The immoral road not taken : using counterfactual transgressions to secure a virtuous identity and to regulate one's moral behavior
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- A series of studies supported the hypotheses that (H1) reflecting on immoral alternatives to one's past behavior can license one to act less virtuously in the future, and that (H2) the motivation to feel or appear virtuous can lead one to invent immoral alternatives to one's past behavior. Supporting H1, when White participants performed a behavior that did vs. did not have a racist alternative, they felt that they had obtained evidence of their morality (Pilot Study), they expressed less racial sensitivity (Study 1), and, if they had relatively prejudiced racial attitudes, they were more likely to state a preference for hiring Whites instead of Blacks for a particular job (Study 2). Supporting H2, when White participants were motivated to feel non-racist, they remembered a prior task as having afforded more racist alternatives to their behavior (Studies 3-5). Additional support was obtained in the domain of weight-loss. In support of H1, reflecting on unhealthy alternatives to their recent behavior licensed participants to express weaker intentions to pursue their weight-loss goals (Study 6), and, if they habitually placed little restraint on their eating, to consume more of an unhealthy food (Study 7). Supporting H2, the desire to eat an unhealthy food without compunction led participants to construe alternatives to their prior food choices as having been unhealthier (Study 8). Discussion focuses on moral behavior, self-control, identity concerns, and the motivated rewriting of one's moral history.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2011 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Effron, Daniel Aaron |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology |
| Primary advisor | Miller, Dale T |
| Thesis advisor | Miller, Dale T |
| Thesis advisor | Monin, Benoît, 1972- |
| Thesis advisor | Ross, Lee |
| Advisor | Monin, Benoît, 1972- |
| Advisor | Ross, Lee |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Daniel A. Effron. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2011 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by Daniel Aaron Effron
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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