Negative Moral Emotions Research Articles

The Theory of Dyadic Morality and Moral Identity Explain the Public's Response to Harm Done by Government and Organisations

ABSTRACTHarm functions complexly in moral judgement but has been treated differently in the Social Intuitionist Model (SIM) and the Theory of Dyadic Morality (TDM). Both the SIM and TDM see felt harm as an outcome of experienced negative moral emotions (e.g., disgust), but the SIM regards harm as a kind of epiphenomenon in the sense that it does not affect moral judgement or behaviour, whereas the TDM interprets harm as an essential mediator of the link between negative moral emotions and immorality. The TDM also develops an explanation for how harm functions to initiate reactions to triggering events marked by an intentional agent causing injury to a vulnerable social actor. Here norms serve a regulatory function modulating the effects of harm committed by the agent on negative moral emotions. We conduct two experiments on representative samples of adults () and address two different moral contexts (companies doing badly and government doing badly with respect to a threatened health crisis), two different normative moderators (moral identity and belief in conspiracies) and two different moral action tendencies (intentions and word of mouth). Harm is found to have direct and contingent mediated effects on moral action tendencies, in accord with the TDM. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Yes, we care! Consumer emotional responses to corporate neglect of climate change and the role of individual differences

AbstractCompany activities are important contributors to climate change. Consumers take companies' actions toward environment into account when they decide to engage with these companies. We study under which conditions corporate misconduct with respect to climate change outrages consumers, eliciting negative moral emotions. Moreover, we explore the capacity of these negative moral emotions to energize consumer decisions and action tendencies to retaliate against “offending” companies. Testing two moderated mediation models on random samples of 152 adult citizens of the United States and 159 adult citizens of France, we show that negative moral emotions experienced by consumers that witness corporate malfeasance toward the climate determine negative attitudes toward the company and intentions to penalize it. Moreover, for both samples, empathy, collective self, and moral identity moderate the relationship between the perception of corporate irresponsibility and moral emotions, while the effect of political orientation is culturally specific. These findings help to uncover under which conditions consumer hostile responses toward corporate misconduct takes place.

The moral masking behavior of management after real earnings management: An analysis of management's integrity commitment

This study examines the link between genuine earnings management and management's integrity commitment using data from A-share listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges (2007–2021). Findings indicate that following genuine earnings management, management tends to emphasize integrity in the MD&A section of annual reports, suggesting moral camouflage in response to negative moral emotions. This behavior is more pronounced with higher information asymmetry between management and investors, amplifying the tendency towards moral camouflage. Further analysis shows that post-earnings management, there is no significant increase in charitable contributions or CSR performance, and agency costs remain high, underscoring a preference for moral camouflage over moral purity. Additionally, management's integrity commitment does not affect analysts' future market valuations or reduce the likelihood of regulatory inquiries. The study also finds that the relationship between earnings management and integrity commitment strengthens under increased moral pressure. This research provides theoretical insights into executive behavior driven by negative moral emotions and offers practical implications for investors, auditors, and regulators.

Psychological need satisfaction, frustration, and unfulfillment profiles in the workplace: Their nature, predictors, and outcomes

Abstract Based on self-determination theory, this research relied on person-centered analyses to show how the distinct components of psychological need states combine to produce distinct profiles. We also explored contemporarily antecedents (perceptions of the organization’s environmental corporate social responsibility and negative moral emotions related to the organization’s environmental (ir)responsibility) and organizational outcomes (affective organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and cyberslacking). Questionnaire surveys were completed by 525 French employees. Four profiles characterized by configurations of psychological need states were identified and showed well-differentiated patterns. Negative moral emotions predicted membership in the most detrimental need states profiles while corporate social responsibility perceptions did not. As expected, we found opposite patterns of associations between profile membership and affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions, while the highest levels of cyberslacking were found in the most positive need states profiles. The results add to person-centered research and emphasize the importance of psychological experiences in the workplace and organizational outcomes.

