The DOI matches its Crossref record; 19 of the 19 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Meta-Analytic Review of Moral Licensing
Open accessAbstract
Moral licensing refers to the effect that when people initially behave in a moral way, they are later more likely to display behaviors that are immoral, unethical, or otherwise problematic. We provide a state-of-the-art overview of moral licensing by conducting a meta-analysis of 91 studies (7,397 participants) that compare a licensing condition with a control condition. Based on this analysis, the magnitude of the moral licensing effect is estimated to be a Cohen’s d of 0.31. We tested potential moderators and found that published studies tend to have larger moral licensing effects than unpublished studies. We found no empirical evidence for other moderators that were theorized to be of importance. The effect size estimate implies that studies require many more participants to draw solid conclusions about moral licensing and its possible moderators.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/bf03193146 · Cited by 65,971
Meta-analysis in clinical trials
DerSimonian, R., & Laird, N. (1986) · Controlled Clinical Trials · doi:10.1016/0197-2456(86)90046-2 · Cited by 39,552
Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta‐analysis
Higgins, J. P. T., & Thompson, S. G. (2002) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.1186 · Cited by 36,763
A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Festinger, L. (1957) · doi:10.1515/9781503620766 · Cited by 24,241 · cited 2×
“In addition, balance theory (Heider, 1946), cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957), the foot-in-the-door effect (Freedman & Fraser, 1966), and the sunk cost effect (Arkes & Blumer, 1985), all highlight consistency as an essential motivator of human behavior (for reviews, see Abelson et al.,…”
BackgroundConducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package
Viechtbauer, W. (2010) · Journal of Statistical Software · doi:10.18637/jss.v036.i03 · Cited by 20,464
Why Most Published Research Findings Are False
Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2005) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 · Cited by 10,505
Bem, D. J. (1972) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60024-6 · Cited by 5,241 · cited 1×
“Self-perception theory, for example, asserts that people infer their attitudes from observations of their own behavior, which ultimately affects their subsequent behavior (Bem, 1972).”
BackgroundGPOWER: A general power analysis program
Erdfelder, E., Faul, F., & Buchner, A. (1996) · Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers · doi:10.3758/bf03203630 · Cited by 4,864
Why Most Published Research Findings Are False
Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2005) · CHANCE · doi:10.1080/09332480.2005.10722754 · Cited by 4,702 · cited 2×
“It could be expected that the moral licensing effect, like other empirical findings, is larger for studies in published articles as more positive findings than null-or negative-findings tend to be published (Ioannidis, 2005).”
ResultFixed-and random-effects models in meta-analysis.
Hedges, L. V., & Vevea, J. L. (1998) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.3.4.486 · Cited by 2,977
Arkes, H. R., & Blumer, C. (1985) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/0749-5978(85)90049-4 · Cited by 2,573 · cited 1×
“…(Heider, 1946), cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957), the foot-in-the-door effect (Freedman & Fraser, 1966), and the sunk cost effect (Arkes & Blumer, 1985), all highlight consistency as an essential motivator of human behavior (for reviews, see Abelson et al., 1968; Gawronski &…”
BackgroundCompliance 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×
“In addition, balance theory (Heider, 1946), cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957), the foot-in-the-door effect (Freedman & Fraser, 1966), and the sunk cost effect (Arkes & Blumer, 1985), all highlight consistency as an essential motivator of human behavior (for reviews, see Abelson et al.,…”
BackgroundOne Hundred Years of Social Psychology Quantitatively Described
Richard, F. D., Bond, C. F., & Stokes-Zoota, J. J. (2003) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.7.4.331 · Cited by 1,558 · cited 2×
“than other typical effects in social psychology (Richard et al., 2003), but also relatively small effects can have large societal implications.”
BackgroundEase of retrieval as information: another look at the availability heuristic
Schwarz, N., Bless, H., Strack, F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., & Simons, A. (1991) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.61.2.195 · Cited by 1,412
Publication bias in meta-analysis its causes and consequences
Thornton, A. (2000) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/s0895-4356(99)00161-4 · Cited by 1,291 · cited 2×
“…can be caused by researchers only submitting positive results, by the tendency of journals to reject studies with negative results, and also by the design or the execution of specific studies (e.g., a part of the unpublished articles may suffer from methodological flaws, see Thornton & Lee, 2000).”
