Construing Morality at High versus Low Levels Induces Better Self-control, Leading to Moral Acts.

Chia-Chun Wu,Wen-Hsiung Wu,Wen-Bin Chiou

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01041

Abstract

Human morality entails a typical self-control dilemma in which one must conform to moral rules or socially desirable norms while exerting control over amoral, selfish impulses. Extant research regarding the connection between self-control and level of construal suggest that, compared with a low-level, concrete construal (highlighting means and resources, e.g., answering ‘how’ questions), a high-level, abstract construal (highlighting central goals, e.g., answering ‘why’ questions) promotes self-control. Hence, construing morality at higher levels rather than lower levels should engender greater self-control and, it follows, promote a tendency to perform moral acts. We conducted two experiments to show that answering “why” (high-level construal) vs. “how” (low-level construal) questions regarding morality was associated with a situational state of greater self-control, as indexed by less Stroop interference in the Stroop color-naming task (Experiments 1 and 2). Participants exposed to “why” questions regarding morality displayed a greater inclination for volunteerism (Experiment 1), showed a lower tendency toward selfishness in a dictator game (Experiment 2), and were more likely to return undeserved money (Experiment 2) compared with participants exposed to “how” questions regarding morality. In both experiments, self-control mediated the effect of a high-level construal of morality on dependent measures. The current research constitutes a new approach to promoting prosociality and moral education. Reminding people to think abstractly about human morality may help them to generate better control over the temptation to benefit from unethical acts and make it more likely that they will act morally.

Highlights

In principle, self-control is defined as the ability to regulate one’s own thoughts, emotions, impulses and behavior (Ainslie, 1975; Baumeister et al, 2007)
Positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) were not related to the self-control measure (PA: r = −0.032, p = 0.749; NA: r = 0.102, p = 0.309) and the number of data sheets volunteered to code (PA: r = 0.132, p = 0.186; NA: r = −0.161, p = 0.105)
Under the high-level construal condition, participants showed less Stroop interference [i.e., greater self-control; B = −38.75, SE = 8.67, t(100) = −4.468, p < 0.001], and less Stroop interference predicted the number of data sheets volunteered to code [B = −0.03, SE = 0.01, t(100) = −5.231, p < 0.001]

Summary

Introduction

Self-control is defined as the ability to regulate one’s own thoughts, emotions, impulses and behavior (Ainslie, 1975; Baumeister et al, 2007). Construal Level and Moral Behavior (Freitas et al, 2004; Fujita et al, 2006a; Agrawal and Wan, 2009; Schmeichel and Vohs, 2009; Fujita and Carnevale, 2012; Chiou et al, 2013; Chang and Chiou, 2015). Construing morality at higher levels should boost self-control and, thereby, enhance moral behavior. We provide experimental evidence showing that a brief mindset-based intervention promotes the tendency to act morally. This is the first study showing that construing human morality at high levels may lead to a greater tendency to prosociality and honesty

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion