Moral Credentials, Intergroup Attitudes, and Regulatory Focus Interactively Affect Support for Affirmative Action.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Attitude-Behavior Consistency

Background:

• Individuals often exhibit consistent attitudes and behaviors.
• Moral self-licensing describes the phenomenon where a prior moral action can license subsequent less-virtuous behavior.
• Previous research on how initial attitudes moderate moral self-licensing has produced inconsistent findings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the moderating role of motivational orientation on the relationship between initial attitudes and moral self-licensing.
• To explore the interaction between moral credentials, intergroup attitudes, and regulatory focus in predicting policy support.

Main Methods:

• Two studies were conducted involving participants' initial attitudes, the presence or absence of moral credentials, and their chronic regulatory focus (prevention vs. promotion).
• Support for affirmative action policies was measured as an indicator of behavior.

Main Results:

• Self-licensing effects were observed in prevention-focused individuals with positive intergroup attitudes; they showed less support for affirmative action after acquiring moral credentials.
• Conversely, promotion-focused individuals with positive intergroup attitudes demonstrated increased support for affirmative action when they had acquired moral credentials, indicating behavioral consistency.

Conclusions:

• Motivational orientation, specifically regulatory focus, significantly interacts with intergroup attitudes to shape moral self-licensing dynamics.
• Findings suggest that prevention-focused individuals may use moral credentials to justify reduced support for policies, while promotion-focused individuals may use them to reinforce support.