Immoral Behavior Research Articles

The “moral neutrality pattern” of individuals with indirect multicultural experiences in immoral and moral judgments: behavioral and neural evidence

Based on the moral relativism theory, the current study proposes that individuals with indirect multicultural experiences may exhibit a “moral neutrality pattern” in complete moral judgments, that is, they may perceive others’ immoral actions as less immoral and moral actions as less moral. In Study 1, using publicly available CGSS data and our large-scale survey, we found positive correlations between multicultural experiences and a tendency to express less blame for immoral behavior, and less praise for moral behavior. In Study 2, the behavioral results indicated that individuals with high multicultural experiences (HM) expressed less praise than those with low multicultural experiences (LM) for “slightly moral condition”. The ERP time-domain results suggested that the HM group tended to exhibit lower LPP differential wave amplitudes than the LM group across different moral conditions (extremely immoral, slightly immoral, slightly moral, and extremely moral minus neutral moral conditions, respectively). Notably, the difference in LPP differential wave amplitude between the HM and LM groups was more pronounced for “slightly moral condition”, starting from 500-700ms and continuing to 900-1100ms. Overall, this study provides preliminary behavioral and neural evidence for the moral neutrality pattern of individuals with multicultural experiences. This echoes the global concerns for ethics in today’s globalization and enriches our understanding of the how individuals with indirect multicultural experiences form complete moral judgments.

Moral Believer or Moral Problem-Solver? Moral Pragmatism Fosters Tolerance Without Impeding Moral Behavior

Many previous studies in moral psychology have described people as moral believers, who treat morality as universal sacred beliefs and show moral outrage and social exclusion toward people with different opinions. At the same time, moral relativism tends to make people more tolerant but also makes them question their own beliefs and leads to more immoral behavior. We propose moral pragmatism as an alternative, which treats morality as a tool for solving specific problems, thus making morality situational instead of universal, practical instead of sacred, and tolerant instead of exclusive. Through four empirical studies, we demonstrate that when moral issues are presented as practical problems rather than abstract beliefs, people consider morality to be less universal, treat dissidents with more tolerance and less outrage, and do not perform more immoral behavior at the same time. These findings highlight moral pragmatism as a flexible and culturally sensitive moral approach, promoting diverse moral perspectives and constructive cross-cultural discourses.

The brand behind the curtain: decoupling, recoupling and moral conflict in social media

Purpose Social media platforms have matured into significant arenas for moral conflict and often intense confrontation between brands and their consumers. This research aims to scrutinize the strategic development of a fresh brand entity deliberately detached from its morally compromised corporate parent, intended to reshape public perceptions and elude regulatory scrutiny. Design/methodology/approach Promoted as a center for transformative dialogue and innovation, Mission Winnow by Philip Morris is a novel example of a brand creating an entirely separate brand entity to provide sponsorship, and to associate itself with new brand values. This study employs a multisited netnography through which the posts and conversations on Mission Winnow’s platform and website hub are captured and interpreted, as well as the branded content and the free flows of consumers’ conversations generated around the brand on social media. Findings Findings reveal a broad interchange of moral controversy, acceptance and opposition discourses on social media. When consumers’ acceptance narratives gain traction, consumers extend their support toward the new brand entity, employing strategies that echo moral rationalization and decoupling. When resistance narratives dominate, consumers consciously draw connections between the decoupled brand and the parent brand’s immoral behavior. Originality/value This study expands upon prior research into brand activism and consumers’ moral reasoning toward controversial brands, linking the notion of brand decoupling to brand activism discourse and introducing key underexplored aspects like the power of imagery, linguistic creativity and nostalgia. Moreover, it presents significant implications for a more nuanced understanding of the important interrelationship of brand decoupling and recoupling on social media.

Unmasking Moral Hypocrisy: How Preschoolers Perceive and Judge Moral Hypocrites.

Many previous studies indicate that children are highly sensitive to the immoral behavior of others, preferring prosocial over antisocial characters. Accordingly, children avoid transgressors from a very early age. A special kind of transgressor is the moral hypocrite, who not only acts immorally but also acts in contrast to what they preach. There are very few studies establishing whether children recognize moral hypocrisy and if it impacts their moral judgment. We ran three studies with preschoolers aged 4 to 6 years on whether children recognize moral hypocrisy and how children assess moral hypocrisy. In Studies 2 and 3, we also tested false-signaling theory as an explanation of the more negative assessments of moral hypocrites. In Study 1 (N = 133), we showed that children indeed assess moral hypocrites more negatively than nonhypocritical moral transgressors. In Study 2 (N = 115), we initially demonstrated that the assessment of moral hypocrites results from their inconsistency between words and deeds. Study 3 (N = 159) replicated the results of Studies 1 and 2 and, by excluding an alternative explanation, explained that moral hypocrites are perceived as less moral and liked less due to the false signals that they send.

