Human Morality Is Based on an Early-Emerging Moral Core

Scholars from across the social sciences, biological sciences, and humanities have long emphasized the role of human morality in supporting cooperation. How does morality arise in human development? One possibility is that morality is acquired through years of socialization and active learning. Alternatively, morality may instead be based on a “moral core”: primitive abilities that emerge in infancy to make sense of morally relevant behaviors....