L Young
Biographic Data
| ID | 4732 |
|---|---|
| NAME | L Young |
| GIVEN NAMES | L |
| FAMILY NAME | Young |
| SIGNATURE | YOUNG L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Boston College |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5178-1853 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 56 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 171 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 56 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Shifting Demographics, Shifting Perceptions
Racial minorities are expected to be a majority of the U.S. population by 2044. We examined predictors of Americans’ perceptions towards this racial demographic shift (RDS), how accurately they estimate others’ perceptions, and whether an intervention corrects people’s misperceptions. In Study 1, in a nationally representative sample ( N = 1,600), most Republicans, Independents, and Democrats viewed the RDS as neutral or good. Being White, conser…
Impartial Intergenerational Beneficence
Across a series of eight high-powered studies ( N = 6,866), we develop a method for assessing impartial intergenerational beneficence, defined as intergenerational concern for all possible future generations. Across our studies, roughly 20% of participants displayed impartial intergenerational beneficence. Participants with impartial intergenerational beneficence expressed greater perceptions that future threats can be resolved, support for polic…
The Probabilistic Price of Life Across Time
Is the certainty of saving a life today worth more than the less-certain possibility of saving 10 lives tomorrow? In six pre-registered studies with U.S. samples from Prolific ( N = 5,095), we employed an intergenerational probability discounting task, discovering people discount the value of life as uncertainty and intergenerational distance from the present increase. Specifically, as uncertainty about impacting the future rises, individuals inc…
Ideological differences in moral concern reflect circle expansion, not inversion
Do liberals prioritize distant others over close relationships, inverting the moral hierarchy? Across three studies, we test this claim directly. Study 1a analyzes a nationally representative U.S. sample ( N = 1000). Study 1b reanalyzes four Prolific samples ( N = 3201). Study 2 preregisters a new sample ( N = 899) using both unconstrained Moral Expansiveness Scale (MES) ratings and a fixed‐resource allocation task. Across all studies and ideolog…
Americans underestimate national levels of concern for future generations
A psychological account of the unique decline in anti-gay attitudes
Anti-gay attitudes have declined in the U.S. The magnitude, speed, and demographic scope of this change have been impressive especially in comparison with prejudice against other marginalized groups. We develop a philosophically-informed psychological account of the unique decline in anti-gay bias in the context of important cultural and political conditions. We highlight two key psychological mechanisms: interpersonal connection and social categ…
Breaching of the U.S. Capitol
Collective memories play important social roles for individuals within society. Although other types of memory content (e.g. autobiographical and associative memory) appear to guide decision-making in social and moral contexts, it is unclear how or whether collective memories are associated with third-person moral evaluations. Also, updating third-person moral evaluations can be impacted by broader narrative contexts. The primary goal of the pres…
Mapping and Increasing Americans’ Actual and Perceived Support for Initiatives Protecting Future Generations
Across eight preregistered studies ( N = 6,464), we apply an approach informed by social norm theory to investigate perceptions and realities of support for Initiatives for Future Generations (IFGs)—institutions and policies designed to ensure political representation for and protection of future generations. We find widespread bipartisan support for IFGs alongside pluralistic ignorance: Americans vastly underestimate their peers’ support. Correc…
Longtermist Education Interventions Increase Concern for and Action to Protect Future Generations
In a contemporary landscape fraught with unprecedented challenges, it is imperative to forge strategies that transcend present concerns and equally prioritize future generations. This research, anchored in the philosophy of longtermism, seeks to bridge this temporal divide. Across three pre-registered and highly-powered studies, we scrutinize the potential of philosophical arguments underpinning longtermism to foster alignment with its principles…
Social identity complexity mitigates outgroup derogation in moral judgment
How Students and the Public Define Terrorism, and How Education Affects Those Definitions
How do students and the public define terrorism, and what impact does education have on those definitions? We gathered evidence from an extensive series of experimental and observational surveys involving students in 31 terrorism and non-terrorism related courses at 12 universities, as well as online survey experiments of the general public. Students and the public initially define terrorism as being committed by non-state actors and targeting ci…
Intergenerational concern relates to constructive coping and emotional reactions to climate change via increased legacy concerns and environmental cognitive alternatives
As the threat of climate change looms large, and we experience first-hand the impacts of rapid global warming, researchers and clinicians emphasize the need to better understand the impact of these changes on our mental health. Existing research suggests that coping with and emotional reactions to climate change can promote action to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and reduce its negative impacts to one's mental health. In thi…
Caring for present and future generations alike
In a comprehensive investigation involving a reanalysis of an existing study and five new preregistered studies ( N = 4,032), we investigate whether empirically identified longtermists, determined by their Longtermism Beliefs Scale (LBS) scores, exhibit heightened moral regard for present and future generations across social distances. Longtermists consistently value future generations, present generations, outgroups, and nature more than the gen…