Understanding stigma and attitudes towards hepatitis B among university students in Australia of Chinese and Vietnamese background

IntroductionHepatitis B is a significant public health concern and a leading cause of liver cancer across the world. In Australia, hepatitis B is largely endemic in migrant communities, particularly amongst the Chinese and Vietnamese communities. Negative attitudes towards hepatitis B can be a major barrier to hepatitis B testing and linkage to care. This mixed-methods research explores the attitudes and beliefs, including stigma, about hepatitis B among students of Vietnamese and Chinese background in Australia. Students were chosen as participants as there is little research examining hepatitis B among university students in Australia and they provide a point of entry to communities with high prevalence of hepatitis B, that otherwise may be hard to access.MethodsOnline surveys were distributed in Chinese, Vietnamese, and English via social media and completed by 112 students of Chinese and 95 students of Vietnamese backgrounds. In-depth interviews were also conducted with 13 Vietnamese and 10 Chinese participants to further explore the survey results.ResultsSurvey findings suggest that students have varied attitudes towards people living with hepatitis B. Around half of the participants reported they would behave negatively towards other people with hepatitis B and that they would expect to experience stigma or discrimination if they had hepatitis B. While over 70% in both samples reported that people who have hepatitis B should not be isolated by family and friends, 47.6% of the Chinese sample and 28.3% of the Vietnamese sample reported they would avoid close contact with someone with hepatitis B. The qualitative data expands on the quantitative data. Four key themes were identified: (1) Caution not discrimination (2) Hepatitis B as a sign of immoral behaviour (3) Discriminatory behaviour based on perceived effects of hepatitis B and (4) Shifting attitudes.ConclusionThis research provides insights that could inform culturally sensitive health promotion programs to address negative attitudes towards hepatitis B among the broader Chinese and Vietnamese communities living in Australia.

Unethical prosocial behaviour and self-dehumanization: The roles of social connectedness and perceived morality.

Unethical prosocial behaviour (UPB) refers to acts where people violate widely held moral rules to benefit others. In light of previous research on the association between immoral behaviours and dehumanization, we examined whether and how engaging in UPB would impact the tendency to self-dehumanize. Across four studies (valid N = 1640), we found that UPB led to less self-dehumanization than unethical proself behaviour, which was mediated sequentially by social connectedness and perceived morality (Studies 2-4). Moreover, the comparison between UPB and ethical prosocial behaviour indicated that UPB did not necessarily lead to more self-dehumanization than ethical prosocial behaviour (Study 4). Although UPB was rated as less moral, it was associated with similar levels of social connectedness as ethical prosocial behaviour. These results have significant implications for research on morality and dehumanization and highlight the role of social connectedness in reducing dehumanization.

Good People Do Not Eat Others?! Moral Ambiguity in Japanese Fairytales from the Late Nineteenth Century

In 2015, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK aired an educational series that re-examined traditional fairy tales by putting their characters on trial for their immoral behavior, such as revenge, violence, and dishonesty. These tales, rooted in premodern Japanese folklore, were widely available in various book formats by the late nineteenth century and, unlike modern adaptations, they did not sanitize violence or evil. This study analyzes four miniature picture books from the late nineteenth century that recount the story, Kachikachi yama (The Crackling Mountain). This analysis focuses on both verbal and visual representations of good and evil, with attention to themes of loyalty, filial piety, and virtuous revenge. The findings reveal that these picture books presented young readers with complex moral lessons, where the boundaries between good and evil were blurred. Additionally, they illuminate the prevailing image of children during that era, depicting them as “little adults” expected to be educated and prepared for the practical realities of the adult world.

Faith-based Community Engagement in HIV-Testing and Awareness of HIV Status in Southern, Rural, African American Communities.

