道德“沾光”效应:道德评价对道德自我知觉及道德行为的影响

Basking in Reflected Moral Glory:How Moral Evaluation Influences Moral Self-Perception and Moral Behaviors?

人们喜欢关注道德事件并表达自己的立场。以往研究发现回忆自己(而非他人)的道德行为能影响个体的道德自我知觉和道德行为。本研究关注参与道德评价是否会对个体的道德自我和道德行为产生影响。2个研究共同发现:(1)存在道德"沾光"效应:评价支持他人的道德事件,或反对他人的不道德事件,能提升个体的道德自我知觉;(2)道德评价通过提升道德自我知觉,进一步增加个体的道德行为。

Moral events always draw attention to themselves.People tend to demonstrate their moral stand by evaluating those events.Previous studies have found that recalling one’s own(rather than others’)past moral behaviors would influence his or her own moral self-perception and moral behaviors.As an intermediate state between one’s own and others’moral behaviors,could evaluating moral events publicly influence people’s moral self-perception and moral behaviors?If so,how?The current study involved two experiments.The first one was a one-factor(3 evaluation on:moral,immoral and neutral events)betweensubjects design with 145 valid participants.Participants were required to write down comments on five events at their respective group and then give tests on their moral self-conception and prosocial intensions.Results showed that 3 groups had significant differences in moral self-perception(F(2,140)=4.10,p<.05,η~2=.06).Participants in moral(M=5.98,SD=.88)or immoral group(M=6.00,SD=.86)had higher moral self-perception than control group(M=5.61,SD=.90),which confirmed the basking in reflected glory effect in moral filed.Although moral evaluation did not have direct influence on prosocial intention(F(2,140)=.64,p>.05),the moral self-perception mediated the relationship between moral evaluation and moral behaviors.The 95%confidence interval were[.019,.384](moral vs.control group)and[.047,.381](immoral vs.control group)respectively,both of which did not include zero.That is,after moral evaluation,the promotion in moral self-perception could increase prosocial intentions.The second experiment had similar procedure with the first one except for two differences.Firstly,moral self-perception and other positive self-perception(such as smart,humorous)were both measured to verify moral evaluations’specific effects on moral self-perception.Secondly,actual prosocial behavior instead of prosocial intentions were measured.There were 117 valid participants.The results were consistent with the first experiment.Participants in moral(M=5.71,SD=.88)or immoral group(M=5.43,SD=1.12)had higher moral self-perception than control group(M=4.84,SD=1.17,F(2,112)=6.43,p<.01,η~2=.10).However,this effect did not exist in other self-concepts which were unrelated to morality((F(2,112)=.91,p>.05).Moral evaluation did not have direct effect on prosocial behavior,but moral self-perception mediated the relationship between moral evaluation and moral behavior.The 97.5%confidence interval were[.036,1.010](moral vs.control group)and[.007,.833](immoral vs.control group)respectively.In general,evidence from 2 experiments have shown that participating in moral evaluations can improve people’s moral self-perception and moral behaviors.The study expands the basking in reflected glory effect to moral area,which has been widely used in sports and political fields.Meanwhile,these results can partially explain people’s motivation to do moral evaluation,that is,to help them feel morally good and maintain positive moral image in public.In addition,these moral evaluations can promote prosocial behaviors,which may benefit the society.These results may have some contribution to the supervision of public opinions.