Eye Movement Evidence for the Licensing Effect of Predictive Inference in Moral Text Reading

Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2021, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (4) : 947-953.

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PDF(708 KB)
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2021, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (4) : 947-953.

Eye Movement Evidence for the Licensing Effect of Predictive Inference in Moral Text Reading

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Abstract

Moral licensing theory posits that people who initially behave in a moral way can later display behaviors that are immoral, unethical, or otherwise problematic. It has been suggested that moral licensing can be interpreted as part of a larger moral self-regulation framework. The idea is that internal balancing of moral self-worth and the costs associated with pro-social behavior determine whether one will display (im)moral behavior. Therefore, moral licensing like a cognitive bias, which enables individuals to behave immorally without threatening their self-image of being a moral person. Previous research has demonstrated that the activation of predictive inferences can be affected both by the immediately preceding context and by the information contained in an earlier portion of a passage. The goal of this study was to test whether the moral licensing effect occurs in the moral predictive inferences. The Chinese Personality Scale (QZPS) was used to assess the level of kindness. This study surveyed 460 college students. Then, 80 participants (40 people with high scores and 40 people with low scores) were selected from this sample based on their kindness scores.The experiment was a 2 (Personality Type: high-kindness, low-kindness) × 2 (Positive Moral-self: priming, no priming) × 4 (Story Type: rewards for one’s virtuous deeds, hypocrisy, morality, retribution for one’s virtuous deeds) mixed design. The Personality Type was between-subjects variable, the Positive Moral-self and Story Type were within-subjects variables. Three eye-movement indicatiors (first pass readingtime, total fixation duration, total regression counts) were recorded when participants read the “last sentence” in each type story. The experimental process was as follows: (1) participants were first asked to read 6 stories (4 moral types, 2 neutral types) and eye-movements were recorded; (2) then they were asked to wrote a paragragh about positive moral events; (3) last, they were asked to read 6 stories that matched task 1 and eye-movements were recorded. The results generally showed that the main effect of Positive Moral-Self was significant, namely, when participants were under the Priming condition, their expectations to positive moral results were significantly weakened, their expectations to negative moral results were significantly enhanced, and the kindness trait could not inhibit these tendencies. Specifically, (1) with regard to first pass reading time, all participants showed longer time to “hypocrisy” story and shorter time to “retribution for one’s virtuous deeds” story under Priming condition than that of under No Priming condition; (2) with regard to total fixation duration, all participants showed longer duration to “rewards for one’s virtuous deeds” story and shorter duration to “retribution for one’s virtuous deeds” under Priming condition (vs. No Priming condition); (3) with regard to total regression counts, all participants showed more regression counts to “rewards for one’s virtuous deeds” story and “moral” story and less regression counts to “hypocrisy” story and “retribution for one’s virtuous deeds” story under Priming condition (vs. No Priming condition). This study demonstrates that positive moral self-priming generates a moral licensing effect on moral expectancy, and positive personality traits cannot effectively inhibit the moral licensing effect in information processing. Our findings suggest that individuals relax their strivings and decrease their moral behavior after fortifying their moral selves. Thus, stable and consistent moral behavior may not bean accurate picture of people’s behavior patterns. Therefore, as the Chinese tradition emphasizes, moral cultivation is a careful and prudent activity, which needs moral efforts from time to time.

Key words

moral licensing effect / positive moral-self / predictive inference / eye movements

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Eye Movement Evidence for the Licensing Effect of Predictive Inference in Moral Text Reading[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2021, 44(4): 947-953
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