What is the Moral credential effect?
The moral credential effect, or moral licensing, is a cognitive bias that causes people who do something positive to feel licensed to continue doing bad things.
In other words, when someone does something good it gives them the feeling of being ‘better’ and this sense of ‘better’ makes them more likely to engage in behaviors that are morally questionable. In most cases it means they will ignore the negative effects of their behavior down the line.
Why does it work?
People tend to associate themselves with similar individuals by group membership or shared identity. This can be achieved through formal affiliations such as political parties and clubs but also informal ones like having children at school together. These group identities and affiliations can come with an associated moral credential which will make us more likely to copy the behavior of others (such as voting for a politician because they share the same political affiliation) or simply approve of that behavior.
Why is it dangerous?
The moral credential effect can be dangerous if it gives us license to do bad things. We may become overconfident in our own abilities after doing something positive and neglect future negative effects. It can also cause us to think members on board with similar identities or affiliations are less biased than others, even when this assumption runs counter to evidence. For example, people often assume elected officials are less biased than scientists despite scientific studies clearly showing elected officials actually tend to be more biased than academics!
How does the bias work?
The moral credential effect is a cognitive bias that can cause us to ignore the future negative effects of our behavior. For example, someone might eat healthy food all week and then splurge on a chocolate cake at the weekend despite knowing that eating lots of sugary and fatty foods is unhealthy (a type 2 diabetes in waiting). This may be because when we do something positive we feel ‘licensed’ to engage in less ethical behaviors later on. [insert examples] [insert examples]
How can we create this effect?
The moral credential effect can be created when people associate themselves with similar individuals by group membership or shared identity. It allows others who share this affiliation to assume you possess the same moral credentials as them and therefore approve of their actions.
How to avoid this bias?
To avoid the moral credential effect we need to be aware of our own biases and try not to trust ourselves too much! Specifically, we should always ask ourselves if we would approve of other people doing what we are planning on doing (even outsiders who do not share your group affiliations or identities). If the answer is “No” then it may be worth reconsidering before making a decision because you could end up acting immorally without even meaning to.
Which profession uses this bias the most?
Studies have shown that elected officials are often more biased than scientists despite being held up as shining examples of objectivity! This shows how the moral credential effect is dangerous and not to be trusted. [insert examples] [end article]
Examples of the Moral credential effect bias:
Elected officials are often overconfident in their ability to lead and inflate the evidence.
Scientists believe they’re more unbiased than a religious person despite a study showing that scientists’ own research is more biased than a religious person’s!
People tend to overestimate the goodness of their moral motives after doing something good or altruistic.
Conclusion.
The moral credential effect can be dangerous when used to justify neglecting the future negative effects of our behavior. This often happens in politics where elected officials are seen as virtuous because they have a high moral status due to being an elected official. However, this is fallacious for many reasons one of which being that they are more biased than other professions which doesn’t fit their inflated sense of superiority! You should always ask yourself if you would approve of others doing what you plan on doing before making any decisions especially if it’s something bad!
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