Psychology Touts Selfishness for Survival

What's this all about? A high-powered team of psychologists from Yale and Harvard has made a splash with a well publicized claim that moral indignation is usually an affectation aimed at enhancing reputation and, thereby, gaining personal advantage. It is nothing more than a compulsive desire to proclaim how virtuous you are, to "advertise" yourself to others. Rarely does it have anything or little to do with moral responsibility or ethical concerns. Indignation over alleged wrongs and injustices is merely another form of self-righteousness whereby the insecure individual strives for a sense of worth by showing that (s)he is better than other people. The reputation for virtue thereby acquired is exploited to advance personal needs and wants. All of this, it is argued, accords with inherent human instincts and the survival of the fittest. These radical assertions are based on an extensive research project well-funded by reputable sources, mainly the Templeton Foundation. The study is grounded in an elaborate set of contrived laboratory experiments whose relation to real world circumstances is purely coincidental. The accumulated testing data is then subject to statistical analysis. An essay appeared in The New York Times "Week In Review" (Feb 28)* summarizing a scholarly article that was published in the distinguished journal Nature (Feb 26).** The authors neatly explain their conclusion this way: "... an evolutionary mystery: Why would a selfless tendency like moral outrage...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news