The promotive influence of positive moral emotions on prosocial behavior in 3–5‐year‐old children

AbstractProsocial behaviour is a hallmark of social and emotional competence during childhood. Thus, promoting the development of children's prosocial behaviour can have important downstream benefits for individuals and society. Previous studies indicated that there is a positive effect of negative moral emotions on prosocial behaviour, but the influence of positive moral emotions on prosocial behaviour remains largely unknown. This study adopted three experiments to investigate the influence of positive moral emotions on three aspects of prosocial behaviour in 3–5‐year‐old children. After inducing positive moral emotions in children, they were observed either in helping (Experiment 1, N = 151, 75 boys), sharing (Experiment 2, N = 141, 69 boys) or comforting (Experiment 3, N = 132, 66 boys) scenarios. Results showed that: (1) children's helping, sharing and comforting behaviours in the moral emotions (experimental) group were significantly higher than those in the control group, suggesting that positive moral emotions could positively influence the examined prosocial behaviours; (2) there were age differences in children's helping, sharing and comforting, but the effect of positive moral emotions on the examined prosocial behaviours did not differ by age and gender. These findings point to the need for fostering positive moral emotions in early cultivation of children's prosocial behaviour during pre‐schooler education.

How perceived polarization predicts attitude moralization (and vice versa): A four-wave longitudinal study during the 2020 U.S. election.

Within structurally polarized and dynamic contexts, such as the U.S. 2020 presidential elections, the moralization of individuals' attitudes on a specific topic (e.g., climate policy) can dangerously escalate disagreements between groups into zero-sum conflict. However, limited knowledge exists regarding the factors that influence individuals' tendency to moralize their attitudes over time, and what the role of structural polarization is in this psychological process. Our objective is to test a theoretically integrative model of when and how perceived polarization is related to attitude moralization over time within the polarized context of the U.S. 2020 presidential elections and explore reciprocal feedback loops to understand the dynamic relationship between polarization and moralization over time. Our model predicts that, when repeatedly faced with outgroup expressions in the news, individuals' perceptions of polarization will predict within-person attitude moralization over time via strengthening their value-protective responses to these expressions (i.e., perceiving dyadic harm and experiencing negative moral emotions toward the outgroup). To test our model, we conducted a four-wave, 4-month longitudinal study among Biden supporters (N = 1,236) and Trump supporters (N = 617). The results of the within-person analyses generally supported the model's hypotheses across both samples and various attitude topics. Furthermore, cross-lagged structural equation models explored reciprocal influences, revealing positive feedback loops between structural polarization and attitude moralization over time. Our findings thus indicate that perceived polarization strengthens attitude moralization (and vice versa) over time-a dynamic process that helps to explain how nonmoralized conflict between groups can evolve into zero-sum conflict during periods of intense polarization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

He's to blame, she is lying: Judgments of child sex trafficking survivors

AbstractUS Federal legislation mandates the treatment of underaged youth induced to sell themselves for commercial sex as victims and not criminal offenders of prostitution laws. Nonetheless, state prosecutors often take action in juvenile court against these youth. This study explored the impact of negative moral emotions, victim blame, and victim believability on public judgments of child sex trafficking victims under varying case facts. We presented an online scenario involving a trafficking case to 682 participants and manipulated youth sex, trafficker sex, vulnerability background, and prior arrest history to determine how emotions, victim blame, and believability mediate child sex trafficking decisions. Two different paths emerged depending on the youth's sex. Participants reported greater victim responsibility and greater negative moral emotions towards a male youth trafficked by a female when he had a prior commercial sex arrest, which in turn predicted a lower certainty of recommending social services over legal consequences. With the same facts, participants reported lower believability for a female youth when she had a prior commercial sex arrest, which in turn predicted a lower certainty of recommending social services over legal consequences. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of the findings for practice and theory.

