The Positive Effects of Mass Gatherings

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We are story creatures. We are responsive to the narratives that we tell ourselves and others about human nature. And I think of mass gatherings as amplifiers. The culture of a mass gathering in terms of how we treat each other, what is our view of humanity as a basically good, as a basically evil,. Whatever that story is being promoted, the mass gathering is going to amplify it. That builds a culture that is going to profoundly shape people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Most of us strive to be good, moral people. When we are doing that striving, what is happening in our brains? Some of our moral inclinations seem pretty automatic and subconscious. Other times we have to sit down and deploy our full cognitive faculties to reason through a tricky moral dilemma. I talk with psychologist Molly Crockett about where our moral intuitions come from, how they can sometimes serve as cover for bad behaviors, and how morality shapes our self-image.

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Molly J. Crockett received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cambridge. She is currently Associate Professor of Psychology and University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology.

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