“Being Good to Look Good: Self-Reported Moral Character Predicts Moral Double Standards among Reputation-Seeking Individuals”, 2022-11-04 ():
Self-reported moral character does not predict actual moral performance well.
Good moral character based on self-report can sometimes predict strong moral hypocrisy.
Good moral character based on self-report indicates high moral standards, while only for others but not necessarily for the self.
Hypocrites can be good at detecting reputational cues and presenting themselves as morally decent persons.
Moral character is widely expected to lead to moral judgements and practices. However, such expectations are often breached, especially when moral character is measured by self-report.
We propose that because self-reported moral character partly reflects a desire to appear good, people who self-report a strong moral character will show moral harshness towards others and downplay their own transgressions—that is, they will show greater moral hypocrisy. This self-other discrepancy in moral judgements should be pronounced among individuals who are particularly motivated by reputation.
Employing diverse methods including large-scale multi-nation panel data (n = 34,323), and vignette and behavioral experiments (n = 700), 4 studies:
supported our proposition, showing that various indicators of moral character (Benevolence and Universalism values, justice sensitivity, and moral identity) predicted harsher judgements of others’ more than own transgressions. Moreover, these double standards emerged particularly among individuals possessing strong reputation management motives.
The findings highlight how reputational concerns moderate the link between moral character and moral judgement.