Making Mountains of Morality From Molehills of Virtue

Abstract

Seven studies demonstrate that threats to moral identity can increase how definitively people think they have previously proven their morality. When White participants were made to worry that their future behavior could seem racist, they overestimated how much a prior decision of theirs would convince an observer of their non-prejudiced character (Studies 1a-3). Ironically, such overestimation made participants appear more prejudiced to observers (Study 4). Studies 5 to 6 demonstrated a similar effect of threat in the domain of charitable giving-an effect driven by individuals for whom maintaining a moral identity is particularly important. Threatened participants only enhanced their beliefs that they had proven their morality when there was at least some supporting evidence, but these beliefs were insensitive to whether the evidence was weak or strong (Study 2). Discussion considers the role of motivated reasoning, and implications for ethical decision making and moral licensing.

Beyond “being good frees us to be bad”

“…Other studies demonstrated a similar phenomenon in the domain of racial prejudice (Effron, 2014). White participants completed a version the criminal identification task described earlier.…”

“…This finding suggests that people had really convinced themselves that they had credentials. Fourth, two studies have shown that whether people used a particular moral credentialing strategy depended on how much they cared about feeling moral, and not on how much they cared about appearing moral (Effron, 2014). Fifth, several features of the studies on motivated memory distortion are not consistent with an impression-management explanation (see , for a discussion).…”

“…Second, the threat of seeming racially biased in front of one audience led people to strategically seek non-racist credentials in front of a different audience (Merritt et al, 2012). Third, people induced to want moral credentials overestimated how credentialed they would appear to an observer to the same degree regardless of whether they were financially incentivized to estimate accurately (Effron, 2014). This finding suggests that people had really convinced themselves that they had credentials.…”

“…A recent series of studies illustrates this phenomenon (Effron, 2014). People in one study first chose to play a game to raise $.50 for the American Red Cross instead of doing a boring visual attention task -a choice that is somewhat charitable but only ambiguously diagnostic of a person's generosity.…”

From opposition to alliance: Asian Westerners’ drive to fit in to a White society

“…Indeed, actors who are motivated to moral credential often overestimate how credentialed observers will perceive them as being (Effron, 2014). Research also shows that transgressing in the same domain as that in which moral credentials have been established may provoke backlash from observers due to perceptions of hypocrisy (Effron & Monin, 2010).…”