Bringing together international perspectives on empathy and moral decision-making and providing a window into understanding when, why, and how people decide to have empathy and concern and help other people.

“The objective is to bring in researchers from around the world who do work on empathy and moral decision-making from a variety of perspectives,” explains Daryl Cameron, senior research associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, who convenes the Expanding Empathy Speaker Series.

“It’s meant to be a diverse set of perspectives and angles on the different ways that empathy can manifest in everyday life contexts,” Cameron adds. “And not just abstract, philosophical discussions—which are quite nice—but some of the topics we studied have direct, practical relevance to things like inter-group conflict and changes in empathy over time and across generations.”

The speakers tailored their presentations to a broad audience, anyone interested in empathy: the public, undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers alike.

EXPANDING EMPATHY 2023

Empathy for Animals
March 24, 2023
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT
Kristin Andrews and Kristof Dhont

Empathy, Effort, and Common Ground
April 3, 2023
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT
Patricia Lockwood and Hannah Read

Moral Learning
April 12, 2023
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EDT
Victor Kumar and Oriel FeldmanHall

Ways to Channel Empathy 
April 19, 2023
12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EDT
Anat Perry and Antti Kauppinen 

This year will mark the 5th year of the Expanding Empathy Speaker Series, which Daryl Cameron, associate professor of psychology, has organized as the convener of the Moral Agency & Moral Development Initiative at the Rock Ethics Institute. Over the past several years, Daryl Cameron has invited speakers from around the world to discuss empathy, ethics, and moral decision-making. Last year, the series charted a new format (co-organized with Martina Orlandi, assistant professor of philosophy at Trent University), in which a philosopher and a psychologist each gave talks and engaged in conversation on a common issue in moral psychology and ethics. This year, we will continue the philosopher-psychologist format with international scholars joining us in live Zoom webinars.

The Expanding Empathy Speaker Series is sponsored by the Rock Ethics Institute’s Moral Agency and Moral Development Initiative, the Department of Philosophy, and the Department of Psychology.

C. Daryl Cameron

Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of Psychology
cdc49@psu.edu