Journal
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE
Volume 3, Issue 3, Pages 373-378Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/1948550611423595
Keywords
elevation; morality; prosocial behavior; moral licensing; self-affirmation
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Funding
- Economic and Social Research Council [ES/I031758/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- ESRC [ES/I031758/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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Moral elevation has been shown to increase helping behavior. However, this might be due to a threatened moral self-image because people engage in a social comparison with a moral exemplar and conclude that their own moral integrity is inferior. Alternatively, feelings of elevation might provide a motivational impetus to act on one's moral values. We provided participants with an opportunity to engage in self-affirmation, which was followed by an induction of moral elevation or a neutral control mood. Compared to the neutral mood, participants experiencing moral elevation showed higher levels of helping behavior following self-affirmation. This effect was especially pronounced in participants experiencing moral elevation who reminded themselves of previous prosocial behavior; they showed more helping than participants experiencing moral elevation who had not engaged in self-affirmation. Thus, rather than posing a threat to moral self-worth, feelings of elevation can provide the motivational trigger to act on affirmed moral values.
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