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Commentary: Fiery Cushman: Morality of the NY Post subway photo

By Guest PostDecember 6, 2012Media49th street, brown university, catastrophe bond, category 3, david pizarro, ethical constellation, fiery cushman, financial transaction, freelance photographer, hurricane, ki suck han, misfortune, moral judgment, moral question, natural disaster, new orleans, new york, new york post, newspapers, people, photo, profit, psychologist, psychology, q train, subway tracks, tragedy, twitterati, uncomfortable, yoel inbar

A freelance photographer happened to be on the scene in New York when one man pushed another onto the subway tracks. The New York Post ultimately ran a photo on its front page, sparking widespread outrage. Based on his research, Brown University psychologist Fiery Cushman suggests that what makes people uncomfortable about the photo may be the idea of profiting from tragedy.

When tragedy occurs, who may profit? Newspapers around the country announced the tragic death of Ki-Suck Han, the man pushed in front of a New York subway car on Monday. Quickly, however, attention turned to an element of the news reporting itself. On the controversial front cover of the New York Post on Tuesday, a full-page photo showed the train hurtling toward Han. Dramatically captured by a freelance photographer while events unfolded, the photograph ran under the headline: “Pushed onto the subway track, this man is about to die.” (more…)

Changes in Brain Circuitry Play Role in Moral Sensitivity as People Grow Up

People’s moral responses to similar situations change as they age, according to a new study at the University of Chicago that combined brain scanning, eye-tracking and behavioral measures to understand how the brain responds to morally laden scenarios.

Both preschool children and adults distinguish between damage done either intentionally or accidently when assessing whether a perpetrator had done something wrong. Nonetheless, adults are much less likely than children to think someone should be punished for damaging an object, especially if the action was accidental, said study author Jean Decety, the Irving B. Harris Professor in Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Chicago and a leading scholar on affective and social neuroscience. (more…)

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Commentary: Fiery Cushman: Morality of the NY Post subway photo

Changes in Brain Circuitry Play Role in Moral Sensitivity as People Grow Up