Moral licensing : a consequence of relative comparisons

For instance, if you recently donated to charity, you may donate less money at a future charity event or be less willing to volunteer. This has been termed moral licensing, and describes how previous engagement in moral behaviour provides people with moral "credits" that then affords them with a ticket to subsequently engage in morally questionable behaviour.

Currently we are not sure what the psychological processes underpinning moral licensing are. Does prior moral behaviour really provide credits that can be withdrawn to allow engagement in a questionable act – because we feel we have "earned" the right to do so? Or could it be that prior moral behaviour changes the meaning of the subsequent questionable behaviour? For instance, if we have established through previous actions that we are not racially biased, we may more easily convince ourselves that picking a white candidate over a black candidate was due to some factor other than race.

The opposite to moral licensing is also true. We know that when people recall their recent immoral behaviour, they express greater willingness to engage in compensatory moral actions. This is referred to as moral cleansing – demonstrating the dynamic nature of moral behaviour.

My guess would be that it has something to do with relative comparisons (https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RhysTaylorRhysy/posts/MaAyW5LDJXa?cfem=1). While we can and do make comparisons against more absolute standards, our first assessment may be largely relative to recent, relevant events. So an immoral action seems less bad following good behaviour and therefore more excusable, and, vice-versa, a moral event seems less commendable following bad behaviour - so we try and compensate by being extra ethical. Which is, no doubt, only a very small part of a much more complex whole.

Via Benjamin Ljung.

Originally shared by Johnny Stork, MSc

Moral Licensing

If you do something "right", something "moral", did you know that you may be more likely to use that as "credit" towards doing something "wrong" or immoral in the future.

"We all like to think of ourselves as morally sound individuals. However in doing so we often assume that morality is static – that we are consistently moral to some extent over time. In reality, research suggests that most of us will behave in contradictory ways and act both morally and immorally from time to time. Interestingly, when we think about our past moral actions, we are likely to engage engage in compensatory behaviour and act immorally going forward."

"For instance, if you recently donated to charity, you may donate less money at a future charity event or be less willing to volunteer. This has been termed moral licensing, and describes how previous engagement in moral behaviour provides people with moral "credits" that then affords them with a ticket to subsequently engage in morally questionable behaviour."

#philosophy #morality #morallicensing

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-good-deeds-immoral-behaviour.html