The psychology behind our moral outrage

Politics, war, abortion, gun control — why do some topics make us so outraged? One theory is that our preoccupation with preventing harm is to blame. So today, we examine how humans developed morality, why we differ in what we consider right and wrong, and how that drives us to moral outrage. And after all of that, we'll find out how to have better conversations with people you disagree with (even if you're feeling outraged). If you want to hear more about that, check out The skills supercommunicators use, which you can learn too. This episode first aired in January 2025. Guest: Dr Kurt Gray Professor in Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Director, Deepest Beliefs Lab and the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding Author, Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground Credits: Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar Senior producer: James Bullen Producer: Rose Kerr Sound engineer: Roi Huberman More information: Lethal Mass Partisanship: Prevalence, Correlates, & Electoral Contingencies The transcript for this episode can be found on its original webpage. You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.