Moral Licensing

Moral licensing

Moral licensing is the subconscious tendency to do something bad after doing something good. It's often driven by a desire to maintain a balanced moral scorecard, not conscious calculation.

• ⚖️ Participants who helped clean a trashed park were more likely to decline helping a homeless person later.
• 🤔 Some participants who didn't help clean still donated to the homeless person, possibly due to guilt.
• 🎬 In a second experiment, donating to children's hospitals (earning 'moral credit') made participants more likely to let a child take blame for a crime.
• 🤷‍♀️ People often confabulate or rationalize their behavior to align with their perceived moral standing, especially when given an 'out'.

A man with glasses and a beard, looking intently at the camera, with the title 'Mind Field' and 'EPISODE 2' visible.