Kyle
Fiore
Law
PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
The Intergenerational Decisions and Effective Action (IDEA) Lab
School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures
Arizona State University
K
I'm a social psychologist working at the intersection of moral psychology and ethical philosophy trying to better understand the outer limits of human cooperation and prosocial behavior. In particular, my research focuses on mapping the cognitive, affective, and moral architecture of exceptional altruism, driven by an underlying motivation to harness insights gleaned from the laboratory to help inspire real-world action. Prior to joining the IDEA Lab, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in The Morality Lab at Boston College under the mentorship of Dr. Liane Young. Before that, I earned my PhD in the Imagination and Cognition Lab at SUNY Albany under the supervision of Dr. Brendan Bo O'Connor.
Research
My research investigates the psychological underpinnings of exceptional prosocial behavior—impact-maximizing altruism that transcends parochial boundaries—with the goal of advancing individual and collective action to address both immediate global crises (e.g., poverty, inequality) and future challenges (e.g., climate change, future pandemics, artificial intelligence).
While humanity has an extraordinary capacity to improve the welfare of others, this potential is constrained by psychological tendencies that influence how individuals approach altruistic decisions. For example, research shows that prosocial behavior is often more influenced by factors such as the social and temporal proximity of beneficiaries and how their characteristics are presented (e.g., identity, similarity, and number) than by the measurable outcomes of helping. These tendencies, while they adaptively promote cooperation among small, tightly-knit social groups, can make it more challenging to direct altruistic efforts toward distant, abstract, or future beneficiaries—groups that are often critical in solving global issues. My work seeks to better understand and address these patterns by drawing on insights from ethical philosophy, social cognition, and moral decision-making. Specifically, my research focuses on four interrelated domains:
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Prosocial behavior across distance in special populations – Investigating how individuals with exceptional prosocial tendencies (e.g., effective altruists, organ donors) navigate the psychological challenges of helping distant or unfamiliar others, and what these insights reveal about the potential for promoting similar behaviors more broadly.
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Prosocial behavior across distance in typical populations – Examining how everyday individuals respond to the social and temporal distance of beneficiaries, and identifying interventions to reduce these biases.
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Prosocial behavior across the intergenerational divide – Understanding the psychological barriers to altruism directed toward future generations and exploring how these barriers can be mitigated to foster sustainable and long-term prosocial action.
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The relationship between individual-level prosociality and societal welfare – Investigating how individual patterns of altruism scale up to influence collective outcomes and societal well-being and how structural and cultural factors amplify or constrain prosociality.
By building an integrated theoretical framework that spans these domains, my research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the psychological foundations of altruism while informing strategies to inspire more equitable and impactful prosocial behavior at both individual and societal levels.
Prosocial Behavior Across Distance in Special Populations
A central goal of social psychology has been to understand and address parochial biases in altruism—favoring close others over distant ones and individuals over collectives. While earlier research emphasized empathy as a key driver of prosocial behavior, recent perspectives in psychology and ethical philosophy (e.g., the Effective Altruism movement) argue that empathy is too biased to promote altruism toward distant others, advocating for reasoning to guide impact-maximizing altruism instead. However, studies on real-world altruists, such as living organ donors and "Extraordinary Altruists" (XAs), reveal that empathy remains a critical force for prosocial behavior. My research with these populations reconciles these conflicting accounts by examining the factors that promote altruistic equality and impact among EAs, XAs, and controls. The findings show that empathy and reasoning independently and synergistically enhance prosociality, challenging the empathy-reasoning dichotomy to advance theoretical understanding in the prosocial domain.
Prosocial Behavior Across Distance in Typical Populations
The work I do in special populations ultimately stems from an interest in identifying the psychological features that underlie exceptional prosocial behavior in typical adults. Indeed, people often favor helping those close to them over distant others, perceiving a conflict between maximizing global welfare and fulfilling obligations to themselves and those nearby. However, my findings suggest that the same features promoting close relationships and self-concern can also drive concern for others at greater distances. This is promising, because it indicates that capacities most adults already possess—care for themselves and their close others—can be expanded to include distant others without undermining existing bonds. While my research shows that some features which promote the expansion of prosocial concern across distance in the general population are rooted in stable personality traits, others, such as capacities in imagination, coping strategies in the face of grand challenges, moral values, reasoning, and empathy, are more malleable. Consequently, I have found that targeting these more malleable features through intervention can have profound consequences on people’s altruistic attitudes and behaviors.
