MINT Lab

The Moral Intuitions Lab (MINT Lab), directed by Dr. Onurcan Yılmaz at Kadir Has University, explores how human morality, belief systems, and decision-making emerge from the dynamic interaction between our biological predispositions and cultural environments. Combining insights from social psychology, cognitive science, behavioral economics, and evolutionary theory, we employ experimental and cross-cultural research to understand how reflective (analytic) and intuitive (automatic) thinking shape cooperation, ideology, and diverse belief systems.

Our research is grounded in Dual Inheritance Theory, which holds that human cognition and behavior are co-shaped by two interconnected inheritance systems: a biological system, encompassing evolved tendencies such as threat sensitivity, agency detection, and in-group favoritism, and a cultural system, built from socially transmitted norms, institutions, and belief structures.

This integrative perspective moves us beyond single-discipline approaches, enabling us to study morality as both a legacy of our evolutionary past and a product of the cultural and institutional contexts we inhabit.