Motivation and Morality: A Biopsychosocial Approach

This book offers an integrative examination of the role of motivation in shaping moral cognition, judgment, and behavior.

How do we define good and bad? Where do our moral systems originate? These questions have long sparked inquiry across multiple disciplines, and scholars have debated the answers both within and across academic fields for centuries.

Contributors to this volume cut across disciplines and modes of inquiry to answer key questions about moral motivation. They examine the sociocultural context of morality including norms and norm compliance; psychological frameworks that underlie virtuous behavior and help navigate competing moral obligations; the neurobiology of moral reasoning, and more.

In bringing together leading researchers across sociology, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, this book illustrates the complex motivational aspects of morality, which represents a crucial step toward understanding how and why our moral choices arise, and in turn can shape and guide our behavior.

Martha K. Berg, MS, is a doctoral candidate in Social Psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She received her B.S. in psychology, her M.S. in global health from Duke University, and a second M.S. in social psychology from the University of Michigan. Ms. Berg was selected to receive a Fulbright Student Research Grant in 2017, and her other awards and honors include the Robert B. Zajonc Scholars Award, the Ruth C. Hamill Graduate Student Research Award, and the Jerome S. Bruner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

Edward C. Chang, PhD, is a professor of psychology and social work, and a faculty associate in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is a fellow of the Asian American Psychological Association. Dr. Chang received his B.A. in psychology and philosophy from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He completed his APA-accredited clinical internship at Bellevue Hospital Center-New York University Medical Center. Dr. Chang serves as a program evaluator for the Michigan Department of Community Health - Social Determinants of Health, working with the Asian Center Southeast Michigan. He also serves as an Associate Editor of the Asian American Journal of Psychology, Cognitive Therapy and Research, International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy, and the American Psychologist. Dr. Chang has published more than 100 works on optimism and pessimism, perfectionism, social problem solving, and cultural influences on behavior. He is the editor of Optimism and Pessimism: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice (2001), Self-Criticism and Self-Enhancement: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications (2006), Handbook of Adult Psychopathology in Asians: Diagnosis, Etiology, and Treatment (2012), and is a co-editor of Virtue, Vice, and Personality: The Complexity of Behavior (2003), Social Problem Solving: Theory, Research, and Training (2004), and Judgments Over Time: The Interplay of Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors (2006), Handbook of Race and Development in Mental Health (2012), Positive Psychology in Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups (in press), and Biopsychosocial Approaches to Understanding Health in South Asian Americans (forthcoming). Apart from other honors and awards, Dr. Chang was the recipient of the 2012 Theodore Millon Award in Personality Psychology sponsored by the American Psychological Foundation and the Society of Clinical Psychology.