Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely

© The Author(s) 2018. Literature indicates that people tend to judge the moral transgressions committed by out-group members more severely than those of in-group members. However, these transgressions often conflate a moral transgression with some form of intergroup harm. There is little research ex...

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Main Authors: Bettache, K., Hamamura, Takeshi, Amrani Idrissi, J., Amenyogbo, R., Chiu, C.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications 2019
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74395
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author Bettache, K.
Hamamura, Takeshi
Amrani Idrissi, J.
Amenyogbo, R.
Chiu, C.
author_facet Bettache, K.
Hamamura, Takeshi
Amrani Idrissi, J.
Amenyogbo, R.
Chiu, C.
author_sort Bettache, K.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © The Author(s) 2018. Literature indicates that people tend to judge the moral transgressions committed by out-group members more severely than those of in-group members. However, these transgressions often conflate a moral transgression with some form of intergroup harm. There is little research examining in-group versus out-group transgressions of harmless offenses, which violate moral standards that bind people together (binding foundations). As these moral standards center around group cohesiveness, a transgression committed by an in-group member may be judged more severely. The current research presented Dutch Muslims (Study 1), American Christians (Study 2), and Indian Hindus (Study 3) with a set of fictitious stories depicting harmless and harmful moral transgressions. Consistent with our expectations, participants who strongly identified with their religious community judged harmless moral offenses committed by in-group members, relative to out-group members, more severely. In contrast, this effect was absent when participants judged harmful moral transgressions. We discuss the implications of these results.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-743952019-02-19T04:26:06Z Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely Bettache, K. Hamamura, Takeshi Amrani Idrissi, J. Amenyogbo, R. Chiu, C. © The Author(s) 2018. Literature indicates that people tend to judge the moral transgressions committed by out-group members more severely than those of in-group members. However, these transgressions often conflate a moral transgression with some form of intergroup harm. There is little research examining in-group versus out-group transgressions of harmless offenses, which violate moral standards that bind people together (binding foundations). As these moral standards center around group cohesiveness, a transgression committed by an in-group member may be judged more severely. The current research presented Dutch Muslims (Study 1), American Christians (Study 2), and Indian Hindus (Study 3) with a set of fictitious stories depicting harmless and harmful moral transgressions. Consistent with our expectations, participants who strongly identified with their religious community judged harmless moral offenses committed by in-group members, relative to out-group members, more severely. In contrast, this effect was absent when participants judged harmful moral transgressions. We discuss the implications of these results. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74395 10.1177/0022022118814687 Sage Publications restricted
spellingShingle Bettache, K.
Hamamura, Takeshi
Amrani Idrissi, J.
Amenyogbo, R.
Chiu, C.
Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely
title Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely
title_full Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely
title_fullStr Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely
title_full_unstemmed Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely
title_short Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely
title_sort monitoring moral virtue: when the moral transgressions of in-group members are judged more severely
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74395