The principle of equal human worth is widely endorsed, yet real-world situations often require trade-offs. This raises a fundamental question: Do individuals truly value all human lives equally from an early age, or do they differentiate based on salient attributes? In a cross-sectional study, children aged 5-10 years (N = 253, 47% female) and their mothers made binary life-or-death choices between two individuals differing in age and sex. Results showed that even the youngest children did not value all lives equally. With age, children increasingly prioritized younger individuals, plausibly reflecting a growing understanding that older people have less time left to live, and showed reduced same sex ingroup preference. Machine learning models predicted older children's choices more accurately, suggesting that decision-making becomes more systematic and predictable with development. Mothers prioritized younger and female lives, with the strongest female preference emerging when the two individuals differed in sex but not age. Framing also influenced judgment: saving vs. leaving behind altered the strength of the preference for younger lives. These patterns align with social norms and gender stereotypes (e.g., protection of "vulnerable" groups, gendered expectations of helpfulness and susceptibility to harm). Evolutionary frameworks, such as reproductive value and parental investment, offer potential explanations for why such norms and stereotypes seem pervasive. Overall, the findings indicate that the valuation of human lives is initially not egalitarian, becomes increasingly structured across childhood, and adult priorities may arise from the interplay between evolved caregiving heuristics and fairness norms.

Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) is gaining legal and social acceptance; yet it remains ethically controversial and challenging for healthcare professionals. This functional MRI study examines how social norms and empathy influence MAiD decisions in 59 Australian medical students while evaluating hypothetical assisted-dying scenarios. Participants' decisions generally aligned with the legal framework. MAiD was approved when eligibility criteria were met (normative cases) and denied when they were not (nonnormative cases). Nonnormative scenarios elicited greater activation in frontoparietal brain regions involved in response selection and inhibition, consistent with increased decision difficulty. These scenarios elicited heightened activity in the precuneus, temporoparietal junction, and angular gyrus, along with stronger functional connectivity between the anterior hippocampus and the precuneus, suggesting greater reliance on memory retrieval and mentalizing. Normative scenarios were associated with increased amygdala activity, particularly among less religious participants, suggesting a role for negative affective salience. Greater activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and this region, suggest positive feelings related to compassion when a clinician can legally approve an assisted dying request. Normative scenarios were also associated with reduced connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula, particularly in those with higher trait affective empathy, suggesting that doctors might feel a reduction in their patients' pain. The findings provide the first empirical evidence of the neural mechanisms underlying decision-making in bioethical cases involving death as the outcome, highlighting distinct contributions and potential risk factors for medical practitioners in normative and nonnormative MAiD clinical situations.

Background: Early trauma significantly affects child development; however, inconsistent terminology and fragmented research hinder a comprehensive understanding of their combined and recurrent effects. Objective: We captured the effects of individual and combined trauma on children’s cognitive, language, socio-emotional, and psychopathological development while controlling for recurrence, sex, and age. Participants and Setting: Data from 181 children (47% female) aged 5–10 years were retrospectively analyzed. All participants were assessed at the LOCIKA Center in Prague, a facility providing care for children exposed to trauma. Methods: Bayesian statistical methods were used to examine the impact of trauma (psychological abuse, physical abuse, witnessing domestic violence, and family problems) and recurrence on the Intelligence and Development Scales (IDS) and Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC) scores. Results: No significant sex-related differences were presented in trauma prevalence. The results indicate a high recurrence of physical abuse (odds ratio [OR] = 7.4) and witnessing domestic violence (OR = 7.3). Girls scored higher on several TSCYC subscales, including emotion regulation and expressive language, as well as on the socio-emotional index. Age is negatively correlated with emotion regulation. Specific trauma types or recurrence did not consistently predict clinically significant TSCYC scores or significantly affect IDS scores. Conclusions: Specific trauma types did not significantly predict scores on IDS or TSCYC. However, meaningful patterns in trauma recurrence and age- and sex-related differences in this sample are highlighted. These results underscore the importance of considering developmental and sex-specific factors when assessing the psychological effects of early trauma.

