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Purity is still a problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2023

Nicholas DiMaggio Open the ORCID record for Nicholas DiMaggio [Opens in a new window] ,
Kurt Gray Open the ORCID record for Kurt Gray [Opens in a new window]  and
Frank Kachanoff Open the ORCID record for Frank Kachanoff [Opens in a new window]
Nicholas DiMaggio
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. nichdima@live.unc.edu kurtgray@unc.ed Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
Kurt Gray
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. nichdima@live.unc.edu kurtgray@unc.ed
Frank Kachanoff
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada fkachanoff@wlu.ca
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Abstract

Our recent review demonstrates that “purity” is a messy construct with at least nine popular scientific understandings. Cultural beliefs about self-control help unify some of these understandings, but much messiness remains. The harm-centric theory of dyadic morality suggests that purity violations can be comprehensively understood as abstract harms, acts perceived by some people (and not others) to indirectly cause suffering.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e302
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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