Morality in everyday life
Abstract
The science of morality has drawn heavily on well-controlled but artificial laboratory settings. To study everyday morality, we repeatedly assessed moral or immoral acts and experiences in a large (N = 1252) sample using ecological momentary assessment. Moral experiences were surprisingly frequent and manifold. Liberals and conservatives emphasized somewhat different moral dimensions. Religious and nonreligious participants did not differ in the likelihood or quality of committed moral and immoral acts. Being the target of moral or immoral deeds had the strongest impact on happiness, whereas committing moral or immoral deeds had the strongest impact on sense of purpose. Analyses of daily dynamics revealed evidence for both moral contagion and moral licensing. In sum, morality science may benefit from a closer look at the antecedents, dynamics, and consequences of everyday moral experience.
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Religiosity is positively related to some morally relevant behaviors and unrelated or negatively related to others.
“Although religiosity seems to be positively related to some morally relevant behaviors, it appears to be unrelated or negatively related to others [10–15].”
From The amoral atheist? A cross-national examination of cultural, motivational, and cognitive antecedents of disbelief, and their implications for morality (2021) · cites this paper as [13]
Disbelievers and believers engage in self-defined moral and immoral behaviors at the same rate.
“experience sampling research showing that disbelievers and believers engage in (self-defined) moral and immoral behaviors at the same rate [13].”
From The amoral atheist? A cross-national examination of cultural, motivational, and cognitive antecedents of disbelief, and their implications for morality (2021) · cites this paper as [13]
Moral experiences are frequent, with participants reporting that a moral or immoral event had occurred in 28.9% of responses in repeated sampling.
“Hofmann et al. (2014) used repeated sampling (ecological momentary assessment) to discover that moral experiences are frequent, with participants reporting that a moral or immoral event had occurred in 28.9% of responses.”
From A search for commonalities in defining the common good: Using folk theories to unlock shared conceptions. (2024) · cites this paper as Hofmann et al. (2014)
Left-leaning participants were more likely to mention individualizing fairness, liberty and honesty concerns when describing moral or immoral occurrences, while right-leaning participants referred to binding concerns relating to loyalty, authority and sanctity.
“In a study exploring the prominence of morality in everyday life, Hofmann et al. (2014) found that left-leaning participants were more likely to mention individualizing fairness, liberty and honesty concerns when asked to describe the moral or immoral occurrences throughout their day, while right-leaning participants referred to binding concerns, relating to loyalty, authority and sanctity.”
From A search for commonalities in defining the common good: Using folk theories to unlock shared conceptions. (2024) · cites this paper as Hofmann et al. (2014)
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- Authors
- Hofmann, W., Wisneski, D. C., Brandt, M. J., & Skitka, L. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Cologne (DE)
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- Tilburg University (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Hofmann, Wilhelm
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2014-09-12
- Volume
- 345
- Issue
- 6202
- Pages
- 1340-1343
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2113525204
- Cited by
- 575
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 64 · 2020: 134 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 17.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- Research portal (Tilburg University) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Kölner Universitäts PublikationsServer (Universität zu Köln) (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Ethics in Business and Education
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Keywords
- everyday ethics, moral experience, moral licensing, moral contagion, liberals and conservatives, religiosity, happiness, sense of purpose, moral dimensions, ecological momentary assessment
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Employee Discipline, Female, Happiness, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Morals, Personnel Loyalty, Young Adult
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