Soothing the Self-Threat of Idea Theft

The creative process has the potential to increase wellbeing and foster human flourishing (Dolan and Metcalfe, 2012; Forgeard and Eichner, 2014; O’Brien and Murray, 2015; Conner et al., 2018; Kaufman, 2018), yet has received little attention in the humanistic management literature. In this paper, we present three experiments showing that idea originators experience greater relationship conflict with counterparts who have committed perceived “idea theft”, i.e., proposed identical or related ideas. We test a model that identifies a mechanism—self-threat—that mediates the relationship between idea theft and relationship conflict and identifies an intervention to ameliorate that self-threat via self-affirmation. Study 1 demonstrates the idea originator’s attribution of malign attributions to, and negative moral emotions toward, the counterpart. Study 2 demonstrates that idea originators ostracize both those who propose identical ideas and those who propose merely related ideas. In Study 3, evidence for self-threat as the mechanism underlying the negative relational consequences is provided via both a direct test of mediation as well as via moderation by self-affirmation. Our research contributes to the nascent idea theft literature and suggests a way to reduce its negative consequences.

Feeling close from Afar: Public reactions to racial profiling in retail and brand crisis management

Consumer racial profiling, a service failure unfairly targeting consumers based on their race, still prevails in the retail sector, impacting not only the direct victims' perceptions but also shaping the broader public sentiment toward the retail brand. To comprehend public reactions to a retail brand's racial (vs. non-racial) profiling service failure, we conducted three scenario-based online experiments with MTurk panels. In Study 1, we discovered that a brand crisis resulting from racial profiling service failure, as opposed to non-racial profiling, led to a more pronounced reduction in purchase intention toward the retail brand. This heightened negative response unfolded in a sequence, where the service failure initially triggered negative moral emotions among the public, subsequently shaping their judgment toward the brand, ultimately leading to a decline in purchase intention. In Study 2, we explored the role of perceived psychological distance as a moderator. We found that non-racial profiling service failure intensified negative moral emotions when the public perceived the service failure as more personally likely to happen to them (close). Meanwhile, the impact of racial profiling remained consistently high, regardless of psychological distance. In Study 3, when comparing the impact of distinct crisis management approaches (ethics of justice and ethics of care), we found that the ethics of care approach more effectively alleviated negative moral emotions in response to a racial profiling crisis than the ethics of justice approach.

Do you trust the rumors? Examining the determinants of health‐related misinformation in India

AbstractRumors, conspiracies, and health‐related misinformation have gone hand‐in‐hand with the global COVID‐19 pandemic, making it hard to obtain reliable and accurate information. Against this background, this study examined the different psychosocial predictors of believing in conspiratorial information related to general health in India. Indian participants (N = 826) responded to measures related to conspiratorial thinking, trust, moral emotions, political ideology, bullshit receptivity, and belief in conspiratorial information in an online survey. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to determine the validity of the instruments used with an Indian sample. Results revealed that lower subjective socioeconomic status, lower trust in political institutions, greater negative moral emotions, greater conspiratorial thinking, and right‐leaning political ideology predicted beliefs in health‐related conspiratorial information. In highlighting these potential psychosocial determinants of conspiratorial beliefs, we can move toward combating conspiracies effectively and developing necessary interventions for the same. Future work can focus on assessing the moderating effects of political ideology on conspiratorial beliefs in India.

When healers get wounded! Moral injury in healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan.

Moral injury (MI) is a multi-faceted and multidimensional phenomenon. Occupational MI has been studied mainly among military personnel and first responders and is linked to mental health problems. MI encompasses negative moral emotions such as shame, guilt, and anger leading to distress, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. The COVID-19 pandemic predisposed healthcare providers to moral dilemmas, potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs), and MI. We aimed to assess the prevalence and predictors of MI in healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan. This cross-sectional study was conducted in July-October 2021 among physician/clinician staff working at teaching hospitals in Lahore. The Moral Injury Symptoms Scale-Health Professionals (MISS-HP) was used to collect data. SPSS 26 was used for data analysis applying Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests on non-normally distributed data at α = 0.05. Predictors of MI were ascertained through Binary Logistic Regression analysis. Four hundred and twenty physicians responded to the questionnaires. The Median (IQR) MI scores were 37(28-47). Guilt, moral concerns, and shame were higher-scoring MI dimensions. 40.8% (n = 171) suffered from clinically significant distress and impaired functioning while 14.3% (n = 60) from severe distress. Gender, department, and history of psychiatric illness predicted higher levels of distress which were 1.9 times higher in females than males and 2.5 times higher with a history of psychiatric illness. Working on the front lines did not predict MI. Our findings highlight the substantial burden of MI in our sample during COVID-19, having implications for healthcare providers' well-being, healthcare quality, and service delivery. This calls for concerted efforts from all stakeholders to better prepare for future disasters through effective human-resource policies, pre-trauma exposure soft-skills training, effective teamwork and communication strategies; self-stewardship and resilience modules, and mental health support for healthcare providers. The dimensional construct of MI may vary across cultures; hence we recommend further cross-cultural research on MI in healthcare providers, particularly in the context of public health disasters.

“What Was the Meaning of This Theatre of Absurdity” Public Shaming Meetings in the Late USSR

In recent years, we have seen a resurgence in the practice of public branding, a process in which members of a society express moral indignation at the views or behavior of an individual or a group. This stigmatization is especially common on social media, but it can also take other forms (meetings of Academic Councils and ethics commissions, the so-called cancel culture, and so on). The splitting of the public into opposing groups, the fury of the accusations, the severe consequences of stigmatization for social status, the reputation of a person, the often revealed interest of the state and certain institutions in unleashing or using stigmatization — all this makes it an important phenomenon of modern public life. Stephenson’s article examines the practice of prorabotka, a ritual of public shaming that took place in schools, universities and workplaces in the Soviet Union. It argues that rather than being events dedicated to moral improvement and re-education of individuals by the collectives (as they were seen in the official discourse), these were repressive rituals that led to social degradation of the victims of shaming. It shows that in addition to an official script, the meetings had a supplementary script that unleashed negative moral emotions and affects but also generated guilt and fear.

The Difference in Brain Processing Between Animate and Inanimate Beings in Moral Violation: An Electrophysiological Evidence

INTRODUCTION: Moral violation is known to elicit negative moral emotions and is associated with the electroencephalography (EEG)-derived P300 wave. However, the neural basis of moral categorisation (immoral behaviors towards animate beings or inanimate beings) has yet to be explored in moral psychology, which may increase knowledge and further understanding of brain function for the rehabilitation process. Thus our study aims to investigate the difference in brain processes between animate and inanimate moral violations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-six participants (mean age of 24 years old) were involved in the experimental observation that was held in the Neuroscience Laboratory. In the event-related potential (ERP) session, EEG-derived P300 data were recorded while participants viewed a random series of 200 trials of visual stimuli that were distributed according to the odd-ball paradigm. The trials consisted of three image categories (15% of immoral behaviour toward animate beings, 15% of immoral behaviour to non-animate beings, and 70% of neutral images). Participants also pressed the buttons numbered ‘1’ or ‘2’ while responding to animate beings and inanimate beings, respectively. RESULTS: When compared to neutral images and nonanimate objects, the brain regions that were activated with immoral behavior toward animate beings had the biggest P300 amplitude with stronger neural activation in the temporal and occipital regions. CONCLUSION: Immoral behaviour towards animate beings is associated with greater neural cognition, as reflected by the activation in most brain regions. This discovery contributes to a better understanding of the moral foundation. It could be applied in determining the abnormal pattern of brain function and as a baseline reference to be used in the medical rehabilitation field.

