Welcome to the Empathy and Moral Psychology (EMP) Lab at Penn State University, directed by Dr. Daryl Cameron. We study the affective and motivational mechanisms involved in empathy and moral decision-making. Our lab utilizes insights and methodologies from affective science, social cognition, and moral philosophy, in order to understand how people think about and respond to pressing social and ethical situations.
Some of the particular questions we focus on include why does empathy fail in response to mass suffering and during conflicts, and what can we do about it? Why do people engage in blame and punishment, and how does outrage motivate people to engage in collective action? For short and accessible introductions to our work, check out the Penn State Research article on our approach to motivated empathy, the release about our work on empathy avoidance and mental effort, the Penn State News article about our work on moral outrage, and the article in the The Conversation about the scientific and ethical ramifications of empathy deficits. The lab published a blog post in 2020 about moral emotions and COVID-19 for the Social Science Research Institute’s “Insights from Experts” webpage. More recently, Dr. Cameron recently wrote about choosing empathy and supporting democratic norms in Scientific American.
We provide students with interdisciplinary research opportunities through the Rock Ethics Institute. Through the Rock, we have organized several collaborative workshops and outreach events, including invited talks and conferences (such as the Moral Psychology Research Group conferences in 2017 and 2024), and the Expanding Empathy Speaker Series which has been running since 2019. Dr. Cameron directs the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making, an interdisciplinary network designed to encourage collaborations across the social sciences and humanities on topics related to moral and ethical decision-making. For more details about these opportunities, please see the “Collaborations” tab above, and feel free to reach out to learn more!
Rachel Buterbaugh Named Psychology Student Marshall
One of our graduating seniors, lead research assistant Rachel Buterbaugh, has been named the Psychology Department student marshal for this weekend's commencement ceremony. Congratulations, Rachel!
Expanding Empathy Series Returns for 2025
For the 7th year, Dr. Cameron is bringing back the Expanding Empathy Speaker Series through the Rock Ethics Institute, and now the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making. For more about the series and how to register for the free Zoom webinars in May, check out the press...
Political Morality Conference at Penn State
We held a conference here at Penn State, through the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making, about political divisions and morality. We brought together scholars from psychology, political science, philosophy, sociology, communications, and media studies. To learn more,...
Welcome to Jolie Kretzschmar!
The EMP Lab welcomes Jolie Kretzschmar, who will be joining the lab in fall 2025 as a new graduate student. Congrats, Jolie!
Melody Munitz Revisits Penn State
Earlier this semester in April, EMP Lab Honors alum Melody Munitz revisited us at Penn State while starring as Wednesday Addams in the off-Broadway production of the Addams Family. Melody did an interdisciplinary Honors thesis with us on empathy and engagement during...
Faruk Yalcin Publishes Science e-Letter on Outrage
Faruk Yalcin, second-year graduate student in the EMP Lab, has published an e-letter in Science in response to McLoughlin et al.'s paper on moral outrage and social media. In the article, he discusses motivational approaches to outrage and how to think about...
Rachel Buterbaugh to Attend Grad School at UT Austin
Rachel Buterbaugh, senior lead RA in the EMP Lab, has accepted an offer to join the UT Austin Social Psychology program, where she will go to work as a graduate student with Bertram Gawronski. Congratulations, Rachel!
Joshua Wenger Presents at Society for Affective Science
Joshua Wenger gave his first external conference talk on AI empathy choice paradox at the Society for Affective Science in Portland, Oregon! He was part of a larger session on AI empathy that was led by Dr. Cameron as discussant, and included some wonderful cross-over...
Rachel Buterbaugh Receives Mona Shibley Bird Award
Rachel Buterbaugh, our senior lead RA for the EMP Lab, has received the Mona Shibley Bird Memorial Scholarship for undergraduate excellence and future career potential in Psychology. Congratulations, Rachel!
EMP Lab at SPSP 2025
EMP Lab graduate student Joshua Wenger will be presenting two posters on our work on empathic AI. Come say hi to Josh, and nice work in repping the EMP Lab at SPSP this year!
Josh Wenger Accepted into EASP Summer School
Josh Wenger, 2nd-year student in the EMP Lab, has been accepted in to the European Association for Social Psychology's summer school for this year (https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/easp2025/). He'll be taking part in the work-stream on the moral psychology of AI, and...
Recap of Moral Psychology Research Group 2024
Here's a press release from November 2024's Moral Psychology Research Group conference that Dr. Cameron hosted through the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making. All of the talk recordings are available on the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making's Events page.
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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Faruk Yalçin, M.A.
Graduate Student
Faruk Yalçin is a second-year graduate student in the EMP Lab. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Bilkent University and received his Master of Science from Sabanci University. His research interests include emotions, decision-making, and methodology. Currently, he studies how moral outrage influences information-seeking behavior in moral contexts.
Joshua Wenger, B.S.
Graduate Student
Josh Wenger joined Penn State’s Psychology PhD program and the EMP Lab in 2023. Informed and inspired by psychology and philosophy, his interests include the moral psychology of AI, self-transcendent emotions, and moral judgment. He completed his B.S. in Psychology with a Neuroscience minor at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia.
