk assumptions of mind and actionIn Susan Pockett (ed.), Does consciousness cause behaviour?, Mit Press. pp. 207-231. 2004.
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153In this provocative monograph, Bertram Malle describes behavior explanations as having a dual nature -- as being both cognitive and social acts -- and proposes...
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151Considering the close relation between language and theory of mind in development and their tight connection in social behavior, it is no big leap to claim that the two capacities have been related in evolution as well. But what is the exact relation between them? This paper attempts to clear a path toward an answer. I consider several possible relations between the two faculties, bring conceptual arguments and empirical evidence to bear on them, and end up arguing for a version of co-evolution.…Read more
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44Introduction: The significance of intentionalityIn Bertram F. Malle, Louis J. Moses & Dare A. Baldwin (eds.), Intentions and Intentionality: Foundations of Social Cognition, Mit Press. pp. 1--24. 2001.
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25Folk explanations of intentional actionIn Bertram F. Malle, Louis J. Moses & Dare A. Baldwin (eds.), Intentions and Intentionality: Foundations of Social Cognition, Mit Press. pp. 265--286. 2001.
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174Enough skill to kill: Intentionality judgments and the moral valence of actionCognition 117 (2): 139-150. 2010.Extant models of moral judgment assume that an action’s intentionality precedes assignments of blame. Knobe (2003b) challenged this fundamental order and proposed instead that the badness or blameworthiness of an action directs (and thus unduly biases) people’s intentionality judgments. His and other researchers’ studies suggested that blameworthy actions are considered intentional even when the agent lacks skill (e.g., killing somebody with a lucky shot) whereas equivalent neutral actions are n…Read more
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51The distinction between desire and intention: A folk-conceptual analysisIn Bertram F. Malle, Louis J. Moses & Dare A. Baldwin (eds.), Intentions and Intentionality: Foundations of Social Cognition, Mit Press. pp. 45--67. 2001.
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63Intentions and Intentionality: Foundations of Social Cognition (edited book)MIT Press. 2001.Highlights the roles of intention and intentionality in social cognition.
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77Attribution theory has played a major role in social-psychological research. Unfortunately, the term attribution is ambiguous. According to one meaning, forming an attribution is making a dispositional (trait) inference from behavior; according to another meaning, forming an attribution is giving an explanation (especially of behavior). The focus of this paper is on the latter phenomenon of behavior explanations. In particular, I discuss a new theory of explanation that provides an alternative t…Read more
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32Distinguishing Hope from Optimism and Related Affective StatesMotivation and Emotion 29 (4): 324--352. 2006.
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60Bringing free will down to Earth: People’s psychological concept of free will and its role in moral judgmentConsciousness and Cognition 27 100-108. 2014.
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217Folk Theory of Mind: Conceptual Foundations of Human Social CognitionIn Ran R. Hassin, James S. Uleman & John A. Bargh (eds.), The New Unconscious. Oxford Series in Social Cognition and Social Neuroscience, Oxford University Press. pp. 225-255. 2005.The human ability to represent, conceptualize, and reason about mind and behavior is one of the greatest achievements of human evolution and is made possible by a “folk theory of mind” — a sophisticated conceptual framework that relates different mental states to each other and connects them to behavior. This chapter examines the nature and elements of this framework and its central functions for social cognition. As a conceptual framework, the folk theory of mind operates prior to any particula…Read more
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450Self and other in the explanation of behavior: 30 years laterPsychologica Belgica 42 113-130. 2002.It has been hypothesized that actors tend to attribute behavior to the situation whereas observers tend to attribute behavior to the person (Jones & Nisbett 1972). The authors argue that this simple hypothesis fails to capture the complexity of actual actor-observer differences in people’s behavioral explanations. A new framework is proposed in which reason explanations are distinguished from explanations that cite causes, especially stable traits. With this framework in place, it becomes possib…Read more
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19Three puzzles of mindreadingIn Bertram F. Malle & Sara D. Hodges (eds.), Other Minds: How Humans Bridge the Gap Between Self and Others, Guilford. pp. 26--43. 2005.
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13Intentional action in folk psychologyIn Timothy O'Connor & Constantine Sandis (eds.), Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Action, Blackwell. 2010.
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73Are intentionality judgments fundamentally moralIn Robyn Langdon & Catriona Mackenzie (eds.), Emotions, Imagination, and Moral Reasoning, Psychology Press. 2012.
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Brown UniversityRegular Faculty
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Mind |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Mind |