How do we decide what is right or wrong? And how are these decisions shaped?
In this episode, Franziska speaks with Aiste Ambrase, doctoral researcher in the research group Women’s Mental Health and Brain Function at the University of Tübingen, about the fascinating and complex world of moral decision-making.
Bringing together moral philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, Aiste explores how people make difficult value-based choices, why classic moral dilemmas only tell part of the story, and why research in this field faces major methodological challenges. We talk about what moral trade-offs can reveal about human behavior, why the idea of a simple “moral brain” is far more complicated than it sounds, and what current neuroscience can actually tell us. The episode also turns to an important and often neglected question: Whether neurotransmitter systems, sex differences and hormones may play a role in how we make difficult moral choices.
This conversation is an invitation to think more deeply about morality, decision-making, and the scientific challenges of studying both.
If you would like to get in touch with Aiste, you can find her here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aiste-ambrase/
https://www.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/de/das-klinikum/mitarbeiter/profil/3094
... or reach out to: aiste.ambrase@med.uni-tuebingen.de
Timestamps:
00:26 Introduction of our guest Aiste Ambrase
01:46 Background on moral decision-making
06:50 Moral interest theories
08:10 Prohibitive norms vs. prescriptive norms
10:15 Moral trade-offs and examples in everyday life
13:50 Morality research and the \"Trolley dilemma\"
22:50 Cognitive biases and other processes
24:20 Moral injury: Influence of the behavioral gap on mental health
25:50 The Oxford Utilitarianism Scale
30:50 Challenges of neuroscience research on moral decision-making
33:00 Morality in the brain?
36:34 Different neuroimaging approaches on moral decision-making
47:20 Neural networks of moral decision-making
49:50 Sex differences in moral decision-making?
51:20 Influence of hormones and neurotransmitters on moral decision-making
57:10 Moral decision-making across the female lifespan
01:01:04 What should future research on moral decision-making look like?
01:04:50 Thank you and wrap-up
Outline & questions: Franziska Weinmar
Sound recording & Editing: Franziska Weinmar with the equipment of the IRTG2804
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