Moral Outrage, Digital Media, and (Un)Civil Discourse

Description

Moral outrage is an ancient emotion that societies have used to hold people accountable for their wrongdoing, thereby increasing participation and cooperation within the group. But what happens when moral outrage moves online—where people are daily exposed to far more "outrageous" acts than they would ever encounter in person or in traditional media, where members of the group don't necessarily know each other, and where social media platforms are motivated to amplify emotional content to increase engagement/advertising dollars?

Yale neuroscientist Molly Crockett and SNF Agora Director Hahrie Han discuss Crockett's ongoing research into the ways digital media and online social networks may be changing how—and how often—we experience moral outrage, and what the consequences are for us as individuals and for society.

This conversation is presented by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins, as part of its Democracy Dialogues series.