BACKGROUND: Reduced empathy is a hallmark of individuals with high (i.e., clinical) levels of psychopathy, who are overrepresented among incarcerated men. However, a comprehensive, well-powered mapping of cortical structure in relation to empathy and psychopathy is still lacking. METHODS: In 804 incarcerated adult men, we administered the Perspective Taking (IRI-PT) and Empathic Concern (IRI-EC) subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; with interpersonal/affective [F1] and lifestyle/antisocial [F2] factors), and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to quantify cortical thickness (CT), surface area (SA), and structural-covariance gradients. RESULTS: PCL-R F1 was uniquely negatively related to IRI-EC, while PCL-R F2 was uniquely negatively related to IRI-PT. Cortical structure was not related to the IRI subscales. In contrast, CT was related to PCL-R F1 (mostly positively), SA was related to both PCL-R factors (only positively), and both cortical indices demonstrated out-ofsample predictive utility for PCL-R F1. Compared to men with low psychopathy, men with high psychopathy had uniquely lower IRI-EC scores and increased SA (but not CT); effect sizes across the cortex were largest in the paralimbic class and somatomotor network, while spatial overlap with meta-analytic task-based activations was highest for (social-)affective/sensory clusters. Finally, the total sample revealed anterior-posterior structuralcovariance gradients; in men with high psychopathy, the gradient of CT (but not SA) was globally compressed. CONCLUSIONS: Men with high psychopathy had reduced empathic concern, increased SA, and a compressed macroscale organization of CT, indicating selective co-alterations in empathy and cortical structure. Future work should build on these novel insights in both the general and incarcerated populations to inform the treatment of psychopathy.

This study examined the role of empathy in prosocial behavior among Chinese autistic and neurotypical children aged 4-8 between July 2018 and August 2021. Study 1 included 79 autistic children (89% boys) and 81 neurotypical children (77% boys) in a sharing task and found empathy-inducing context increased sharing in both groups, and informant-report empathy positively predicted sharing behavior. Study 2 recruited 57 autistic (82% boys) and 50 neurotypical children (78% boys) in a pain-related empathy task combining eye-tracking and a sharing task. Autistic children showed reduced visual attention to others' pain but intact emotional arousal. Across both groups, greater visual attention to others' pain predicted more sharing. These findings indicate that enhancing empathy can promote prosocial behavior in young children.

Psychological and neuroscience research reveals how motivational systems in the brain interact with the structure of social media platforms to enhance the propagation of misinformation. Features such as likes activate the brain’s reward system, encouraging people to share more emotionally engaging content, especially that which provokes outrage against opposing groups. False information is more likely to evoke outrage than is truthful information. Furthermore, exposure to misinformation increases its perceived credibility, and later corrections often fail to override its influence. To reduce impacts of false information, regulation of social media platforms should focus partly on the algorithms that prioritize content. Additionally, investing in media literacy interventions and grassroots efforts can bolster people’s motivation and ability to resist misleading content.

This study investigated how hunger and poverty influence children’s willingness to share resources with a hungry recipient, as well as how these factors interact across development. Participants included 918 children aged 5 to 8 years from Bolivia, Haiti, and Cambodia, who were recruited from neighborhoods within each country varying in socioeconomic status. Children completed sharing tasks both before and after lunch. Linear mixed model analyses revealed that neighborhood poverty and acute hunger jointly influenced children’s sharing behavior towards hungry recipients, but only when both factors and age were considered. These findings illuminate the developmental integration of socioeconomic and contextual cues in shaping children’s social decision-making.Public significance statement: This study demonstrates how children consider both their own hunger and the availability of resources in their environment when deciding to share. The findings highlight the significant role that hunger plays in social cognitive development during middle childhood.

Inoculation interventions have been a major focus of recent research attempting to combat the influence of disinformation in our society. However, no prior work has examined whether these interventions specifically reduce the impact of unproven or false accusations against politicians, which is a major vector by which disinformation can influence voting behavior in democracies. Here we demonstrate, through 11 studies, that interventions designed to increase awareness of manipulative messaging, such as the use of emotionally-charged language, can reduce the impact of derogatory accusations on impressions of novel mock political candidates. Individuals who viewed video or gamified inoculations showed a reduced impact of accusations on subjective ratings for all candidates about whom accusations of misconduct were made, relative to those who did not receive the inoculation. These effects were strongest when the truth status was ambiguous, but there is also some beneficial impact even when an accusation is clearly refuted, i.e., a reduction in Continued Influence Effects. Overall, these findings indicate that inoculation interventions that train citizens to be aware of manipulative techniques can effectively reduce the impact of unproven derogatory accusations against politicians.