People update their injunctive norm and moral beliefs after receiving descriptive norm information
How do descriptive norms shape injunctive norm beliefs, and what does this tell us about the cognitive processes underlying social norm cognition? Across six studies ( N = 2,671), we examined whether people update their injunctive norm beliefs-as well as their moral judgments and behavioral intentions-after receiving descriptive norm information about how common (or uncommon) a behavior is. Specifically, we manipulated the descriptive normativity…
Most people do not “value the struggle”
Virtue Discounting
Performing prosociality in public presents a paradox: only by doing so can people demonstrate their virtue and also influence others through their example, yet observers may derogate actors’ behavior as mere “virtue signaling.” Here we investigate the role of observability of actors’ behavior as one reason that people engage in such “virtue discounting.” Further, we investigate observers’ motivational inferences as a mechanism of this effect, usi…
Collaborative Cheating in Hierarchical Teams
What facilitates collaborative cheating in hierarchical teams, and what are its outcomes for those engaged? In two preregistered studies ( N = 724), we investigated how subordinates are influenced by leaders signaling a willingness to engage in collaborative cheating, and how subordinates perceive such leaders. Participants performed a task in which they could either report their performance honestly, or cheat for financial gain. Each participant…
The relationship between intermediary actors in the aquaculture supply chain at Tam Giang Lagoon, Central Vietnam
Aquaculture's profitability depends on a whole linkage chain involving all stages of producing, distributing and commercializing the product to reach final consumption.The efficiency of a supply chain is affected by the types of relationships among actors.This study aims to explore the nature of intermediary actors' relationship in the aquaculture supply chain and the determinants of this relationship.Tam Giang Lagoon, Thua Thien Hue province, Ce…
Reframing of moral dilemmas reveals an unexpected “positivity bias” in updating and attributions
Morally questionable actors' meta-perceptions are accurate but overly positive
Knowing is Half the Battle
Although only 23 people on average have been killed per year by terrorist attacks in the United States since 2001, American citizens and politicians consistently rank terrorism as a top security threat, leading to costly wars abroad and the repression of civil liberties at home. To what extent can education about terrorism alter perceptions of the threat? Much existing scholarship—and consistent polling over the past two decades—suggests that it …
The role of relational mobility in relationship quality and well-being
This paper examined the associations among: (1) the perceived freedom to initiate and end interpersonal relationships ( relational mobility), (2) relationship quality, and (3) well-being. Across 38 nations, people in nations with higher relational mobility reported greater well-being, which was explained by higher-quality relationships with close others (Study 1A). This effect was replicated at the individual level, after controlling for extraver…
Re-examining the role of family relationships in structuring perceived helping obligations, and their impact on moral evaluation
When my wrongs are worse than yours
The moral, or the story? Changing children's distributive justice preferences through social communication
The whistleblower's dilemma and the fairness–loyalty tradeoff
The Moral Dyad
The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety. -Felix Mendelssohn Felix Mendelssohn, the famous Romantic composer, sought to take the unique experiences of each human life-distinctive sorrows an
The power of moral concerns in predicting whistleblowing decisions
Parental Participation in Child Protection Work
Parental participation and, to a lesser extent, that of children at child protection conferences is seen as an important element in resolving some of the conflicts that beset child protection work. Using data from a study of participation in one metropolitan borough, those outcomes that are generally regarded as positive in this respect are critically examined. Our findings suggest that the optimism of advocates of participation is not wholly jus…
Moral realism as moral motivation
Does emotion mediate the relationship between an action's moral status and its intentional status? Neuropsychological evidence
Re-examining the role of family relationships in structuring perceived helping obligations, and their impact on moral evaluation
An association between biased impression updating and relationship facilitation
Who am I? The role of moral beliefs in children's and adults' understanding of identity
Knowing is Half the Battle
Although only 23 people on average have been killed per year by terrorist attacks in the United States since 2001, American citizens and politicians consistently rank terrorism as a top security threat, leading to costly wars abroad and the repression of civil liberties at home. To what extent can education about terrorism alter perceptions of the threat? Much existing scholarship—and consistent polling over the past two decades—suggests that it …
The role of relational mobility in relationship quality and well-being
This paper examined the associations among: (1) the perceived freedom to initiate and end interpersonal relationships ( relational mobility), (2) relationship quality, and (3) well-being. Across 38 nations, people in nations with higher relational mobility reported greater well-being, which was explained by higher-quality relationships with close others (Study 1A). This effect was replicated at the individual level, after controlling for extraver…
Children's and Adults' Affectionate Generosity Toward Members of Different Religious Groups
