Consequences & Moral Failings Flashcards
What are 2 theories related to self-esteem consequences of being bad?
- Terror management theory: Self-esteem (S-E) is a gauge of how well we are living up to cultural standards (morals) and earning immortality
- Sociometer theory: self-esteem is a gauge of the degree to which we are socially accepted by others, and moral behavior leads to social acceptance
What is cognitive dissonance?
Humans have a desire to maintain consistency between
cognitions (knowledge about beliefs, actions, facts, etc.)
People generally have a cognition (belief) that they are
good, moral people (S-E link)
Ethical Dissonance: When we do something immoral,
dissonance occurs and we are driven to reduce it
What are 3 different ways to reduce dissonance?
- Change your behaviour
- Change your belief
- Add a cognition (justification)
What is “the pot calling the kettle black” ?
To reduce ethical dissonance, individuals use a dual-distancing mechanism:
1) judge others more harshly
2) present themselves as more virtuous and ethical
What are pre-violation VS post-violations justifications?
- Pre-violation:
- lessen the anticipated threat to the moral self by defining unethical behaviors as excusable before committing them
- ambiguity
- self-serving altruism
- moral licensing - Post-violation:
- lessen the experienced threat to the moral self by compensating for already committed ethical violations
- cleansing
- confessing
- distancing “calling the kettle black”
What is self-serving altruism?
***PRE-VIOLATION JUSTISFICATIONS
When unethical behaviors benefit ourselves and a perceived other
Empirical Support
• People are more comfortable with lying if it benefits themselves
and another person (or their group)
• The more perceived beneficiaries of an unethical act there are, the more people are willing to lie and cheat
• Guilt over unethical behavior decreases when the behavior
benefited another as well as the self
What is moral licensing?
***PRE-VIOLATION JUSTISFICATIONS
Feeling like we deserve a “break from ethical behavior” because we’re a good person generally, or we’ve just done something moral
Empirical Support
• People who have just helped someone are less willing to donate to charity
• Being environmentally conscious in one area (water conservation) can undermine effort in other areas (electricity use)
What is ambiguity?
***PRE-VIOLATION JUSTISFICATIONS
Ambiguous circumstances allow us to mask our unethical behavior from ourselves (cognitive accessibility of counterfactuals)
Die-under-a-cup Task (Shalvi et al., 2011)
• Participants are either told to roll a die once, or three
times; higher rolls reward more money
• In both conditions, die is hidden in a cup***
• People in the 3xRoll condition report higher rolls
What is cleansing, confessing and distancing?
Cleansing
We can metaphorically cleanse ourselves of our recent immoral
deeds through physical cleansing behavior (the MacBeth effect) or
through spiritual cleansing rituals (self-flagellation, fasting).
Confessing
Admitting to misdeeds can relieve guilt and reinstate moral
intentions aimed at making up for the unethical behavior.
Distancing
Viewing oneself as “not that bad” by comparing one’s misdeeds to the more severe ethical behavior of others. Often takes the form of more severe ethical judgements about other’s behavior relative to one’s own.
What is the cheaters high?
• Not due to getting more money
• Not due to relief or self-selection
Study 5: It feels good to get away with it
Reality Check: “We realize we cannot check your answers (i.e.,
whether you actually solved correctly the jumbles you told us
you solved) and that you may have cheated on this task by
inflating your performance. We hope you reported your
answers honestly”
→ led to an even greater boost in affect following cheating
In the “killing begets killing” what occurred?
Social validation reduced distress of “killing” bugs
Are ethicists act overall more moral?
No
Ethicists reported more stringent moral views overall (compared to other philosophy and non-philosophy professors)
However, no differences among the groups were found in the degree of consistency between their espoused norms and their self-reported or directly observed behavior.
➢ i.e., ethicists were no more likely to follow their own moral values than non ethicists!
➢ Possible that ethicists are especially good at rationalizing their immoral behavior away
What is moral hypocrisy?
Appearing moral without being so
Considered two self-deception strategies that might allow us to feel moral even when we aren’t:
1. Misperceive one’s behavior as moral
2. Avoid comparing one’s behavior with moral standards
Increases in “_________” power led to an increase in “_________” responsilbilty
Perceived; perceived
What is the veil of ignorance?
A moral reasoning device designed to promote impartial decision
making by denying decision makers access to potentially biasing information about who will benefit most or least from the available options.
➢Weaponizes people’s selfishness against themselves
7 experiments (>6,000 participants) showed that veil-of-ignorance reasoning led to favoring the greater good.
***UTILITARIAN BASICALLY