Guilt, Shame and Academic Misconduct

Moral and self-conscious emotions like guilt and shame can function as internal negative experiences that punish or deter bad behaviour. Individual differences exist in people’s tendency to experience guilt and shame. Being disposed to experience guilt and/or shame may predict students’ expectations of their emotional reactions to engaging in immoral behaviour in the form of academic misconduct, and thus dissuade students from intending to engage in this behaviour. In this study, students’ (n = 459) guilt and shame proneness, their expectations of feeling guilt and shame if they engaged in academic misconduct, and their intentions to engage in academic misconduct were measured. Three of the four facets of the guilt and shame proneness scale [GASP: Guilt–Negative-Behavior-Evaluation (NBE), Guilt-Repair, Shame–Negative-Self-Evaluation (NSE)] had significant negative correlations with academic misconduct intentions, and these relationships were mediated by anticipating shame and guilt related to engaging in academic misconduct. These results suggest that for some students expecting to experience negative moral emotions when engaging in academic misconduct may protect them from breaching ethical assessment rules.

Self-forgiveness is associated with increased volumes of fusiform gyrus in healthy individuals

Self-forgiveness (SF) involves a process through which negative moral emotions directed at the self are replaced by benevolence and acceptance. Lower SF scores can be associated with less self-compassion, higher psychological distress, and lower life dissatisfaction. However, neural correlates of SF have not been investigated yet. We enrolled a total of 79 healthy individuals. The Self-Forgiveness Scale (SFS), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were evaluated. Voxel-wise correlational analyses showed a significant positive correlation between the total SFS scores and gray matter volumes (GMVs) in the fusiform gyrus (FG). In addition, the GMVs in the FG were significantly positively associated with the total SCS and CD-RISC scores and negatively correlated with the total BDI-II and BAI scores. These findings suggest that the FG related to the mirror neuron system might be a neural correlate of SF. Furthermore, its increased volumes of FG in healthy individuals can be associated with the capacity to overcome stressful life events.

When caring breeds contempt: The impact of moral emotions on healthcare professionals' commitment during a pandemic.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a major heath crisis that continues to impact healthcare organizations worldwide. As infection rates surged, there was a global shortage of personal protective equipment, critical medications, ventilators, and hospital beds, meaning that healthcare professionals faced increasingly difficult workplace conditions. In this conceptual study, we argue these situations can lead to healthcare professionals experiencing moral emotions - defined as specific emotions which relate, or occur in response, to the interest or welfare of others - towards their organizations. This paper explores the three moral emotions of contempt, anger and disgust, and their potential influence on healthcare professionals' workplace commitment in the context of a pandemic. Drawing from the moral emotions and organizational commitment literature, we develop a process model to demonstrate how healthcare professionals' affective and continuous commitment are likely to decrease while, paradoxically, normative, and professional commitment may become amplified. The possible potential for positive outcomes from negative moral emotions is discussed, followed by theoretical and practical contributions of the model, and finally, directions for future research.

Understanding CSR Campaigns Through the Lens of Culture Values and Moral Emotion

This study aimed to examine the persuasive influences of moral emotions on younger consumers’ judgments and decision-making and the roles of culture and self-construal in processing corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns. This study employed a between-subjects experiment where American and Chinese participants viewed one of the two CSR advertisement campaigns designed with ego-focused (e.g., an advertisement elicited anger emotion) and other-focused appeals (e.g., an advertisement elicited guilt emotion). By employing an elaboration likelihood persuasion model (ELM), the results indicated that negative moral emotions had significant positive influences on attitudes toward the advertisements and purchase intention through the peripheral route. In addition, results revealed the interaction effects between guilt emotion and cultural values (i.e., country) on attitudes. This study also highlighted the moderating role of self-construal individual values in the relationship between guilt and attitudes toward the campaign. This research provides insights for communication practitioners on designing effective CSR campaigns to reach culturally diverse target audiences.