Prosocial Behavior Across the Intergenerational Divide
Another line of inquiry I lead addresses present-bias, the tendency to prioritize immediate challenges over long-term societal welfare, which limits concern for future generations much like social distance narrows concern for outgroups and marginalized peoples. This bias is especially troubling given the rising urgency of long-term global threats, such as climate change, future pandemics, and the ethical challenges posed by advancing AI. To tackle this, I developed the Impartial Intergenerational Beneficence Inventory (IIBI), which measures exceptional and temporally-invariant concern for humanity's future. My research employing the IIBI reveals that individuals with greater intergenerational concern are more likely to exhibit, for instance, heightened general prosocial traits, environmental commitment, and support for policies benefiting both future generations and present-day individuals alike. Moreover, this research shows that intergenerational concern can be cultivated through interventions harnessing moral education on intergenerational challenges, perspective-taking exercises, and imaginative thought experiments. Moving forward, I aim to enhance these interventions by integrating technologies like virtual reality and large language models to inspire meaningful engagement with long-term global challenges.
Exploring the Relationship Between Individual-Level Prosociality and Indicators of Societal Welfare
Synthesizing insights across the domains outlined above, I at times examine the connections between individual attitudes, beliefs, and values and the policies and performance of the governmental systems and societies in which people are embedded. Most recently, I’ve found that people’s personal moral values strongly align with the policies and values of their nations, and that systemic poverty and inequality are closely linked to a country’s ability to prioritize long-term, sustainable initiatives and to individuals’ levels of intergenerational concern. These findings not only highlight that individual psychological characteristics are related to those espoused and enacted by systems in power, but stress that collective action can also be instrumental in driving meaningful change at the societal level.
Publications | Preprints | Papers in Progress
Note. *Denotes Joint First-Authorship and Equal Contribution.
PUBLICATIONS
Syropoulos, S.*, Law, K. F.*, Kraft-Todd, G., & Young, L. (2025). Impartial intergenerational beneficence: The psychology of feeling (equal) intergenerational concern for all future generations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 01461672241307800. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672241307800
Law, K. F., Colaizzi, G., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Climate change is an intergenerational challenge that requires intergenerationally focused behavioral solutions. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 61, 101467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2024.101467
Law, K. F.*, Syropoulos, S.*, Coleman, M., & Young, L. (2025). A future beyond ourselves: Self-oriented prospection predicts increased intergenerational responsibility. Personality and Individual Differences, 233, 112915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2024.112915
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
Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., O’Connor, B. B., & Young, L. (2024). The probabilistic price of life across time: Generational and probabilistic distance render a life today worth more than ten tomorrow. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672241303993
Law, K. F., Syropoulos, S., Coleman, M., Gainsburg, I., & O’Connor, B. B. (2024). Moral future-thinking: Does the moral circle stand the test of time? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 01461672241284324. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672241284324
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.*, Amormino, P., & Young, L. (2024). Mapping the personality of (exceptional) intergenerational concern. Personality and Individual Differences, 231, 112814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2024.112814
Syropoulos, S., Law, K. F., Kraft-Todd, G., Mah, A., Markowitz, E., & Young, L. (2024). Responsibility to future generations: A strategy for combatting climate change across political divides. British Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12775
Syropoulos, S.* & Law, K. F.*, & Young, L. (2024). The case for longtermism: Concern for the far future as a catalyst for pro-climate action. Npj Climate Action, 3(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-024-00110-8.
Syropoulos, S.* & Law, K. F.*, Mah, A., & Young, L. (2024). Intergenerational concern relates to constructive coping and emotional reactions to climate change via increased legacy concerns and environmental cognitive alternatives. BMC Psychology, 12(1), 182. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01690-0
Syropoulos, S.* & Law, K. F.*, & Young, L. (2024). Longtermist education interventions increase concern for and action to protect future generations. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 19485506241228465. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506241228465
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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.10.006
Syropoulos, S.* & Law, K. F.*, & Young, L. (2024). National differences in age and future-oriented indicators relate to environmental performance. Sustainability, 16(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16010276
Law, K. F.*, Syropoulos, S.*, & Young, L. (2023). Why do longtermists care about protecting the environment? An investigation on the underlying mechanisms of pro-climate policy support. Sustainability, 15(24), Article 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152416732
Law, K. F., Campbell, D., & Gaesser, B. (2022). Biased benevolence: The perceived morality of effective altruism across social distance. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 1461672211002773.
