KYLE FIORE LAW, PH.D.

Research Interests

I am a social and moral psychologist working at the intersection of psychology, cognitive science, and moral philosophy. I direct the Morality, Altruism, and Prosociality (MAP) Lab, where we primarily study the psychological machinery behind exceptional prosociality, meaning forms of altruism that maximize impact and reach beyond parochial boundaries. Our goal is to understand what moves people to help others, and to use those insights to address problems in the present, such as preventable illness, poverty, and inequality, along with challenges on the horizon, such as future pandemics, climate change, and emerging technologies. More broadly, we explore how people contemplate big questions about right and wrong, what it means to live well, and their place in time.

Key Themes: Moral psychology; prosocial behavior and altruism; concern for future generations; moral circle expansion; social norms and moral judgment; empathy, reasoning, imagination, and moral cognition; environmental and climate psychology

Opportunities for Students

I will be reviewing applications to the Social Psychology PhD program for students entering Fall 2027. If you are interested in moral psychology, prosociality, or concern for future generations, please consider applying.

Education

Ph.D., Social and Personality Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY
M.A., Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY
B.A., Psychology, State University of New York at New Paltz

Before joining U of U, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the IDEA Lab at Arizona State University and the Morality Lab at Boston College.

Recent Publications

Law, K. F., Amormino, P., Marsh, A. A., & O'Connor, B. B. (2024). Ethical reasoning versus empathic bias: A false dichotomy? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28(1), 1–4.

Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., Amormino, P., Marsh, A., Young, L., & O'Connor, B. B. (2026). Reasoning and empathy are not competing but complementary features of altruism. PNAS Nexus, 5(2), pgae015.

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.

Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., Amormino, P., Marsh, A., Young, L., & O'Connor, B. B. (2025). Mapping the moral architecture of effective and extraordinary altruism. PNAS Nexus, 4(10), pgaf326.

Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., O'Connor, B. B., & Young, L. (2026). The probabilistic price of life across time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 52(4), 1019–1039.

Law, K. F., Bae, S., Young, L., & Syropoulos, S. (2026). Ideological differences in moral concern reflect circle expansion, not inversion. Political Psychology, 47(3), e70158.

Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., Coleman, M., Gainsburg, I., & O’Connor, B. B. (2026). Moral future-thinking: Does the moral circle stand the test of time? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 52(3), 592–620.

Law, K. F., Campbell, D., & Gaesser, B. (2022). Biased benevolence: The perceived morality of effective altruism across social distance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 48(3), 426–444.

Fowler, Z., Law, K. F., & Gaesser, B. (2021). Against empathy bias: The moral value of equitable empathy. Psychological Science, 32(5), 766–779.