The DOI matches its Crossref record; 51 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
When Does Feeling Moral Actually Make You a Better Person? Conceptual Abstraction Moderates Whether Past Moral Deeds Motivate Consistency or Compensatory Behavior
Abstract
According to the moral licensing literature, moral self-perceptions induce compensatory behavior: People who feel moral act less prosocially than those who feel immoral. Conversely, work on moral identity indicates that moral self-perceptions motivate behavioral consistency: People who feel moral act more prosocially than those who feel less so. In three studies, the authors reconcile these propositions by demonstrating the moderating role of conceptual abstraction. In Study 1, participants who recalled performing recent (concrete) moral or immoral behavior demonstrated compensatory behavior, whereas participants who considered temporally distant (abstract) moral behavior demonstrated behavioral consistency. Study 2 confirmed that this effect was unique to moral self -perceptions. Study 3 manipulated whether participants recalled moral or immoral actions concretely or abstractly, and replicated the moderation pattern with willingness to donate real money to charity. Together, these findings suggest that concrete moral self-perceptions activate self-regulatory behavior, and abstract moral self-perceptions activate identity concerns.
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Cites
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Cited by
A Meta-Analytic Review of Moral Licensing
Blanken, I., van de Ven, N., & Zeelenberg, M. (2015) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167215572134 · Cited by 624
Does moral identity effectively predict moral behavior?: A meta-analysis
Hertz, S. G., & Krettenauer, T. (2016) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/gpr0000062 · Cited by 401
Ellemers, N., van der Toorn, J., Paunov, Y., & van Leeuwen, T. (2019) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868318811759 · Cited by 394
Consistency Versus Licensing Effects of Past Moral Behavior
Mullen, E., & Monin, B. (2016) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115120 · Cited by 386
Spillover effects in environmental behaviors, across time and context: a review and research agenda
Nilsson, A., Bergquist, M., & Schultz, W. P. (2017) · Environmental Education Research · doi:10.1080/13504622.2016.1250148 · Cited by 365
Metadata
- Authors
- Conway, P., & Peetz, J.
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-04-06
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 907-919
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2164277112
- Cited by
- 294
- References
- 51
- FWCI
- 6.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Conway, P., & Peetz, J. (2012). When Does Feeling Moral Actually Make You a Better Person? Conceptual Abstraction Moderates Whether Past Moral Deeds Motivate Consistency or Compensatory Behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212442394
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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