Blair R J
MRC Cognitive Development Unit, London, UK.
Cognition. 1995 Oct;57(1):1-29. doi: 10.1016/0010-0277(95)00676-p.
Various social animal species have been noted to inhibit aggressive attacks when a conspecific displays submission cues. Blair (1993) has suggested that humans possess a functionally similar mechanism which mediates the suppression of aggression in the context of distress cues. He has suggested that this mechanism is a prerequisite for the development of the moral/conventional distinction; the consistently observed distinction in subject's judgments between moral and conventional transgressions. Psychopaths may lack this violence inhibitor. A causal model is developed showing how the lack of this mechanism would explain the core behavioural symptoms associated with the psychopathic disorder. A prediction of such a causal model would be that psychopaths should fail to make the moral/conventional distinction. This prediction was confirmed. The implication of this finding for other theories of morality is discussed.
人们已经注意到，当同物种个体表现出顺从信号时，各种群居动物会抑制攻击性攻击行为。布莱尔（1993年）提出，人类拥有一种功能类似的机制，该机制在痛苦信号的情境中调节对攻击行为的抑制。他认为，这种机制是道德/习俗区分发展的先决条件；在主体对道德和习俗违规行为的判断中始终观察到的区别。精神病患者可能缺乏这种暴力抑制机制。本文建立了一个因果模型，展示了这种机制的缺失如何解释与精神病态障碍相关的核心行为症状。这种因果模型的一个预测是，精神病患者应该无法做出道德/习俗区分。这一预测得到了证实。本文还讨论了这一发现对其他道德理论的启示。
