Top Stories from Wired News Now research published in the journal Science shows that the key to tough moral judgments is emotion, not analytical reasoning. Princeton University researchers scanned volunteers' brains as they pondered ethical questions -- producing images where emotion-related areas of the brain literally lit up. According to psychologist Jonathan Haidt, "we carry out our lives as though our moral judgments are based on reason," but the study, he said, illustrates that people act on "gut feelings and make up reasons post hoc."