The DOI matches its Crossref record; 7 of the 7 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Moral Self‐Licensing: When Being Good Frees Us to Be Bad
Abstract
Past good deeds can liberate individuals to engage in behaviors that are immoral, unethical, or otherwise problematic, behaviors that they would otherwise avoid for fear of feeling or appearing immoral. We review research on this moral self‐licensing effect in the domains of political correctness, prosocial behavior, and consumer choice. We also discuss remaining theoretical tensions in the literature: Do good deeds reframe bad deeds (moral credentials) or merely balance them out (moral credits)? When does past behavior liberate and when does it constrain? Is self‐licensing primarily for others’ benefit (self‐presentational) or is it also a way for people to reassure themselves that they are moral people? Finally, we propose avenues for future research that could begin to address these unanswered questions.
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Citations
Cites
A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Festinger, L. (1957) · doi:10.1515/9781503620766 · Cited by 24,241 · cited 1×
“Yet, much psychological research suggests that personal inconsistency is uncomfortable and threatening (e.g., Festinger, 1957), leading people to act in line with their past behavior – for example, the famous foot-in-the-door effect (Freedman & Fraser, 1966) demonstrates that people are more likely…”
The Psychology of Self-Affirmation: Sustaining the Integrity of the Self
Steele, C. M. (1988) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60229-4 · Cited by 3,697
Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique.
Freedman, J. L., & Fraser, S. C. (1966) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0023552 · Cited by 1,637 · cited 1×
“…inconsistency is uncomfortable and threatening (e.g., Festinger, 1957), leading people to act in line with their past behavior – for example, the famous foot-in-the-door effect (Freedman & Fraser, 1966) demonstrates that people are more likely to help if they have been induced to help in the past.”
BackgroundMoral credentials and the expression of prejudice.
Monin, B., & Miller, D. T. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.33 · Cited by 1,086 · cited 7×
“Monin and Miller (2001) let some participants demonstrate their lack of prejudice before presenting them with this police-force scenario by asking them to play the role of an employer choosing which candidate to hire for an unrelated consulting job.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationGoals as excuses or guides: the liberating effect of perceived goal progress on choice.
Fishbach, A., & Dhar, R. (2005) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/497548 · Cited by 704
Attribution versus persuasion as a means for modifying behavior.
Miller, R. L., Brickman, P., & Bolen, D. (1975) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0076539 · Cited by 348
Letting People Off the Hook: When Do Good Deeds Excuse Transgressions?
Effron, D. A., & Monin, B. (2010) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167210385922 · Cited by 199
Self-citation
Cited by
Climate‐relevant behavioral spillover and the potential contribution of social practice theory
Nash, N., Whitmarsh, L., Capstick, S., Hargreaves, T., Poortinga, W., Thomas, G., Sautkina, E., & Xenias, D. (2017) · WIREs Climate Change · doi:10.1002/wcc.481 · Cited by 214
Letting People Off the Hook: When Do Good Deeds Excuse Transgressions?
Effron, D. A., & Monin, B. (2010) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167210385922 · Cited by 199
Self-citationProsocial Conformity: Prosocial Norms Generalize Across Behavior and Empathy
Nook, E. C., Ong, D. C., Morelli, S. A., Mitchell, J. P., & Zaki, J. (2016) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167216649932 · Cited by 186
Elevation Puts Moral Values Into Action
Schnall, S., & Roper, J. (2012) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550611423595 · Cited by 145
Increasing altruistic and cooperative behaviour with simple moral nudges
Capraro, V., Jagfeld, G., Klein, R., Mul, M., & de Pol, I. V. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48094-4 · Cited by 135
Metadata
- Authors
- Merritt, A. C., Effron, D. A., & Monin, B.
- Venue
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-05
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 344-357
- ISSN
- 1751-9004 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2124752314
- Cited by
- 1,025
- References
- 7
- FWCI
- 7.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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