The Humanity of Empathy, Beliefs, and Criminality

Think about the qualities that make us deeply human. You might think of our ability to feel empathy, be prosocial and reason about what other people think. Or you might think of even more abstract concepts such as our sense of justice and fairness. After all, that feeling of outrage that drives us to the streets to demonstrate against the injustices we experience is a hallmark of our highly complex social abilities and social lives. Isn't it? Here, I will show that those abilities we think are a hallmark of humans are widely shared across the animal kingdom.

Advances in Virtual Reality (VR) have allowed researchers to study burglars as they commit fake crimes - allowing us to capture burglar behaviour as it happens. This understanding has since been used to train members of the public in how to prevent burglaries, and I will now be passing on the results of this training to you!

Imagine the impact if we all felt a deep connection to humanity. Our studies show that just a gentle reminder of our shared humanity can strengthen our bond with refugees, which could increase our desire to help them.

Our emotional states and prior beliefs can greatly influence the judgements and decisions we make. In my research I explore how affect and prior beliefs can make people more susceptible to false beliefs, and more interestingly how these factors could help people overcome situations that may result in false beliefs.