Jay Van Bavel | Morality in the Anthropocene

Why It Matters

Because digital platforms concentrate moral information and outrage, they can rapidly reshape institutions, public policy, and social cohesion—raising risks of polarization, spillover into real-world violence, and profound long-term effects on democratic debate and governance.

Summary

Psychologist Jay Van Bavel argued that modern digital environments are reshaping human moral psychology by amplifying attention-grabbing content—particularly moralized and negative material—through social media’s attention economy. With 5.5 billion users and average daily use exceeding two hours (much higher for Gen Z), people now learn about moral and immoral behavior far more online than in person, fueling widespread moral outrage. Van Bavel illustrated how viral phenomena like #MeToo produced rapid institutional change, while other research links moralized online language to escalation and real-world conflict. He warned that these dynamics, now interacting with emerging technologies such as AI, alter how societies form norms and respond to perceived transgressions.

Original Description

About the Seminar:

Although much of human morality evolved in an environment of small group living, the primary source of moral content for over 5 billion people now comes from social media. I argue that this technological transformation has created an entirely new moral ecosystem--driven by the attention economy--that is often mismatched with our evolved adaptations for social living. One means by which individuals and groups can capture attention and drive engagement on these platforms is by sharing moral-emotional and divisive content. Therefore, social media often acts as an accelerant for existing moral dynamics, amplifying outrage, status seeking, and polarization. I discuss the implications for our epistemic environment and democratic institutions.

About the Speaker:

Jay Van Bavel is a Professor of Psychology & Neural Science at New York University, an affiliate at the Stern School of Business in Management and Organizations, Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics, and Director of the Center for Conflict & Cooperation. He is also an Associate Editor of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nexus. Jay completed his PhD at the University of Toronto and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Ohio State University. He studies how shared identities and beliefs can unite people—or drive them apart—and what this reveals about the human mind and society. Specifically, his research examines intergroup conflict and polarization, cooperation and collective intelligence, moral judgment and decision-making, belief formation and misinformation, and the impact of social media and artificial intelligence. His work uses a range of methods spanning social and political psychology, computational social science, cognitive neuroscience, and cross-cultural analysis.

Jay has published over 150 academic papers (including in Science, Nature, PNAS) and is a Clarivate highly cited researcher (in the top 1% of researchers worldwide). He co-authored The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony (winner of the APA William James Book Award). His work has also been cited in the US Supreme Court and Senate and he has consulted with the White House, United Nations, European Union, and World Health Organization.

Jay is an active science communicator with over 100,000 social media followers. He writes the Power of Us newsletter and has written for The New York Times, BBC, The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, Guardian, LA Times, TIME, and The Washington Post. He has given talks at dozens of psychology departments and business schools, as well as academic conferences, professional events, and non-academic organizations (including the World Bank, World Science Festival, Aspen Ideas Festival, The Atlantic Festival, and TEDx).

Jay teaches courses on Social Psychology, Social Neuroscience, Attitudes and Evaluation, Intergroup Relations, Group Identity, Moral Psychology, Professional Development, and Introduction to Psychology. He received the NYU Golden Dozen Teaching Award for teaching excellence. He also co-founded a mentoring column for Science Magazine and has created several educational videos (e.g., TED-Ed).