MethodResultMoral 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 5×
“For instance, Monin and Miller (2001) predicted that participants who previously established non-racist credentials were more likely to display preference for a White over a Black person in a hypothetical job hiring task compared to participants who did not establish non-racist credentials.”
BackgroundInfluentialGoals 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
Hofmann, W., Wisneski, D. C., Brandt, M. J., & Skitka, L. J. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1251560 · Cited by 575
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
Research works printed but not linked: 57
- Abelson R. P., 1968, Theories of cognitive consistency: A sourcebook
- 10.1111/1467-8721.00114 · DOI
- 10.1027/1864-9335/a000189 · DOI
- 10.1177/0146167210385920 · DOI
- 10.1080/10508422.2011.537566 · DOI
- 10.1086/426699 · DOI
- 10.1086/656252 · DOI
- 10.1016/j.jesp.2014.09.009 · DOI
- 10.1177/0956797611416253 · DOI
- 10.1111/jasp.12217 · DOI
- *Clot S., Grolleau G., Ibanez L. (2013a). Self-licensing and financial rewards: Is morality for sale? Economics Bulletin, 33, 2298-2306. Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-13-00385.html
- 10.1016/j.econlet.2014.01.039 · DOI
- 10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1177/0146167212442394 · DOI
- 10.1177/0956797612457376 · DOI
- *Cornelissen G., 2013, Paper presented at Society for the Advancement of Judgment and Decision Making Studies
- 10.1007/s00199-006-0153-z · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1080/02699930600980874 · DOI
- 10.5465/amj.2007.26279171 · DOI
- 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00263.x · DOI
- 10.1177/1088868313507533 · DOI
- 10.1177/0146167214533131 · DOI
- 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.02.001 · DOI
- 10.1037/a0030008 · DOI
- 10.1016/j.jesp.2012.08.012 · DOI
- 10.1136/bmj.315.7109.629 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1177/1948550612447114 · DOI · Paper page
- Gawronski B., 2012, Cognitive consistency: A fundamental principle in social cognition
- 10.1287/mnsc.1110.1437 · DOI
- 10.1016/B978-0-08-057065-5.50010-5 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1037//1082-989X.3.4.486 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1080/00223980.1946.9917275 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/0022-1031(83)90026-4 · DOI
- 10.1177/0146167211400208 · DOI
- 10.1509/jmkr.43.2.259 · DOI
- Lipsey M. W., 2001, Practical meta-analysis
- 10.1037/a0025602 · DOI
- 10.1080/00220973.1988.10806497 · DOI
- 10.1177/0956797610363538 · DOI · Paper page
- *Meijers M. H. C., Noordewier M. K., Verlegh P. W. J., Smit E. G. (2014). Identity relevance moderates the licensing effect (Chapter from doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://dare.uva.nl/record/1/432499
- 10.1016/j.jesp.2011.12.017 · DOI
- 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00263.x · DOI
- 10.1016/S0065-2601(10)43003-8 · DOI
- 10.1037//0022 · DOI
- 10.1016/j.jcps.2009.02.016 · DOI
- 10.1086/591105 · DOI
- 10.1037/0033 · DOI
- 10.1111/14679280.00334 · DOI
- 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02326.x · DOI
- 10.1037//0022-3514.61.2.195 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1111/jasp.12214 · DOI
- 10.1287/mksc.1070.0330 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1016/S08954356(99)00161-4 · DOI
- 10.1007/s13164-012-0111-6 · DOI
- 10.1080/02664769922395 · DOI
- 10.1007/s10551-009-0161-6 · DOI
- 10.1126/science.113072 · DOI
Cited by
Comparing meta-analyses and preregistered multiple-laboratory replication projects
Kvarven, A., Strømland, E., & Johannesson, M. (2019) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-019-0787-z · Cited by 271
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
Morality as a Basic Psychological Need
Prentice, M., Jayawickreme, E., Hawkins, A., Hartley, A., Furr, R. M., & Fleeson, W. (2019) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550618772011 · Cited by 126
Moral credentials versus moral credits: Two paths to consumers’ licensing of brand transgressions
Ryoo, Y. (2022) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.03.048 · Cited by 38
Prentice, M., Jayawickreme, E., & Fleeson, W. (2020) · Motivation and Emotion · doi:10.1007/s11031-020-09829-3 · Cited by 35
Metadata
- Authors
- Blanken, I., van de Ven, N., & Zeelenberg, M.
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-02-25
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 540-558
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2170109954
- Cited by
- 624
- References
- 19
- FWCI
- 16.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
