Rebecca Saxe, a TED Talks speaker, discusses the development of the right temporal parietal junction - the part of the mind that helps us understand what other people are thinking. Very interesting.
This brain region changes between age 3 and 5 - when children begin to understand that others have different thoughts than they do. By 7 years old it matures more and the child can now add a moral judgement to others behaviors versus intents. Over the course of childhood and even into adolescence, this brain region continues to develop. The more activity in this area of brain the more likely adults are able to make moral judgments based on intent rather than simply outcome. By stimulating this part of the brain with a magnetic pulse research shows one can indeed change the moral judgments of individuals. Wow!