Fowler, Z., Law, K. F., & Gaesser, B. (2021). Against empathy bias: The moral value of equitable empathy. Psychological Science, 32(5), 766–779. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620979965
Muraven, M., Buczny, J., & Law, K. F. (2019). Ego depletion: Theory and evidence. The Oxford Handbook of Human Motivation, 113-134.
PREPRINTS
Law, K.F., Young, L., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Cultivating multigenerational moral expansion. Under Revision.
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.
Law, K.F., Young, L., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Who cares about the future? A large scale investigation into the sociodemographic predictors of self- and other-oriented future concern. Under Review.
Capozzoli, C.J., Law, K.F., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Future generations hold the lowest moral standing, even below present-day marginalized human and non-human outgroups. Under Review.
Syropoulos, S., Law, K. F., Li, C., Leidner, B., & Young, K.L. (2025). Presidential candidate endorsements by scientific journals decrease trust in science especially for moderate and conservative Americans. Under Review.
Law, K.F.*, Syropoulos, S.*, Signorini, A., Young, L., & O'Connor, B.B. (2024). Why poverty in the present matters for intergenerational concern and the future of humanity. Under Review.
Law, K.F., Wylie, J., Kraft-Todd, G., Liang, N., Young, L., & Syropoulos S. (2025). People are more skeptical of others' public virtue motivations than their own. Under Review.
Law, K.F., Young, L., & Syropoulos S. (2025). Dispelling the myth of moral inversion: Liberal moral universalism coexists with, rather than replaces, concern for close others. Under Review.
Fowler, Z., Stone, K., Law, K. F., Young, L., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Uncovering and targeting individual differences predicting identification with all of humanity. Under Review.
Manalili, M.M.C., Law, K.F., Signorini, A., Chukwudebe, A., Amormino, P., Goya-Tocchetto, D., Markowitz, E., Young, L., & Syropoulos S. (2025). The motivation to protect future generations as a source of meaning and mental well-being. Under Review.
Law, K.F., Syropoulos, S., Amormino, P., Young, L., Marsh, A., & O’Connor, B.B. (2025). Reasoning and empathy are not competing but complementary features of altruism. Under Review.
Law, K.F., Young, L., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Americans underestimate national levels of concern for future generations: Evidence across collective, governmental, and moral considerations. Under Review.
Law, K. F., Gittle, E., Young, L., & Syropoulos, S. (2024). Mapping and increasing americans’ actual and perceived support for initiatives protecting future generations. Under Review.
Syropoulos, S.* & Law, K.F.*, Young, L., & O'Connor, B.B. (2024). Beyond seven generations: Mapping and expanding the temporal horizon of intergenerational concern. Under Review.
Syropoulos, S., Crimston, C. R., Markowitz, E., Milfont, T. L., Law, K. F., Claessens, S., Kyritsis, T., Atkinson, Q., Bastian, B., & Rottman, J. (2024). Cross-cultural insights into moral expansiveness: Selective valuation of nature versus humans. Under Review.
Law, K. F.* & Syropoulos, S.*, Young, L., & O'Connor, B. B. (2024). What we owe the present: The perceived morality of longtermism and helping distant future people. Under Review.
Fowler, Z., Law, K. F., Young, L., Schooler, J., & Syropoulos, S. (2024). Gratitude towards our past self and general gratitude enhance self-continuity. Under Review.
Fowler, Z., Law, K. F., Bontkes, O., Wardell, V., Palombo, D.J., & O'Connor, B. B. (2024). Collaborative imagination sychronizes emotions about the future. Under Review.
PAPERS IN PROGRESS
Wang, Z., Law, K.F., Rogers, B., Young, L., Goya-Tochetto, D., Amormino, P., & Syropoulos, S. (2025). Impartial intergenerational beneficence as a source of professional meaning. In Preparation.
Wu, D. J., Syropoulos, S., Mah, A., Law, K. F., Dixon-Gordon, K., Markowitz, E., Nteta, T., Reid, A., Ginn, J. C., Se Min, S., Young, L., & Lickel, B. (2025). Shifting demographics shifting perceptions: How race and politics shape reactions to the minority-majority future. In Preparation.
Law, K.F., Rottman, J., & O’Connor, B.B. (2023). Ignoring the farthest humans for the trees: moral circles, mind perception, and moral judgments of altruism. In Preparation.
CONTACT
I am open to collaborate on research or just to chat. Shoot me an email, message me on Linkedin or @ me on Bluesky.
