{"id":626,"date":"2007-11-28T10:29:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-28T09:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2007\/11\/cheating-and-moral-certainty-go-hand-in-hand.html"},"modified":"2014-11-14T05:54:04","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T04:54:04","slug":"cheating-and-moral-certainty-go-hand-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2007\/11\/cheating-and-moral-certainty-go-hand-in.html","title":{"rendered":"Cheating and moral certainty go hand in hand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Some people \u2013 those with a strong \u201cmoral identity\u201d \u2013 are much more certain of their own righteousness than others. And yet, somehow, a strong moral identity just doesn\u2019t seem to map to moral behaviour. In fact, moral failures among people who set themselves up as moral leaders are a staple of the news media: the politician who preaches against corruption but has his hand in the till, the religious leader caught in flagrante.<\/p>\n

Of course, it might just be that people in the public eye are more likely to be caught out (or be reported). But two new studies from Scott Reynolds and Tara Ceranic at the University of Washington have now shown that the link is real \u2013 people with strong moral conviction really are more likely to engage in morally dubious behaviours.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoral identity seems to be more motivational in nature than \u2018moral\u2019 in nature,\u201d Reynolds says. \u201cManagers and organizations should not just assume that a moral identity will necessarily translate into moral behaviors.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The studies were questionnaire-based surveys of attitudes among 230 students and 290 managers. In the first, they found that the people who were most likely to condone cheating were those who had both a strong moral identity and also felt that cheating could sometimes be justified. Those who felt cheating could sometimes be justified but had weak moral convictions were less likely to condone it.<\/p>\n

As the NBC says<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The results recall the seeming disconnect between the words and actions of folks like televangelist and fraud convict Jim Bakker or admitted meth-buyer Ted Haggard, former president of the National Evangelical Association, an umbrella group representing some 45,000 churches.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The second study showed that managers with a strong moral identity were more likely to be either very tough or very lenient on their employees \u2013 whereas those with a weaker moral identity were more likely to choose options in the middle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe principle we uncovered is that when faced with a moral decision, those with a strong moral identity choose their fate (for good or for bad) and then the moral identity drives them to pursue that fate to the extreme,\u201d said researcher Scott Reynolds of the University of Washington Business School in Seattle. \u201cSo it makes sense that this principle would help explain what makes the greatest of saints and the foulest of hypocrites.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NB: Pharyngula has a round-up of recent religious cheats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Refs:<\/span><\/p>\n