Polyvagal Theory, developed by Stephen Porges, provides a neuroscience framework that explains many aspects of ethics and morality in terms of the nervous system's safety-detection mechanisms.
The Three States of Polyvagal Theory and Ethics and Morality
Ventral vagal (safe and social): Optimal state for connection, learning, and ethics and morality management
Sympathetic mobilization (fight or flight): Anxiety-type ethics and morality responses
Dorsal vagal shutdown (freeze/collapse): Depression and dissociation-type ethics and morality
Neuroception and Ethics and Morality
Neuroception — the body's unconscious safety-detection — can be dysregulated in ethics and morality, causing false alarms (sensing danger when safe) that drive ethics and morality responses.
Polyvagal-Informed Ethics and Morality Treatment
Therapy that acknowledges the body's state — helping clients move into ventral vagal 'safe and social' — transforms ethics and morality management.
Safe relationships, co-regulation, and body-based practices are particularly emphasized.