Morality is a pervasive characteristic of human societies, with social norms and codes of conduct defining acceptable and unacceptable behaviors across cultures. Our evolved moral sense facilitates group living by regulating interpersonal interactions and promoting cooperation beyond the bounds of kinship ties. Moral beliefs that are held with high certainty and perceived as absolute and universally applicable can motivate a strong commitment to justice and benevolent collective action. They also have a darker side. Moral conviction can foster dogmatism, intolerance, and punitive actions, including vigilantism and violence. This article integrates theories and empirical evidence from evolutionary social psychology, cognitive science, political psychology, and neuroscience to examine both the ultimate and proximate mechanisms of moral conviction. This interdisciplinary approach clarifies the functional architecture and potential deleterious consequences of moral conviction.

Sexual sadism is an extreme, pathological manifestation of sadistic traits. While the psychological and forensic characteristics of sexual sadism have been extensively studied, the underlying neurocircuitry is far from being understood. In this study, n=232 incarcerated men completed structural MRI scans, n=116 of whom had been convicted of sexual offenses. Sexual offenders were assessed for the presence and severity of sadism using the Sexual Sadism Scale (SeSaS). Multivariate (source-based morphometry (SBM)) and univariate (voxel-based morphometry (VBM)) techniques were used to identify neural networks and individual regions in which gray matter volume was related to sexual sadism. Both SBM and VBM revealed associations between SeSaS scores and posterior temporal regions, including the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and fusiform gyrus, two regions critical for social cognition and processing high-order visual information, respectively. Men with high SeSaS scores indicative of sexual sadism had enlarged gray matter volume in these regions, relative to both men with low SeSaS scores and men who had not committed sexual offenses. One of the temporal regions (right tTPJ) overlapped closely with the rTPJ region previously implicated in a functional MRI study of pain processing in sexual sadism. Overall, the results provide multi-modal evidence of the relevance of temporal cortical networks to sexual sadism.

A sense of fairness is deeply rooted in human nature, and plays a fundamental role in supporting cooperation. This study investigated the electrophysiological responses to third-party resource allocations and behavioral economics games assessing costly sharing and distributive justice decisions in early and middle childhood across three countries, France, Taiwan, and the United States. To examine the temporal dynamics and cultural differences in the neural development of fairness considerations, both traditional event-related potential and artificial neural network methods were employed. Results demonstrate a marked lack of cross-cultural differences in the electrophysiological profile of fairness yet notable cross-cultural differences in the functional link between electrophysiology and actual distributive behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Empathy is fundamental to healthcare, as it improves patient outcomes, satisfaction, trust, and adherence to treatment. In this paper, we critically examine the role of empathy in doctor-patient interactions, emphasizing the need to distinguish its key dimensions: emotional resonance, cognitive, and empathic concern. We review and integrate the recent empirical literature on the neurobiological and psychological perspectives to illuminate the significance of empathy-driven care, as well as its shortcomings. As artificial intelligence and other technological innovations such as digital avatars increasingly shape the healthcare landscape, it is vital to ensure that empathy remains integral to clinical practice. This understanding provides important implications for medical training and education.

Behavioral studies indicate that adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are associated with altered empathic responding, but the neural mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. Given the significance of empathy in contexts marred by historical conflict and systemic inequality, work on these mechanisms is particularly important in such contexts. The current study extends previous work by (1) examining associations of different dimensions of ACE with volumetric change in empathy-related circuitry, (2) distinguishing between trait and state empathy, and (3) including perceived discrimination as an additional psychosocial stressor. Thirty-nine healthy South African adults from the general population (Mage = 40.6 years) underwent 3 T MRI. FreeSurfer v6.0 was used to extract predefined volumes subserving empathy. Results showed that childhood abuse and perceived discrimination were associated with reduced state empathic concern, whereas childhood neglect was associated with reduced trait cognitive empathy. Childhood abuse was furthermore associated with volumetric increases in frontolimbic (hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)) and neocortical (superior frontal and temporal) regions subserving affective and cognitive empathy, and uniquely mediated the relationship between ACC volume and perceived discrimination. The association of ACE with altered empathic responding may thus be underpinned by specific circuitry reflective of adversity type, with childhood abuse contributing to heightened responsivity to socioemotional cues.

