Do you think morality is innate or learned?

Morality: Innate or Learned?

I've been wrestling with this topic in my head for a while now.
What do you all think?
 

Innate Morality

According to some, morality may be hardwired into us. Evolutionary psychologists, like Frans de Waal, insist that traits like empathy and fairness evolved in service of helping humans to survive and thrive in groups. Studies show that even young children may develop a sense of fairness and empathy, which could mean that such traits are biologically hardwired in the lineage of humanity. For example, research by Hamlin et al. (2007) demonstrated that infants as young as six months old prefer characters who help others over those who hinder them, suggesting an early emergence of moral preferences. Neuroscience adds to this, showing that our brains are tied to feel empathy, which is key to moral behavior.

So if morality is innate, why do people sometimes act immorally? Does this suggest that self-interest or external pressure can override our natural instincts?

Learned Morality

On the contrary, many believe that morality is shaped by culture, socialization, and education. Anthropologists discover that moral norms vary across cultures—what is right in one society can be wrong in another. B.F. Skinner demonstrated that moral behavior is largely shaped through rewards and punishments, while religious and philosophical teachings show how moral values are passed down through generations.

But if morality can be learned, why do some moral principles like honesty or the wrongness of murder seem to be universal? Are they shared because they are innate, or because they are taught to everyone?

The Middle Ground

Most argue that morality is a combination of nature and nurture. For example, psychologist Jonathan Haidt proposes that we have innate "moral foundations," such as care, fairness, and loyalty. However, how these foundations are expressed depends on the culture and experiences we encounter. In other words, we might be born with a predisposition toward morality, but its expression is shaped by our environment.

References

• Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007). Social evaluation by preverbal infants. Nature, 450(7169), 557–559. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18033298/


• Haidt, J. (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Pantheon Books.