Social networking sites ‘could harm moral values’

What’s more shocking is that the study has found that emotions linked to moral sense are slow to respond to news and events and have failed to keep up with the modern world.

And,according to researchers,as activities such as reading books and meeting friends,where people can define their morals,are taken over by news snippets and fast-moving social networking,the problem could become widespread.

Children could be particularly vulnerable because their brains are still developing,they said.

Lead researcher Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the University of Southern California said: “If things are happening too fast,you may not ever fully experience emotions about other people’s psychological states and that would have implications for your morality.

“For some kinds of thought,especially moral decision-making about other people’s social and psychological situations we need to allow for adequate time and reflection.”

In their study,the researchers analysed the responses of volunteers to real-life stories to induce admiration for virtue or skill,or compassion for physical or social pain.

Using brain imaging,they found that humans can sort information very quickly and respond in fractions of a second to signs of physical pain in others,but admiration and compassion – two of the social emotions that define humanity – take much longer.

The volunteers needed six to eight seconds to fully respond to stories of virtue or social pain,but once awakened,the responses lasted far longer than the volunteers’ reactions to stories focused on physical pain.

“We need to understand how social experience shapes interactions between the body and mind,to produce citizens with a strong moral compass,” Immordino-Yang was quoted by the British newspaper as saying.

The study is to be published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ journal.