Main Themes of This Blog
- •What are the basic foundations of morality?
- •The Business of Psychology: Will the peer review journal article system be changed by technology?
- •Moral Confabulation: What is it and why does it matter?
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Archive
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Last 30 Posts:
- March 3, 2010
Does trait anxiety make your more or less likely to support war & aggression? - February 20, 2010
Democrats and Republicans agree that Justice & Fairness are about Equity, not Equality or Impartiality - February 17, 2010
Religion does not cause racism, but group morality may underlie both. - February 12, 2010
A Difference Between Democrats and Republicans – The Effects of Empathy on Political Interest - January 27, 2010
Separating Pro-Peace from Anti-War Attitudes using Moral Psychology Measures - January 15, 2010
Methland by Nick Reding: Moral Maximizing and the Drug War - January 5, 2010
United States Gross Domestic Product vs. Gross National Happiness - December 18, 2009
What the positive psychology approach can learn from Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided - December 13, 2009
Does gratitude promote a sense of fairness and equality? - December 10, 2009
Gratitude Video from Conan O’Brien and Louis CK - November 20, 2009
Reading Palin’s “Going Rogue” & expanding the liberal moral imagination (Lederach & Wright) - November 18, 2009
Sarah Palin confabulates that “Jewish people will be flocking to Israel” - November 13, 2009
What are the basic foundations of morality? - October 27, 2009
Reasons to be the opposite sex, a social psychology classroom demonstration of sexism? - October 18, 2009
Is Keith Bardwell confabulating his reason for being against interracial marriage? - October 16, 2009
J Street vs. The Weekly Standard: Is it possible to be pro-peace and pro-Israel? - October 5, 2009
Facebook Launches Gross National Happiness Index -
The Business of Psychology: Will the peer review journal article system be changed by technology? - October 3, 2009
Moral Confabulation: What is it and why does it matter? - September 30, 2009
The values of people who are “Spiritual, but not Religious” - September 23, 2009
Moral Confabulation: Glenn Beck says Obama is a racist, Liberals compare Bush to Hitler - September 22, 2009
Moral confabulation: when you dislike something so much that you make up stuff - September 18, 2009
Robustness of Liberal-Conservative Moral Foundations Questionnaire Differences - September 17, 2009
France to consider measures of gross national “bonheur” (happiness) - September 14, 2009
Moderates and Liberals take their time in answering Moral Psychology questions - September 11, 2009
Hyperpartisanship & Obama’s speech to kids in US schools - September 9, 2009
Feeling positive towards others makes you happier….unless you’re a Libertarian - April 23, 2009
Three polls which point to differing underlying fairness principles driven by differing goals - September 18, 2008
World vs. Country focus for Obama vs. McCain supporters - July 10, 2008
Cluster analysis of VoteHelp Data for the 2008 Political Psychology Conference
Is Keith Bardwell confabulating his reason for being against interracial marriage?
A current hot topic in the news is this story of Keith Bardwell, a Louisiana justice of the peace who refused to marry an inter-racial couple. His stated reason is that "my main concern is for the children", meaning that the children may not be accepted by either racial group. Further, he claims that he is not a racist as proven by the fact that he regularly performs ceremonies for black couples in his house.
I obviously have never spoken to Mr. Bardwell, but I would speculate that his reasoning is a classic case of moral confabulation. He believes that interracial marriage is wrong and he believes that the children would be hurt. But I would contend that he believes the children would be hurt because he believes interracial marriage is wrong while he has confabulated a story with reversed causality, whereby he believes interracial marriage is wrong because the children would be hurt. If there were no potential harm to children (for example, if the couple is sterile), would he marry the couple or would he spontaneously confabulate a new reason for being unable to marry them? My guess would be the latter.