Abstract: Altruism often falters. People can fail to care deeply enough, and they can also fail to care broadly enough. These two moral dimensions—deep concern for the plight of those in need and broad concern for equitable treatment of disparate others—have long been noted to be separable. However, there has been very little attention paid to how a person's “moral depth” (i.e., their prosocial and empathic dispositions to care for others) relates to their "moral breadth" (i.e., their impartial dispositions to distribute such concern equitably). Are highly caring people likely to focus their concern on close others or distant others? Come to the talk to find out!

Biography: Joshua Rottman is associate professor and chair of psychology at Franklin & Marshall College, where he directs the Developing Moral Values Lab. His interdisciplinary research investigates the cognitive science of moral boundaries, the development of disgust, and children's trust in testimony. He has published in a wide range of peer-reviewed journals such as Psychological Science and Cognition, and he has written popular pieces for Scientific American and Psychology Today.