Help us study the moral choices of characters in books, movies, and beyond
Learn moreEach workflow presents Moral Choice Cards based on real stories where a character makes a choice to achieve a goal.
In the Moral Values workflow you will identify whether a given value is upheld or rejected by the character's actions.
In the Moral Opponents workflow you will identify the opposing force that a character must overcome to achieve their goal.
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Message from the researcher
Stories help us see what it feels like to choose and sacrifice values in our everyday lives. With your help we can better understand the values and their tensions illustrated by stories from around the world.
Prof.PiperAbout The Lessons of Stories
"All stories teach." - Wayne Booth.
What makes stories different from rules or commandments is that they communicate lessons and values through the lived experiences of characters. Stories don't just teach us, "A kindness is never wasted." They show what that feels like to experience. Stories highlight the complex life situations we face and the concrete outcomes that follow from our choices.
In The Lessons of Stories you will help us annotate "Moral Choice Cards" that provide information drawn from real stories from around the world about the goals and opposing forces characters face. Each card contains a concrete situation in which a character in a story strives to achieve a particular goal and whether they were successful. In each case your role will be to help identify the specific values that are promoted or sacrificed through these scenarios.
A note on AI. Every story in this project is real and was written by people. AI did not write them, and it does not make any of the judgments we ask of you. We use AI for one step only: condensing existing stories into short cards for you to read. Doing this by hand for thousands of stories would not be feasible. The cards never suggest which values are involved - that part is entirely yours.
Photo Credit: Kari Shea