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Related Experiment Video

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A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats

Published on: February 20, 2019

Permitting immoral behaviour: A generalized compensation belief hypothesis.

Xijing Wang¹, Zhansheng Chen², Daryl R Van Tongeren³

¹Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

British Journal of Psychology (London, England : 1953)

|August 26, 2022

Summary

People are more likely to permit immoral acts when perpetrators have previously suffered mistreatment. This "paying it forward" of unfairness is influenced by a belief in compensation, impacting moral judgments.

Keywords:

generalized compensation belief moral permission pay-it-forward previous maltreatment unethical behaviour

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Area of Science:

Social Psychology
Moral Psychology
Behavioral Economics

Background:

Individuals' moral judgments are often influenced by contextual factors.
Understanding the conditions under which people permit or condemn immoral behavior is crucial for social harmony.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the generalized compensation belief hypothesis regarding moral permissibility.
To examine whether observers permit negative acts against an innocent party to compensate for a perpetrator's prior mistreatment.

Main Methods:

Five experiments involving 1107 participants.
Utilized economic games and diverse real-life scenarios.
Manipulated information about perpetrators' prior maltreatment.

Main Results:

Participants were more likely to morally permit and engage in negative acts when aware of the perpetrator's past mistreatment.
This effect persisted even with non-identical maltreatment, non-human targets, and intangible or relational harm.
Perceived required compensation mediated the relationship between prior maltreatment and moral permission.

Conclusions:

Prior mistreatment significantly influences observers' moral permission of subsequent immoral behaviors.
This research sheds light on the complex nature of fairness perceptions and contextualized moral judgment.
Findings contribute to understanding how past grievances shape present-day ethical evaluations.