Decolonising Reactions to Material Traces of the European Past: The Case of an Italian Colonial Food

European capital cities are replete with material traces of colonial times, not only institutional reminders but also ephemeral objects, created to glorify colonial domination. Reactions of descendants of former colonisers to these traces suggest that colonial tropes are still present in their contemporary imaginary about the past. A comprehensive effort of decolonisation, therefore, needs to aim not only at including previously despised minorities, but also at raising majorities’ awareness about the aggressive side of leaving the permanence of material traces of colonialism unquestioned. Moreover, this awareness of implications of material traces could help to redesign European physical contexts to become more welcoming places for descendants of former colonised groups. Our research explores reactions of different generations of descendants of Italian colonisers when presented with an ephemeral trace of past violence—a candy still sold with a colonial wrapping. About 175 participants were presented with the image of the candy, either wrapped in its original colonial package or a neutral one. The image was followed either by a brief explanation of its colonial meaning or not. Reactions to such an apparently inconspicuous reminder of the Italian colonial crimes—still self-censored in the social representations of the Italian national past—proved to vary across experimental conditions and different ages of respondents. In particular, when questioning these ephemeral traces of adult participants show more intense group-based negative moral emotions. Relations between the generational renewal of former colonisers’ group and collective elaboration of intergroup violence are discussed.

Moral emotions in neuropsychiatry : testing FTD and Schizophrenia patients with the MEA scale.

AbstractBackgroundMoral emotions have a key role in human prosocial behaviors. Impaired moral emotion processing can lead to disrupted decision‐making and behavioral adaptation.Better knowledge about moral emotion processing in neuropsychiatric diseases is necessary to facilitate diagnosis and patient care.The aim of this study was to investigate and to compare moral emotion processing in patients with neurodegenerative diseases ‐behavioral fronto temporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD)‐ and patients with schizophrenia.MethodWe investigated 22 FTD, 15 AD, 30 schizophrenia patients and a control group with validated task, the Moral Emotions Assessment (MEA). This tool consisted in 42 scenarios exploring positive and negative moral emotions such as admiration, gratitude, shame or anger. Subjects had to choose between several emotions the most appropriate to the context of the scenario. To control for moral specificity, we contrasted the 42 moral scenarios with 18 extra‐moral scenarios eliciting the emotions without involving any inter‐human moral context.ResultFTD patients and Schizophrenia patients were significantly impaired in moral emotion processing, when compared to healthy controls, whereas AD patients were not impaired. There was a specific impairment of moral emotions in FTD, (73.1% of correct answers VS 95.1% in control group p<0,001) and the most impaired emotion was guilt. AD patients didn’t show impairment in moral emotion processing compared to healthy controls. In Schizophrenia patients, moral emotion processing was significantly impaired (85,8% of correct answers VS 95,9% in control group, p<0,001), and the most impaired emotions were anger and shame.ConclusionMoral emotions processing seemed significantly impaired in FTD patients and schizophrenia patients, with different patterns of deficits, whereas AD patients seemed to have preserved moral cognition. These results provide a better understanding of the behavioral changes observed in FTD and schizophrenia patients.

Influencer marketing: When and why gen Z consumers avoid influencers and endorsed brands

AbstractConsumer avoidance of brands and influencers is a widespread phenomenon, especially among Generation Z (Gen Z); however, influencer marketing literature lacks clarity about when and why Gen Z engages in such avoidance. Our experimental investigation, across four studies, reveals that Gen Z considers brands' control over influencers to be morally irresponsible and, thus, avoids both. We introduce a novel construct,influencer avoidance, and examine its drivers. Study 1 indicates that perceived brand control engenders avoidance; moderation evidence shows that macro (vs. micro) influencers accentuate (attenuate) the influence of brand control on avoidance. Study 2 shows that Gen Z enjoying a strong versus weak relationship with influencers results in lower (higher) avoidance towards influencers and endorsed brands. Study 3 demonstrates that negative moral emotions mediate the relationship between perceived brand control and avoidance behavior. Study 4 generalizes the findings by analyzing a different influencer and endorsed brand and including a prominent advertisement disclosure. By investigating the drivers and mechanisms of Gen Z's avoidance behavior, our research contributes to research on the theory of moral responsibility, Gen Z's influencer avoidance behavior, and anti‐consumption literature. This offers key insights into how to prevent acts of consumer retribution towards influencers and brands.