This article examines children's and adults' willingness to give a nonmonetary resource-affection-to in-group versus out-group members. In a study of attitudes toward Christian, Jewish, and non-religious people, religious participants-children as well as adults-reported that the religious out-group member was more like them and more likeable than the non-religious character, despite the fact that both characters were members of an out-group. Non-…
From impure to harmful
Incentives for Dentists in Public Service
How can independent physician contractors be motivated to contribute to public service health care? We consider evidence, derived from a natural experiment in the UK publicly funded dental care system, concerning the efficacy of using a contractual mechanism that provides explicit rewards for increased service provision against the alternative of offering an employment-like relationship. We find that dentists who were moved from quasi-employment …
Genetic substructure in South African Bantu‐speakers
The extent of genetic differentiation between seven South African Bantu‐speaking groups (Zulu, Xhosa, Tsonga/Shangaan, Southern Sotho, Pedi, Tswana, and Venda) was assessed from coancestry coefficients (F ST ) estimated from autosomal serogenetic, DNA, and Y‐chromosome DNA haplotypes. The overall F ST obtained from the autosomal data was 0.002, and that from the Y chromosome data was 0.014. The genetic relationships between groups examined were i…
People update their injunctive norm and moral beliefs after receiving descriptive norm information
How do descriptive norms shape injunctive norm beliefs, and what does this tell us about the cognitive processes underlying social norm cognition? Across six studies ( N = 2,671), we examined whether people update their injunctive norm beliefs-as well as their moral judgments and behavioral intentions-after receiving descriptive norm information about how common (or uncommon) a behavior is. Specifically, we manipulated the descriptive normativity…
Outcome-oriented moral evaluation in terrorists
Two motivations for two dimensions of mind
Two studies of compliance with daily prophylaxis in rheumatic fever patients in Iowa
We determined the penicillin compliance rates in school year 1974-75 for 235 children with rheumatic fever through analysis of urine specimens collected at school. Patients relatively low on compliance during the first year of sampling were divided into two equal size groups for a second year sampling study. One-half (N = 44) of these second year study patients and their parents were readvised regarding the need for penicillin prophylaxis and one…
Caring for present and future generations alike
In a comprehensive investigation involving a reanalysis of an existing study and five new preregistered studies ( N = 4,032), we investigate whether empirically identified longtermists, determined by their Longtermism Beliefs Scale (LBS) scores, exhibit heightened moral regard for present and future generations across social distances. Longtermists consistently value future generations, present generations, outgroups, and nature more than the gen…
When my wrongs are worse than yours
Who Sees What as Fair? Mapping Individual Differences in Valuation of Reciprocity, Charity, and Impartiality
Hindering Harm and Preserving Purity
The issues of climate change and environmental degradation elicit diverse responses. This paper explores how an understanding of human moral psychology might be used to motivate conservation efforts. Moral concerns for the environment can relate to issues of harm (i.e., causing pain or impinging on another's welfare) or impurity (i.e., engaging in sacrilegious, polluting, or disgusting actions). Aversions to harm are linked to concern for current…
Two studies of compliance with daily prophylaxis in rheumatic fever patients in Iowa
We determined the penicillin compliance rates in school year 1974-75 for 235 children with rheumatic fever through analysis of urine specimens collected at school. Patients relatively low on compliance during the first year of sampling were divided into two equal size groups for a second year sampling study. One-half (N = 44) of these second year study patients and their parents were readvised regarding the need for penicillin prophylaxis and one…
Where Do We Go From Here? Musings on 'The Other Story
Where Do We Go From Here? Musings on ‘The Other Story’ LOLA YOUNG LOLA YOUNG Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Oxford Art Journal, Volume 13, Issue 2, 1990, Pages 51–54, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxartj/13.2.51 Published: 01 December 1990
Parental Participation in Child Protection Work
Parental participation and, to a lesser extent, that of children at child protection conferences is seen as an important element in resolving some of the conflicts that beset child protection work. Using data from a study of participation in one metropolitan borough, those outcomes that are generally regarded as positive in this respect are critically examined. Our findings suggest that the optimism of advocates of participation is not wholly jus…
Genetic substructure in South African Bantu‐speakers
The extent of genetic differentiation between seven South African Bantu‐speaking groups (Zulu, Xhosa, Tsonga/Shangaan, Southern Sotho, Pedi, Tswana, and Venda) was assessed from coancestry coefficients (F ST ) estimated from autosomal serogenetic, DNA, and Y‐chromosome DNA haplotypes. The overall F ST obtained from the autosomal data was 0.002, and that from the Y chromosome data was 0.014. The genetic relationships between groups examined were i…
The Role of Conscious Reasoning and Intuition in Moral Judgment
Is moral judgment accomplished by intuition or conscious reasoning? An answer demands a detailed account of the moral principles in question. We investigated three principles that guide moral judgments: (a) Harm caused by action is worse than harm caused by omission, (b) harm intended as the means to a goal is worse than harm foreseen as the side effect of a goal, and (c) harm involving physical contact with the victim is worse than harm involvin…
