#  Joshua Greene 

Professor of Psychology

Faculty Member of the Center for Brain Science

 

 

 



   ![GREENE](/sites/g/files/omnuum5006/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/2025-02/GREENE.jpg?h=4ca36cf6&itok=jP2HzaQT) 

 



 

 email <jgreene@wjh.harvard.edu> 

 



 

I’m a Professor in the Dept. of Psychology and a member of the Center for Brain Science faculty. I was an undergrad at Harvard (Quincy House, Philosophy, ’96), went to Princeton for my PhD (Philosophy, ’02), stayed at Princeton to learn more about psychology and neuroscience as a post-doc, and then came back to Harvard to start my lab in 2006. Much of my research has been on the psychology and neuroscience of moral judgment, with a focus on the interplay between emotion and reason in moral dilemmas (“trolley problems”). My current social scientific research examines strategies for improved social decision-making, reducing intergroup/political animosity, and advancing effective altruism. My current neuroscientific research aims to understand the “language of thought”, how the brain combines concepts to form complex ideas. I teach in the GenEd program and am the author of Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them. I’m working on a new book aimed developing scalable strategies for reducing intergroup conflict and broadening the scope of human cooperation.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Interests
    
     [Psychology](/interests/psychology)
- ## Role
    
     [Senior Common Room](/role/senior-common-room) [Faculty](/role/faculty)