The Deep South is the epicenter of the HIV-epidemic in the United States, with rural AAs bearing the greatest burden. Traditional efforts to improve testing efforts have been largely unsuccessful due to their failure to recognize and leverage the sociopolitical and cultural factors that affect the uptake of HIV-screening interventions at the community level. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the socio-cultural contexts impacting HIV-testing in the rural South, and to assess strategies to increase testing in rural, Southern communities. Focus groups (n = 8) and semi-structured interviews (n = 31) were conducted among community and faith-based leaders in Alabama and Mississippi, to inform our understanding of local perceptions of HIV infection, barriers and facilitators impacting HIV-testing, and best strategies for improving testing efforts at the local level. Interviews and focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed to extract major themes. While both faith-based and community leaders reported at least some stigmatizing attitudes towards HIV infection, faith-based leaders were more likely to report discomfort being around someone with HIV and were more likely to link the spread of HIV to immoral behaviors. The combination of the cultural importance of the Church, deep-seated religiosity among community members, and faith-based messages associating HIV infection with immorality directly impacted HIV stigma within the community-in turn, decreasing willingness to participate in HIV-testing, disclose positive HIV serostatus, or openly discuss transmission protection behaviors. The Church was identified as crucial to include to improve HIV-testing efforts in the rural South, due to their prominent sociopolitical roles within communities and ability to influence community members' perceptions of HIV stigma. Faith-based leaderships should be included in initiatives to increase improve HIV-testing and awareness of status and reduce HIV disparities in the Deep South.

Machiavellianism as a crucial Dark Tetrad trait for the prediction of life-course criminal behavior

The Dark Tetrad (Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, and sadism) is a taxonomy of personality dispositions toward immoral, antisocial, and antagonistic behavior; still, its predictive power in the domain of criminal behavior is rarely tested. In the present research, we analyzed the associations between the Dark Tetrad and several indicators of criminal behavior (onset of criminal behavior, juvenile correctional measures, problematic use of psychoactive substances [PUPS], penal recidivism, number of convictions, violent offences, and the risk of future recidivism) in a sample of Serbian prisoners (N = 471). While all dark traits were positively associated with criminal behavior indicators on a zero-order level (except violent offences), regression analyses identified Machiavellianism as the most prominent predictor. Psychopathy positively predicted PUPS, while narcissism had a negative contribution to PUPS and penal recidivism. Interactions with the participants’ sex showed that sadism represents a risk factor for females regarding early offences and PUPS, while Machiavellianism elevates the chance of repeated prison sentences for men. Finally, the structural model showed that juvenile offending mediates the association between Machiavellianism and general criminal recidivism. Findings showed the fruitfulness of assessing the Dark Tetrad traits in order to predict various aspects of criminal behavior.

PERLUKAH KRIMINALISASI TERHADAP PERILAKU AMORAL? PERDEBATAN PATRICK DEVLIN DAN H.L.A. HART

The famous debate in the mid-20th century between Patrik Devlin and H.L.A. Hart about the relationship between law and morality in discussing the limits of criminal law in matters of individual behaviour that are considered contrary to public morality, a debate which was sparked by the Report of the Wolfenden Committee on Homosexual Offenses and Prostitution (The 1957 Report of the Wolfenden Committee on Homosexual Offense and Prostitution) for decriminalize private male homosexual activity. Although the focus of the initial debate was limited by the framework of the debate about criminal law in general and homosexual offenses in particular with the harm principle from John Stuart Mill to illustrate the sharp distinction between law and morality and a static conception of the relationship between the two, this article seeks to explore how Devlin developed the application of moral standards in areas of law other than criminal law. Regarding the debate between the two thinkers, the author will decontextualize the debate within the framework of enforcing Indonesian criminal law against sexually immoral behaviour.

Cultivating the Values of Communication Ethics in Madrasah

this study is motivated by the current symptoms of moral decline, such as poor communication occurs among vulnerable adolescents with emotional traits. Many facts in society prove that wrong or incorrect communication will give birth to various immoral behaviors, fights, brawls, and various negative things that arise due to communication that does not care about ethics. This study uses a qualitative approach with descriptive analytical methods. The method of data collection in this study used in-depth interviews and supported by observation and documentation data. The results of this study indicate that: planting the value of communication ethics in the four MTs Banjar has been done through polite, courtesies, and greetings, both inside and outside the madrasah. So that it becomes a daily habit with the aim to improve the morale, and mental learners but not maximal. Therefore, instilling an understanding of communication ethics to students is very important so that they know how good communication ethics when communicating in terms of behaving and speaking appropriately.