Does emotion mediate the relationship between an action's moral status and its intentional status? Neuropsychological evidence
The Psychology of Justice
In Natural Justice Binmore offers a game-theoretic map to the landscape of human morality. Following a long tradition of such accounts, Binmore’s argument concerns the forces of biological and cultural evolution that have shaped our judgments about the appropriate distribution of resources. In this sense, Binmore focuses on the morality of outcomes. This is a valuable perspective to which we add a friendly amendment from our own research: moral j…
A Dissociation Between Moral Judgments and Justifications
To what extent do moral judgments depend on conscious reasoning from explicitly understood principles? We address this question by investigating one particular moral principle, the principle of the double effect. Using web‐based technology, we collected a large data set on individuals’ responses to a series of moral dilemmas, asking when harm to innocent others is permissible. Each moral dilemma presented a choice between action and inaction, bot…
Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgements
The neural basis of the interaction between theory of mind and moral judgment
Is the basis of criminality an act that causes harm, or an act undertaken with the belief that one will cause harm? The present study takes a cognitive neuroscience approach to investigating how information about an agent's beliefs and an action's consequences contribute to moral judgment. We build on prior developmental evidence showing that these factors contribute differentially to the young child's moral judgments coupled with neurobiological…
Incentives for Dentists in Public Service
How can independent physician contractors be motivated to contribute to public service health care? We consider evidence, derived from a natural experiment in the UK publicly funded dental care system, concerning the efficacy of using a contractual mechanism that provides explicit rewards for increased service provision against the alternative of offering an employment-like relationship. We find that dentists who were moved from quasi-employment …
When ignorance is no excuse
Mind Perception Is the Essence of Morality
Mind perception entails ascribing mental capacities to other entities, whereas moral judgment entails labeling entities as good or bad or actions as right or wrong. We suggest that mind perception is the essence of moral judgment. In particular, we suggest that moral judgment is rooted in a cognitive template of two perceived minds-a moral dyad of an intentional agent and a suffering moral patient. Diverse lines of research support dyadic moralit…
Moral realism as moral motivation
The Moral Dyad
The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety. -Felix Mendelssohn Felix Mendelssohn, the famous Romantic composer, sought to take the unique experiences of each human life-distinctive sorrows an
The whistleblower's dilemma and the fairness–loyalty tradeoff
Two motivations for two dimensions of mind
Understanding the Adaptive Functions of Morality from a Cognitive Psychological Perspective
What are the possible functions of moral cognition? Addressing this question has proved difficult, leading to disagreement among moral psychologist. Researchers claiming that morality is composed of many distinct domains have posited multiple functions, whereas researchers focusing on the features that are unique to and common across all moral judgments have suggested a unified evolutionary function. In this review, we suggest that the limitation…
Hindering Harm and Preserving Purity
The issues of climate change and environmental degradation elicit diverse responses. This paper explores how an understanding of human moral psychology might be used to motivate conservation efforts. Moral concerns for the environment can relate to issues of harm (i.e., causing pain or impinging on another's welfare) or impurity (i.e., engaging in sacrilegious, polluting, or disgusting actions). Aversions to harm are linked to concern for current…
When and Why We See Victims as Responsible
Why do victims sometimes receive sympathy for their suffering and at other times scorn and blame? Here we show a powerful role for moral values in attitudes toward victims. We measured moral values associated with unconditionally prohibiting harm (“individualizing values”) versus moral values associated with prohibiting behavior that destabilizes groups and relationships (“binding values”: loyalty, obedience to authority, and purity). Increased e…
Effects of Anxiety on Caloric Intake and Satiety-Related Brain Activation in Women and Men
OBJECTIVE: To test the relationship of anxiety to caloric intake and food cue perception in women and men. METHODS: Fifty-five twins (26 complete, 3 incomplete pairs; 51% women) underwent 2 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans (before and after a standardized meal) and then ate at an ad libitum buffet to objectively assess food intake. State and trait anxiety were assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. During the fMRI sca…
From impure to harmful
The impact of testimony on children’s moralization of novel actions
What leads children to moralize actions that cause no apparent harm? We hypothesized that adults' verbal instruction ("testimony"), as well as emotions such as disgust, would influence children's moralization of apparently harmless actions. To test this hypothesis, 7-year-old children were asked to render moral judgments of novel, seemingly victimless, body-directed or nature-directed actions after being exposed to adults' testimony or to an emot…
Outcome-oriented moral evaluation in terrorists
Who Sees What as Fair? Mapping Individual Differences in Valuation of Reciprocity, Charity, and Impartiality
Psychology (46 works) · Social Psychology (43 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (36 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (24 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Epistemology (17 works) · Law (14 works) · Political science (14 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (13 works) · Emotions and Moral Behavior (12 works)