Moral traps: When self-serving attributions backfire in prosocial behavior

• Main Authors: LIN, Stephanie C., ZLATEV, Julian J., MILLER, Dale T.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2017
• Subjects: Morality; Attributions; Decision making; Prosocial behavior; Marketing; Social Psychology
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5259; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6258/viewcontent/MoralTraps_2017.pdf; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6258/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/1_s2.0_S0022103116305236_mmc1.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Two assumptions guide the current research. First, people's desire to see themselves as moral disposes them to make attributions that enhance or protect their moral self-image: When approached with a prosocial request, people are inclined to attribute their own noncompliance to external factors...