Understanding motivations in Moral Judgment of Black and White people

• Grant number: 24/07946-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Sérgio Boggio
• Grantee: Fernanda Naomi Pantaleão
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Humans tend to categorize those around them based on shared characteristics, such as skin color, thus designating their racial ingroup and outgroup. This may lead to a negative bias towards the outgroup, and racial bias can lead to discrimination and prejudice. Moral judgment is an evaluation of someone's actions or character, based on moral norms. It can be affected by context, motivation, character, and other aspects such as group formation. This project delves into the effects of racial bias on moral judgment, emphasizing conflicts between Black and White individuals through behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) data. We will present vignettes with intergroup conflict descriptions, to which participants will judge and attribute sentences; vignettes will be manipulated to include factors we want to investigate. This study will be conducted in Brazil and in the U.S. to compare moral judgment of Black and White in both countries.