How the moralization of issues grants social legitimacy to act on one's attitudes

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
Daniel A Effron, Dale T Miller

Abstract

Actions that do not have as their goal the advancement or protection of one's material interests are often seen as illegitimate. Four studies suggested that moral values can legitimate action in the absence of material interest. The more participants linked sociopolitical issues to moral values, the more comfortable they felt advocating on behalf of those issues and the less confused they were by others' advocacy (Studies 1 and 2). Crime victims were perceived as being more entitled to claim special privileges when the crime had violated their personal moral values (Studies 3 and 4). These effects were strongest when the legitimacy to act could not already be derived from one's material interests, suggesting that moral values and material interest can represent interchangeable justifications for behavior. No support was found for the possibility that attitude strength explained these effects. The power of moralization to disinhibit action is discussed.

References

Aug 31, 2004·The American Psychologist·D T Miller
Jun 29, 2005·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology·Linda J SkitkaEdward G Sargis
May 3, 2006·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology·Elizabeth Mullen, Linda J Skitka

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Citations

Aug 26, 2017·Annual Review of Psychology·Dolores Albarracin, Sharon Shavitt
May 16, 2017·Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc·Chelsea Schein, Kurt Gray

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