The extent to which a belief is rooted in one’s sense of morality has significant societal implications. While moral conviction can inspire positive collective action, it can also prompt dogmatism, intolerance, and societal divisions. Research in social psychology has documented the functional characteristics of moral conviction and shows that poor metacognition exacerbates its negative outcomes. However, the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying moral conviction, their relationship with metacognition, and how moral conviction is integrated into the valuation and decision-making process remain unclear. This study investigated these neurocognitive processes during decision-making on sociopolitical issues varying in moral conviction. Participants (N = 44) underwent fMRI scanning while deciding, on each trial, which of two groups of political protesters they supported more. As predicted, stronger moral conviction was associated with faster decision times. Hemodynamic responses in the anterior insula (aINS), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) were elevated during decisions with higher moral conviction, supporting the emotional and cognitive dimensions of moral conviction. Functional connectivity between lPFC and vmPFC was greater on trials higher in moral conviction, elucidating mechanisms through which moral conviction is incorporated into valuation. Average support for the two displayed groups of protesters was positively associated with brain activity in regions involved in valuation, particularly vmPFC and amygdala. Metacognitive sensitivity, the ability to discriminate one’s correct from incorrect judgments, measured in a perceptual task, negatively correlated with parametric effects of moral conviction in the brain, providing new evidence that metacognition modulates responses to morally convicted issues.

Different empathic responses are often reported in autism but remain controversial. To investigate which component of empathy is most affected by autism, we examined the affective, cognitive, and motivational components of empathy in 25 5- to 8-year-old autistic and 27 neurotypical children. Participants were presented with visual stimuli depicting people's limbs in painful or nonpainful situations while their eye movements, pupillary responses, and verbal ratings of pain intensity and empathic concern were recorded. The results indicate an emotional overarousal and reduced empathic concern to others' pain in autism. Compared with neurotypical children, autistic children displayed larger pupil dilation accompanied by attentional avoidance to others' pain. Moreover, even though autistic children rated others in painful situations as painful, they felt less sorry than neurotypical children. Interestingly, autistic children felt more sorry in nonpainful situations compared with neurotypical children. These findings demonstrated an emotional overarousal in response to others' pain in autistic children, and provide important implications for clinical practice aiming to promote socio-emotional understanding in autistic children.

A large body of work demonstrates that a stable environment is essential for childhood development of prosociality. Research on the psychological impact of armed conflicts reveals inconsistencies regarding socio-moral indicators including moral cognition and behavior. This article aims to systematically review the available empirical research on the effects of armed conflict violence exposure during childhood and adolescence on morality. A comprehensive literature search for empirical studies published between 1990 and 2021 was conducted with four academic research databases with twenty-four papers meeting the inclusion criteria. The results and methodological aspects of these studies are discussed. Findings provide tentative support to deleterious effects of armed conflict exposure on children and adolescents' morality. To explain contradicting results, further examination of potential interactions is suggested. All current studies present important methodological limitations. Avenues for future research are discussed.

Network analysis is an emerging field for the study of psychopathology that considers constructs as arising from the interactions among their constituents. Pairwise effects among psychological components are often investigated by using this framework. Few studies have applied Bayesian networks, models that include directed interactions to perform causal inference on psychological constructs. Directed graphical models may be less straightforward to interpret in case the construct at hand does not contain symptoms but instead psychometric items from self-report measures. However, they may be useful in validating specific research questions that arise while using standard pairwise network models. In this study, we use Bayesian networks to investigate a well-known psychological construct, empathy from the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, in large two samples of 1973 university students from Belgium. Overall, our results support the hypotheses emphasizing empathic concern (i.e., sympathy) as causally important in the construct of empathy, and overall attribute the primacy of emotional components of empathy over their intellectual counterparts. Bayesian networks help researchers identify the plausible causal relationships in psychometric data, to gain new insight on the psychological construct under examination, help generate new hypotheses and provide evidence relevant to old ones.

Affect-sharing, the ability to vicariously feel another person's emotions, is the primary component of empathy that is typically thought to rely on the observer's capacity to feel the emotions of others. However, external signals, such as the target's physical characteristics, have been demonstrated to influence affect-sharing in the neuroscientific literature that speaks to the underappreciated role of external factors in eliciting affect-sharing. We consider factors that influence affect-sharing, including physical cues, emotional cues, situational factors, and observer-target relationships, as well as the neural circuits involved in these processes. Our review reveals that, while neural network activation is primarily responsible for processing affect-sharing, external factors also co-activate a top-down cognitive processing network to modulate the conscious process of affect-sharing. From this knowledge, an integrative framework of external factor interactions with affect-sharing are explained in detail. Finally, we identify critical areas for future research in social and affective neuroscience, including research gaps and incorporation of ecologically valid paradigms.