johnnymossville
03-31-2010, 08:45 AM
I've been pondering the idea of right and wrong lately and whaddaya know MIT publishes a study on the matter. Magnets can Blur Moral Judgment.
Taken from switched.com
MIT Researchers Discover Magnets Can Blur Moral Judgement
by Caleb Johnson — Mar 31st 2010 at 9:00AM
A group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a way to blur people's delineations between right and wrong. According to an AFP report on Fox News, the researchers used a magnetic field attached to a person's head to send a current into the brain and successfully disrupt the right temporoparietal junction -- the part of the brain commonly associated with morality.
In the study, participants read different scenarios involving fictional characters and were asked to judge the morality of a character's actions. For example, one scenario involved a woman named Grace who, touring a chemical plant with a friend, put something toxic in the friend's coffee, even though she saw that it read 'Toxic' on the label. The participants were asked to judge Grace's behavior on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being forbidden and 7 being okay. When magnetic pulses were rocking their brains, the participants were much more likely to say that failed attempts to hurt somebody were okay.
Essentially, this research suggests that flooding the brain with magnetic pulses can blur the participant's concept of right and wrong. Unfortunately, a tin-foil hat may only make things worse. [From: MIT, via: AFP/Fox News]
Not saying this is our problem now, but I thought it was an interesting story anyway.
Taken from switched.com
MIT Researchers Discover Magnets Can Blur Moral Judgement
by Caleb Johnson — Mar 31st 2010 at 9:00AM
A group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a way to blur people's delineations between right and wrong. According to an AFP report on Fox News, the researchers used a magnetic field attached to a person's head to send a current into the brain and successfully disrupt the right temporoparietal junction -- the part of the brain commonly associated with morality.
In the study, participants read different scenarios involving fictional characters and were asked to judge the morality of a character's actions. For example, one scenario involved a woman named Grace who, touring a chemical plant with a friend, put something toxic in the friend's coffee, even though she saw that it read 'Toxic' on the label. The participants were asked to judge Grace's behavior on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being forbidden and 7 being okay. When magnetic pulses were rocking their brains, the participants were much more likely to say that failed attempts to hurt somebody were okay.
Essentially, this research suggests that flooding the brain with magnetic pulses can blur the participant's concept of right and wrong. Unfortunately, a tin-foil hat may only make things worse. [From: MIT, via: AFP/Fox News]
Not saying this is our problem now, but I thought it was an interesting story anyway.