God, witchcraft, and beliefs about illness in Mauritius

ABSTRACT Why do people use supernatural concepts to explain and treat illness? In a Mauritian sample, we examined how uncertainty around the cause of symptoms, illness severity, and knowledge about past moral behavior, influenced participants’ tendency to attribute illnesses to God and/or witchcraft. We employed a preregistered vignette-based experiment to manipulate these variables in four illnesses and a combination of scaled and open-ended freelist questions about the causes and cures for each illness. Participants (N = 530) gave supernatural causes and cures for all illnesses. High uncertainty around the cause of the symptoms increased participants’ claims that the illness was caused by God. When the sick person had a history of immoral behavior, participants were more willing to attribute their illness to God and witchcraft and offered up 4 times more supernatural causes in freelists compared with a person with no such history. We found no evidence that severity influenced participants’ likelihood of suggesting supernatural causes or cures. Finally, when participants gave a supernatural cause, they were more likely to also indicate that the illness needed a supernatural cure (e.g., consulting a spiritual healer), suggesting that supernatural causes increase the need for supernatural cures.

Sweep My Mistakes Under the Rug: Social Robots as Enablers of Immoral Behavior in Human-Robot Joint

Sweep My Mistakes Under the Rug: Social Robots as Enablers of Immoral Behavior in Human-Robot Joint

Self-serving beliefs about science: Science justifies my weaknesses (but not other people's).

This research explored the strategic beliefs that people have about science and the extent to which it can explain moral and immoral behaviors. Although people do not believe that science is able to explain certain aspects of their mind, they might nevertheless accept a scientific explanation for their immoral behaviors if that explanation is exculpatory. In a first study, participants reflected on moral and immoral deeds that they performed or that other people performed. Participants were somewhat skeptic that science can account for people's behavior-except for when they reflected on the wrongdoings that they committed. Two further studies suggest that strategic belief in science arises because it enables external attributions for the behavior, outside of the wrongdoers' control. Implications are discussed for science understanding and communication.

Crafting the modern Prometheus: navigating morality and identity in the age of cyborg enhancements

ABSTRACT Across three vignette-based experiments (N = 697) primarily involving young adults from China, our research systematically examines the moral judgments and perceived identity changes associated with technological implants, unveiling “naturalness bias” as a pivotal psychological mechanism influencing these judgments. Study 1 scrutinized the effects of physical enhancements via body implants, revealing a significant link between perceived low naturalness, negative moral judgment, and a reduced intention to adopt such technologies. Moreover, individuals who receive technological implants were perceived as more inclined toward immoral behavior, resulting in a considerable shift in identity perception. Study 2 confirmed these findings and introduced a control group of plastic surgery vignette to refine comparisons and enhance methodological rigor. Study 3 broadened the scope to include both emotional and cognitive enhancements via implants. It found that emotional enhancements were judged more critically regarding morality and naturalness, leading to greater perceived identity changes and higher expectations of immoral behavior compared to cognitive enhancements. Collectively, the current research provides essential insights into the ethical dimensions of transhumanist technologies, highlighting the profound moral considerations and identity implications of adopting such enhancements.

Parenting Through Piil Pesenggikhi Values of Lampung Culture for Early Childhood Moral Development

This research aims to reveal how piil pesenggikhi develops and becomes a family parenting pattern for the Lampung people. Piil pesenggikhi is taught by parents from early childhood through the family environment. However, immoral behaviours are still committed by children from Lampung community families. The problem formulation presented is how parents teach their children these values for early childhood moral development. This research uses qualitative methods to examine Lampung community families and traditional Lampung elders. Researchers found a specific identity from the values of piil pesenggikhi, including nemui nyimah, juluk adok, nengah nyappor, and sakai sambayan. Through these values, early childhood moral development is carried out through learning that prioritizes respect, courtesy, hospitality, acceptance of differences, perseverance, and teaching children to help each other.

