Is common behavior considered moral? The role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior

The present research examines how inferences about moral norms from descriptive norms change by perceptions of others' motives in the context of environmental behavior. When individuals think that many others engage in an environmental behavior (e.g., water and energy conservation) for prosocia...

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Main Authors: EOM, Kimin, CHOY, Bryan Kwok Cheng
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2025
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4060
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/5318/viewcontent/CommonBehavior_Moral_pvoa_cc_by.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.soss_research-53182024-10-17T03:13:32Z Is common behavior considered moral? The role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior EOM, Kimin CHOY, Bryan Kwok Cheng The present research examines how inferences about moral norms from descriptive norms change by perceptions of others' motives in the context of environmental behavior. When individuals think that many others engage in an environmental behavior (e.g., water and energy conservation) for prosocial (vs. proself) motives, they infer moralization about the behavior in a given context. They infer stronger injunctive norms about the behavior and expect others to experience moral outrage at violation of the moral standard (e.g., wasting water and energy). The moral norm perceptions predict people's motivation to engage in environmental behavior themselves. We further show that expected guilt and shame if not engaging in normative behavior explain the effects of prosocial-motivated (vs. proself-motivated) norms. Together, perceived motives behind descriptive norms change people's inferences about moral implications of normative behavior and their motivation to engage in normative behavior. 2025-01-01T08:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4060 info:doi/10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104684 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/5318/viewcontent/CommonBehavior_Moral_pvoa_cc_by.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Research Collection School of Social Sciences eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Moral perceptions Pro-environmental behavior Social norms Sustainability Experimental Analysis of Behavior Social Psychology
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Moral perceptions
Pro-environmental behavior
Social norms
Sustainability
Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Social Psychology
spellingShingle Moral perceptions
Pro-environmental behavior
Social norms
Sustainability
Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Social Psychology
EOM, Kimin
CHOY, Bryan Kwok Cheng
Is common behavior considered moral? The role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior
description The present research examines how inferences about moral norms from descriptive norms change by perceptions of others' motives in the context of environmental behavior. When individuals think that many others engage in an environmental behavior (e.g., water and energy conservation) for prosocial (vs. proself) motives, they infer moralization about the behavior in a given context. They infer stronger injunctive norms about the behavior and expect others to experience moral outrage at violation of the moral standard (e.g., wasting water and energy). The moral norm perceptions predict people's motivation to engage in environmental behavior themselves. We further show that expected guilt and shame if not engaging in normative behavior explain the effects of prosocial-motivated (vs. proself-motivated) norms. Together, perceived motives behind descriptive norms change people's inferences about moral implications of normative behavior and their motivation to engage in normative behavior.
format text
author EOM, Kimin
CHOY, Bryan Kwok Cheng
author_facet EOM, Kimin
CHOY, Bryan Kwok Cheng
author_sort EOM, Kimin
title Is common behavior considered moral? The role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior
title_short Is common behavior considered moral? The role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior
title_full Is common behavior considered moral? The role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior
title_fullStr Is common behavior considered moral? The role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior
title_full_unstemmed Is common behavior considered moral? The role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior
title_sort is common behavior considered moral? the role of perceived others' motives in moral norm inferences and motivation about environmental behavior
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2025
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4060
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/5318/viewcontent/CommonBehavior_Moral_pvoa_cc_by.pdf
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