Moral Spillovers: The Effect of Moral Violations on Deviant Behavior

Authors

Elizabeth Mullen, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Janice Nadler, Northwestern University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Working Paper

Repository Date

2008

Keywords

moral psychology, legitimacy, compliance, emotion, moral outrage

Subject Categories

Ethics in Religion | Law | Legal Theory

Abstract

Two experiments investigated whether outcomes that violate people's moral standards increase their deviant behavior (the moral spillover effect). In Study 1, participants read about a legal trial in which the outcome supported, opposed or was unrelated to their moral convictions. Relative to when outcomes supported moral convictions, when outcomes opposed moral convictions people judged the outcome to be less fair, were more angry, were less willing to accept the outcome, and were more likely to take a borrowed pen. In Study 2, participants who recalled another person's moral violation were more likely to cheat on an experimental task relative to angry or neutral condition participants. Taken together, results provide evidence for moral spillover: outcomes that violate moral standards increase deviant behavior.

Repository Citation

Mullen, Elizabeth and Nadler, Janice, "Moral Spillovers: The Effect of Moral Violations on Deviant Behavior" (2008). Faculty Working Papers. 149.
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/facultyworkingpapers/149