Monday
Dec122011

When was your last hug?

Paul Zak's research aims to challenge the thought that people generally are driven primarily to act for what they consider their self-interest and asks how morality may modulate ones interpretation of what constitutes "self-interest" in ones own personal terms. Correction is not causation and there are some gaps in the design of the experiment used, but overall an interesting TED talk on Trust, morality - and oxytocin

Zak was influenced by "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" written by Adam Smith the Scottish philosopher and economist in 1759. It provided the ethical, philosophical, psychological, and methodological underpinnings to Smith's later works, including The Wealth of Nations. "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" in the the public domain print and audio.

Related