We explore the role of intuitive theories in the cultural evolution of moral cognition, integrating recent work across subfields of psychology and suggesting directions for future research. Focusing on intuitive theories in the moral domain concerning how people judge the moral value of actions and make inferences about moral character, we review evidence that the specific forms these theories take vary across individuals and can change via social learning. We propose that cultural selection can operate over the intuitive theories people apply in the moral domain, in which particular variants of intuitive moral theories can be more “successful” to the extent that they are cognitively efficient or provide reputational benefits. Finally, we explore some implications of considering moral cognition as a kind of cultural technology that can be innovated, considering whether intuitive moral theories help or hinder our ability to improve our collective moral norms or practices.

中文翻译：

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直觉理论与道德的文化演化


我们探讨直觉理论在道德认知的文化演化中的作用，整合心理学各个子领域的最新工作，并为未来的研究方向提出建议。我们重点关注道德领域中关于人们如何判断行为的道德价值并对道德品质做出推断的直观理论，我们回顾了这些理论所采取的具体形式因人而异并且可以通过社会学习而改变的证据。我们认为，文化选择可以对人们在道德领域应用的直觉理论进行操作，其中直觉道德理论的特定变体可以在认知效率或提供声誉效益的程度上更加“成功”。最后，我们探讨了将道德认知视为一种可以创新的文化技术的一些含义，考虑直观的道德理论是否有助于或阻碍我们改善集体道德规范或实践的能力。