What is the meaning of morality in Chinese and Western lay cognition—and what can it tell us about human morality? I describe data from lay prototypes, moral explanations, and physiological reactions to norm violations suggesting that that Western-style moral cognition, i.e. black-and-white judgements based on harm and fairness, may be a cultural curiosity, rather than a universally salient feature of how humans divide up and regulate socially undesirable behaviors.

Speaker: Dr. Emma E. Buchtel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Associate Dean (International Engagement) of the Faculty of Education and Human Development at the Education University of Hong Kong. Dr. Buchtel’s primary areas of research include moral concepts, values, motivation and reasoning styles, with a particular emphasis on cross-cultural investigations and their implications for Western psychological theories. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and holds leadership positions in the Asian Association for Social Psychology and the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology.

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Date: 26 October, 2026

Time: 12:00