Let's Talk About Research on Moral Decision-Making

Let's Talk About Research on Moral Decision-Making

From Let's Talk About Women by Franziska Weinmar

April 23, 2026 · 1h 6m · Episode 32

About this episode

Franziska Weinmar interviews Aiste Ambrase about the complexities of moral decision-making and the factors that influence it.

How do we decide what is right or wrong? And how are these decisions shaped? In this episode, Franziska speaks with Aiste Ambrase, doctoral researcher in the research group Women’s Mental Health and Brain Function at the University of Tübingen, about the fascinating and complex world of moral decision-making. Bringing together moral philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, Aiste explores how people make difficult value-based choices, why classic moral dilemmas only tell part of the story, and why research in this field faces major methodological challenges. We talk about what moral trade-offs can reveal about human behavior, why the idea of a simple “moral brain” is far more complicated than it sounds, and what current neuroscience can actually tell us. The episode also turns to an important and often neglected question: Whether neurotransmitter systems, sex differences and hormones may play a role in how we make difficult moral choices. This conversation is an invitation to think more deeply about morality, decision-making, and the scientific challenges of studying both. If you would like to get in touch with Aiste, you can find her here…

People in this episode

Host: Franziska Weinmar

Guest: Aiste Ambrase

Topics covered

  • moral decision-making
  • psychology
  • neuroscience
  • moral philosophy
  • human behavior

Keywords

  • moral dilemmas
  • neurotransmitter systems
  • sex differences
  • hormones
  • value-based choices

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Tübingen

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