Testing the human superorganism approach to morality

Area of Science:

• Moral psychology
• Evolutionary psychology
• Social cognition

Background:

• Existing moral psychology theories lack consensus on the scope of moral concerns.
• Human societies are unusually large, suggesting unique evolutionary pressures on morality.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce and test Human Superorganism Theory (HSoT) as a novel framework for the moral domain.
• Investigate if moral concerns extend beyond traditional harm and fairness to include superorganism functions.

Main Methods:

• A large-scale web-based experiment involving approximately 80,000 participants.
• Presentation of 33 scenarios designed to probe moral judgments related to HSoT-identified superorganism functions.

Main Results:

• All 13 superorganism functions proposed by HSoT were significantly moralized by participants.
• Violations of social customs or individual decisions outside these functions were not moralized.
• Hypotheses derived from HSoT were empirically supported.

Conclusions:

• HSoT provides a robust framework for understanding a broader moral domain.
• Moral action primarily functions to suppress cheating within human superorganisms.
• Findings have implications for psychology, legal theory, and understanding human sociality.