Ensar Acem

And kudos to Melih Varol for presenting our lab’s theoretical projection:

🔹 The Future of Moral Psychology: A Multilevel Integrative Approach with Dual Inheritance Theory

Looking forward to more events that bring together researchers passionate about the science of morality! 🔬✨🙌

Thanks to my co-authors for their talks:

🔸 The Moral Intention–Behavior Gap in Religious and Non-Religious Individuals — @ilaydavelioglu.bsky.social

🔸 Authority Reminders and Prosocial Behavior — @rozelinvurgun.bsky.social

🔸 Religious Ingroup Bias in Anonymous Interactions — Selenay Keleş

I had the pleasure of presenting two of our studies:

🔹 Metaethics, Beliefs, and Prosocial Behavior: A Longitudinal Study

🔹 Divine Order and Human Justice: The Impact of Religious Identity and Cues on Third-Party Punishment

This weekend, our Moral Intuitions Lab presented five studies from our Templeton Religion Trust project (@templetonrelig.bsky.social) at the III. National Symposium on Morality Studies in Social Psychology.

A fantastic gathering of researchers working on morality! 🧠✨

A lovely summary by @ensaracem.bsky.social of our new paper in Theory and Society. Many great collaborators and I provide a balanced overview of, and some potential responses to, this important normative scientific conflict.

Open access in his thread.

We'd love to hear your perspective.

To broaden the conversation, we are now collecting perspectives across fields.

If you work in research, we would be grateful for your input.

📋 Survey: erasmusuniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Thanks @duddaleonie.bsky.social, @mamsmandrill.bsky.social, @martakowal.bsky.social, @milkos.bsky.social, @moralnosc.bsky.social, @bzubaly.bsky.social and all co-authors (not on Blusky too)! Special thanks to @verheyensteven.bsky.social for leading this collaboration.

Grateful to be part of it!

We suggest:

• Integrating COI & bias discussions into training
• Encouraging everyday reflexivity
• Examining institutional incentives
• Using safeguards like preregistration & registered reports

We argue that simply declaring “I publish to advance my career” is not necessarily helpful.

Instead, we need better reflection on how incentives operate—not just more boilerplate COI statements.

Publishing matters for knowledge, but also for jobs, promotions, and stability.

This dual function creates incentives that can subtly shape decisions throughout the research process—often without being acknowledged.

Why I declare a conflict of interest and you should not - Theory and Society Academic publishing is both an indication of scientific contribution and a currency for career advancement. This dual role gives rise to a normative scientific conflict: Does the structural incentive ...

Our new paper is out in Theory and Society:

“Why I declare a conflict of interest and you should not.”

We examine whether the structural pressure to publish should itself be understood as a conflict of interest—and what that means for research culture.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

See the details of our latest TRT (@templetonrelig.bsky.social) project:

templetonreligiontrust.org/explore/does...

Had a great time presenting our results on how religious and secular authority cues shape altruistic punishment at the "Trust and Cognition" workshop hosted by OZU Social Cognition Lab, led by Dr. Pınar Ugurlar.

Big thanks to everyone who sparked such thought-provoking discussion!

Validation of the moral foundations questionnaire-2 in the Turkish context: exploring its relationship with moral behavior - Current Psychology Despite the considerable attention it has received, Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) remains open to criticisms regarding failure to conceptualize the moral domain. MFT was revised in response to these ...

We tested MFQ-2 and MAC-Q in a Turkish sample (N=1099).

1️⃣ Both fit well.
2️⃣ MFQ-2 explained more variance in psychological variables.
3️⃣ MAC-Q better predicted moral behavior (e.g., generosity, cooperation).

#MoralPsychology #moralfoundations #moralityascooperation

🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s121...

As religious beliefs increase, the perception of compatibility between religion and science on existential issues rises.

Conversely, as belief in science grows, the perception of conflict between religion and science increases.

The data comes from the UK, the Netherlands, and Kazakhstan.

3) Yes, reflection may manifest differently across groups. In this study, we measured it using standard techniques, such as the CRT, Raven's Matrices, and open-mindedness measures. Believers generally score lower on these measures than nonbelievers in the US.

Do these answer your questions?

2) While genetic modes are unclear, individual differences certainly exist. For example, quest religiosity is positively linked to cognitive reflection, whereas intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity are negatively linked.

Thanks for your questions!

1) Yes, cultural differences likely influence this relationship. Literature shows a positive relationship between reflection and religious belief in places like the US and China.

@scienceofreligion.bsky.social

🚨 New paper! 🚨

Cognitive reflection was negatively correlated with belief in God & disbelief in evolution—for both Christians & non-believers.

This challenges the idea that reflection simply reinforces prior beliefs—challenging ERM and supporting DPM.

🔗 doi.org/10.1017/jdm....

Heroism as Moral Intuition 'Heroism as Moral Intuition' published in 'Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies'

🚨 Our chapter, "Heroism as Moral Intuition," is now available in the Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies.

We explore heroism as evolved moral intuition for conflict resolution from the perspective of Morality as Cooperation Theory.

link.springer.com/referencewor...

Welcome!

Generalized morality culturally evolves as an adaptive heuristic in large social networks.

psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

🚨 Post-doc alert 🚨

Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Religious Belief in Jordan Grafman’s Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab & Northwestern University

Details: www.cognitiveneuroscienceofreligion.org/opportunities

A new model of the evolutionary function of awe.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Let's support similar account! #HiSciSky #PhDsky

🧠 Curious about the fascinating world of cognitive science and religion?

🚀 Follow this account for insightful updates that will expand your understanding.

#CognitiveScience #Religion

Thanks 🥳

🔬🧠 #HiSciSky!

I'm a PhD candidate in Psychological Sciences exploring the fascinating overlap between social psychology and behavioral economics.

My focus? Morality, religion, politics, and cooperation.

Stay tuned for intriguing insights from my research journey! 🌟