Unmasking Malicious Stance Indicators and Attitudinal Priming: An ‘Evaluative Textbite’ Approach to Identity Attacks in Violent Extremist Discourse

The article explores the patterning and functioning of attitude semantics in the practice of identity attacks within terrorist communications. Positioned in facework and stance-taking research (e.g. Tracy & Tracy, 1998, 2008, 2017), it introduces the concepts of ‘evaluative textbites’ and ‘attitudinal priming’ to linguistic examinations, advocating a functional approach to unravelling identity attacks, drawing on corpus analysis methods (e.g. word frequency, and concordance-line qualitative analysis) and the Appraisal framework (Martin & White, 2005). Findings reveal that, linked with stance-taking activity, attitudinal priming offers insights into how specific ideational targets are primed for particular attitudinal, evaluative functions. Evaluative textbites provide linguistic evidence of an author’s encoded hostile attitude and the nuanced patterning and functioning of ‘ideation-attitude’ co-occurrences in these attacks. Identity attacks are a rhetorical tool, normative and valuation-based, targeting individuals’ or out-groups’ immoral behaviours and devaluing victims by reference to their personal traits, power-distance relationships, interactional roles, and master identities. This article offers implications for future study of identity attacks in hate crimes, genocidal rhetoric, and defamation texts, and strengthens counter-extremism efforts by illuminating the investigative value of identity work.

Partisan Differences in Voters’ Desire for Punishment in Response to Politicians’ Moral Transgressions

Research shows that politicians are often not electorally punished for immoral behavior. Yet, voters may still desire to see politicians punished outside of the election context for committing moral transgressions. Moreover, these desires may be conditioned by the partisanship of the voter, the transgressor, and voters’ perceptions of moral violation severity. To examine such effects, we conduct a vignette study asking 2997 U. S. respondents to consider politicians’ moral violations. We randomly varied the moral principle violated (Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, Sanctity, and a social norm violation) and the partisanship of the politician (Republic/Democrat/Nonpartisan). When voters perceive the severity of a moral violation to be low, Republicans express a stronger desire to punish than do Democrats. Republicans’ desire for punishment depends on the group of the transgressor, with higher levels of punitiveness desired for out-party transgressors than in-party. However, when voters perceive severity to be moderate or high, Democrats have the stronger desire to punish the politician involved, but they show no in-party bias. Across the moral violations presented, Republicans and Democrats differ in perceptions of severity of politicians’ immoral behavior. Results show partisan voters’ heterogeneity in punitiveness, with the relationship strongly mediated by perceived severity of the moral violation.

The Impact of Comparative Moral Superiority on Protagonist Appeal

Four studies examine the appeal of protagonists who are sometimes immoral in real-world (Studies 1 & 2) and fictional (Studies 3 & 4) settings. In both, character appeal is influenced by the combination of moral/immoral behaviors a protagonist performs and their moral/immoral behavior relative to another person’s (i.e., their moral superiority/inferiority). Additionally, Study 2 examines the effect of character behavior (moral/immoral vs. highly self-beneficial) on appeal, finding that if two protagonists are equally immoral, one who elsewise behaves morally at times is more appealing than one who is elsewise self-beneficial. Studies 3 and 4 replicate these findings using a fictional drama and fantasy premise instead of a real-world setting. Findings suggest the effect of characters’ immoral behavior on appeal varies based on the moral behavior of comparison characters regardless of the setting’s fictionality. Discussion considers whether moral superiority alters the likelihood that audiences will emulate an imperfect hero’s immoral actions.

Exploring Impediments to Human Flourishing Across the Lifespan in Six African Countries

AbstractHuman flourishing (HF) is fundamental in fostering development in every sector of human communities throughout the world. Understanding the concept of human flourishing is essential in identifying and limiting practices that may impede human’s tendency to flourish. Most research on HF have been focused on the minority world and devoted to factors that foster it with minimal regard for the impediments and perspectives from the majority world. Based on this, the study aims to explore the impediments to human flourishing across the lifespan in Africa. Specifically, it examines factors that impede human flourishing in three age groups (children, adolescents, and adults). Empirical data were collected qualitatively through focus group discussion sessions and expert interviews with children, adolescents, and adults from communities in 6 African countries (Marachi, Eteso and Turkana of Kenya, the Sukuma of Tanzania, the Bantu and Nilo Hamites of Uganda, the Amhara of Ethopia, the Nso and Nweh of Cameroon and the Akan of Ghana). After the thematic analysis, the findings revealed that; inevitable factors like death and other issues that can be improved on like poverty, conflict, selfishness, immoral behavior and ill health impede human flourishing across the life span. However, other impediments identified were age specific. Marriage challenges impeded flourishing among adult folks while lack of sufficient play time impeded children’s flourishing. An intervention on coping strategies to deal with inevitable impeding factors to human flourishing like death and strategies to improve on all the other manageable impediments is vital for the enhancement of flourishing in Africa.