Moral Self-Licensing: When Being Good Frees Us to Be Bad

Anna Merritt, Daniel Effron and Benoit Monin Social and Personality Psychological Compass

Date Posted:: March 8, 2016
Is Database:: Database

Moral self-licensing, a psychological phenomenon where past good deeds allow individuals to engage in unethical behaviors, has significant implications for economic decision-making & policy.

Moral self-licensing, a psychological phenomenon where past good deeds allow individuals to engage in unethical or problematic behaviors, has significant implications for economic decision-making and policy. This effect is observed across various domains, including political correctness, prosocial behavior, and consumer choice. For instance, consumers who make environmentally friendly purchases may feel justified in later buying luxury items, impacting market demand and sustainability efforts. Understanding this behavior is crucial for policymakers aiming to design effective interventions that promote ethical consumption and corporate responsibility. The challenge lies in determining whether good deeds reframe bad ones as moral credentials or merely balance them out as moral credits. Addressing these questions can help refine strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of moral self-licensing on economic systems and societal norms.

“…Past good deeds can liberate individuals to engage in behaviors that are immoral, unethical, or otherwise problematic, behaviors that they would otherwise avoid for fear of feeling or appearing immoral. We review research on this moral self‐licensing effect in the domains of political correctness, prosocial behavior, and consumer choice. We also discuss remaining theoretical tensions in the literature: Do good deeds reframe bad deeds (moral credentials) or merely balance them out (moral credits)? When does past behavior liberate and when does it constrain? Is self‐licensing primarily for others’ benefit (self‐presentational) or is it also a way for people to reassure themselves that they are moral people? Finally, we propose avenues for future research that could begin to address these unanswered questions….”

Merritt, Anna, Daniel Effron and Benoit Monin, "Moral Self-Licensing: When Being Good Frees Us to Be Bad,"Social and Personality Psychological Compass, 2010. Available at:http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~monin/papers/Merritt,%20Effron%20%26%20Monin%202010%20Compass%20on%20Moral%20Licensing.pdf