BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20232-1609b085426e0ab7059d4fedccfd529c@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20261103T104714Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261104T121500 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261104T131500 SUMMARY:Expanding Empathy 2026: Mohammad Atari DESCRIPTION:\nFor the first session of Expanding Empathy 2026\, we will be joined by Mohammad Atari (Assistant Professor in the Department of Ps ychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amhers t).\n\nTalk Title: Moral Psychology Across Time and Space\n\nTalk Abstra ct: Morality consists of evolved instincts and inherited rules\, which c o-evolve with institutions. This cultural-evolutionary process creates m oral diversity not only across regions\, but also over historical time. In this talk\, Atari argues that understanding moral minds requires stud ying the histories and environments that shape them. To demonstrate this approach\, he presents research tracing moral psychology across more th an two millennia of Chinese history and 270 prefectures. Using computati onal analyses of classical texts and local historical records\, we uncov er substantial regional variation and nonlinear historical change. We al so find that stronger kin-based institutions are associated with greater emphasis on loyalty\, authority\, and honor\, and less emphasis on mora l egalitarianism. These findings illustrate how historical records can h elp us investigate both the diversity of moral worlds and the institutio ns that sustain them. By expanding the remit of moral psychology across time and space\, we can begin to distinguish recurring features of human morality from those specific to particular places and historical moment s.\n\nBiography: Atari's research focuses on the intersection of culture \, morality\, and computational methods. He studies how moral values and norms vary across societies and historical periods\, and how cultural e volution\, institutions\, ecology\, language\, and social learning shape the moral mind. He is interested in both the cooperative power of moral ity (how shared values bind people together) as well as its darker side: how moral convictions can fuel prejudice\, polarization\, hate\, and vi olence. Atari uses methods from experimental social psychology\, ethnogr aphy\, natural language processing\, and large-scale social data analysi s to study psychological life across time and place. Part of his researc h examines how artificial intelligence systems\, specifically large lang uage models\, represent human psychology—and when they compress\, stereo type\, or misrepresent the psychological diversity of human populations. A broader question underlies most of this work: How does culture shape what humans value\, and what happens when machines begin to model those values?\n\nFor more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/expanding-e mpathy-2026-mohammad-atari/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

For the first s ession of Expanding Empathy 2026, we will be joined by Mohammad Atari (Assistant Professor in the Depart ment of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachuse tts Amherst).

Talk Title: Moral Psychology Across Time and Space

Talk Abstract: Morality consists of evolved instincts and inherited rules, which co-evolve with instituti ons. This cultural-evolutionary process creates moral diversity not only across regions, but also over historical time. In this talk, Atari argu es that understanding moral minds requires studying the histories and en vironments that shape them. To demonstrate this approach, he presents re search tracing moral psychology across more than two millennia of Chines e history and 270 prefectures. Using computational analyses of classical texts and local historical records, we uncover substantial regional var iation and nonlinear historical change. We also find that stronger kin-b ased institutions are associated with greater emphasis on loyalty, autho rity, and honor, and less emphasis on moral egalitarianism. These findin gs illustrate how historical records can help us investigate both the di versity of moral worlds and the institutions that sustain them. By expan ding the remit of moral psychology across time and space, we can begin t o distinguish recurring features of human morality from those specific t o particular places and historical moments.

Biography: Atari's research focuses on the intersection of culture, morality, and computational methods. He studies how moral values and norms vary a cross societies and historical periods, and how cultural evolution, inst itutions, ecology, language, and social learning shape the moral mind. H e is interested in both the cooperative power of morality (how shared va lues bind people together) as well as its darker side: how moral convict ions can fuel prejudice, polarization, hate, and violence. Atari uses me thods from experimental social psychology, ethnography, natural language processing, and large-scale social data analysis to study psychological life across time and place. Part of his research examines how artificia l intelligence systems, specifically large language models, represent hu man psychology—and when they compress, stereotype, or misrepresent the p sychological diversity of human populations. A broader question underlie s most of this work: How does culture shape what humans value, and what happens when machines begin to model those values?

For more detail s: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/expanding-empathy-2026-moham mad-atari/

LOCATION:Moore 127 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR