Kyle Law | Psychology

Embedded morality, altruism, and prosociality.

Social behavior doesn't play out in a vacuum. As such, we study morality, altruism, and prosociality as embedded psychological processes — patterns of behavior that are shaped, and shaped by, the systems in which people are embedded (e.g., the groups they belong to, the identities they hold, the situations they inhabit).

Building on this perspective, our work links individual moral values to the broader policy environments and structural conditions people live under. We’re finding that moral priorities often track the priorities reflected in national policy, and we’re examining how systemic poverty and inequality shape both societies’ capacity to invest in long-term, sustainable initiatives and the extent to which citizens feel responsibility toward future generations.

Alongside these efforts, we’re developing Contextual Normative Morality Theory (CNMT) to sharpen an embedded account of moral judgment that treats judgments of right and wrong as emerging from the interaction of perceived injunctive norms, perceived descriptive norms, and the surrounding context.

To complement these top-down, systems-level links, we also study the cultural traces moral life leaves behind. Using large-scale archival data — such as millions of U.S. obituaries — we’re investigating how collective memory shifts following major events like 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and COVID-19, and how public narratives of a “life well lived” reflect enduring cultural scripts around gender and age.

Finally, we treat identity and intergroup dynamics as central to where moral boundaries are drawn in the first place. Across projects on moral standing across social categories, perceived similarity across groups, and political trust and hostility, we’re asking when people widen their circle of concern and when social identities, group norms, and perceived threat pull that circle back toward “us.”

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SELECT PUBLICATIONS

*Denotes Joint First-Authorship and Equal Contribution.

Fowler, Z., Law, K. F., Bontkes, O., Wardell, V., Palombo, D.J., & O'Connor, B. B. (2026). Co-imagination fosters shared emotions of future experiences. In Press at Emotion.

Syropoulos, S., Law, K. F., Li, C., Leidner, B., & Young, K.L. (2026). Presidential candidate endorsements by scientific journals decrease trust in science especially for moderate and conservative Americans. In Press at Group Processes and Intergroup Relations.

Wu, D. J., Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., & Perry, S. P. (2026). The politics of well-being during democratic backsliding: How partisan affiliation and support for government actions relate to happiness and life satisfaction. Advances.in/Psychology, 1, e569295. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00051

Law, K. F., Wylie, J., Kraft-Todd, G., Liang, N., Young, L., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). People are more Sceptical of others’ public virtue motivations than their own in separate (but not joint) evaluations. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64(4), e70014. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70014

Law, K. F.*, Syropoulos, S.*, Crimston, C. R., Markowitz, E., Milfont, T. L., Claessens, S., Kyritsis, T., Atkinson, Q., Bastian, B., & Rottman, J. (2025). Cross-national insights into moral expansiveness: Selective valuation of nature versus humans. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 107, 102778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102778

Markowitz, D. M., Mazzuchi, T., Syropoulos, S., Law, K. F., & Young, L. (2025). An exploration of basic human values in 38 million obituaries over 30 years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(35), e2510318122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.251031812

Link(s) to Press Coverage: NBC News; The Independent; Mirage News ; News Medical; Scienmag ; RealClearScience; The State News; The Conversation; Nice News; KJZZ 91.5

Law, K. F., Wang, Z., Elbaek, C. T., Fage-Butler, A., Mitkidis, P., Gkinopoulos, T., Szumowska, E., Czarnek, G., Wojcik, A. D., Fulgsang, S., Jurgiel, D., Dzimińska, M., Warwas, I., Parzuchowski, M., Bialobrzeska, O., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Pypno-Blajda, K., Pantazi, M., Lits, G., … Syropoulos, S. (2025). Responsibility for Future Generations and Climate Change Mitigation: A Cross-National Study of Predictors of Pro-environmentalism in Europe. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 102729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102729

Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., & Earp, B. D. (2024). Artificial intelligence, existential risk and equity: The need for multigenerational bioethics. Journal of Medical Ethics, 50(12), 799–801. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2024-110583

Syropoulos, S., & Law, K. F. (2024). Cultural tightness and its association with national levels of peace: Evidence from a cross-national investigation. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 30(3), 445–453. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000725

Syropoulos, S., Law, K. F., & Leidner, B. (2024). Increased perceived safety in day-to-day life relates to critical national identification. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 13684302241249057. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302241249057

ONGOING WORK

*Denotes Joint First-Authorship and Equal Contribution.

Wu, D., Syropoulos, S., Mah, A., Law, K. F., Dixon-Gordon, K., Markowitz, E., Nteta, T., Reid, A., Ginn, J., Suh, S. M., Young, L., & Lickel, B. (2025). Shifting Demographics, Shifting Perceptions: How Race and Politics Shape Reactions to the Majority-Minority Future. Under Revision.

Law, K. F.*, Syropoulos, S.*, Signorini, A., Young, L., & O'Connor, B.B. (2025). Why poverty in the present matters for intergenerational concern and the future of humanity. Under Revision.

Law, K. F., Bae, S., Young, L., & Syropoulos S. (2025). Dispelling the myth of moral inversion: Liberal moral universalism coexists with, rather than replaces, concern for close others. Under Revision.

Syropoulos, S., Wu, D. J., & Law, K. F. (2025). Let the system burn: Need for chaos and political hostility in a divided america. Under Review.

Law, K. F., Wu, D. J., Capozzoli, C. J., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Towards a context- and social-norm-sensitive theory of morality. Under Review.

Lu, Y., Law, K. F., Löckenhoff, C. E., Caruso, E. M., Hershfield, H., Young, L., Gerstorf, D., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Re-examining the temporal doppler effect: The future appears closer than the past for self-continuity but not for perceived temporal distance. Under Review.

Xiao, Z., Law, K. F., Wu, D., Mah, A., Dixon-Gordon, K., Markowitz, E., Nteta, T., Reid, A., Ginn, J., Suh, S. M., Lickel, B., Young, L., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Perceived similarity and its consequences: Political misperceptions and intergroup attitudes in the U.S. Under Review.

McLamore, Q., Syropoulos, S., Law, K. F., Leidner, B., Bezouw, M. J. van, Paladino, P., Rovenpor, D., Baumert, A., Bilewicz, M., Bilgen, A., Chatard, A., Chekroun, P., Chinchilla, J., Choi, H.-S., Euh, H., Gomez, A., Kardos, P., Hooi, K. Y., Li, M., … Zein, R. A. (2025). Distrustful complacency and compliance with coronavirus prevention measures in the united states and across the world. Under Review.