The Orthogonality of Praise and Condemnation in Moral Judgment
- 1University of Southern California, Los Angeles
- 2Stanford University, Stanford, CA
- 3Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
- Scott S. Wiltermuth, 3670 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808 Email: wiltermu{at}usc.edu
Abstract
The present studies examined whether the tendency to praise others for positive (i.e., moral) behaviors correlates with the tendency to condemn others for negative (i.e., immoral) behaviors. Across three studies, factor analyses revealed that these tendencies are orthogonal. The results refute the hypothesis that simply caring deeply about morality leads individuals to praise moral behaviors and condemn immoral ones. The research instead suggests that individuals who are most praising of positive behavior are not necessarily those who are most condemning of negative behavior, because orthogonal conceptions of morality influence each type of judgment. Although the tendency to condemn depends on how much one personally cares about morality (internalization), the tendency to praise seems to depend on one’s public moral persona (symbolization).
Article Notes
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Scott S. Wiltermuth is an assistant professor of management and organizations at the University of Southern California. His research explores how individuals behave and perform in groups and dyads. He investigates specifically how interpersonal dynamics, such as dominance, submissiveness, and physical synchrony, affect coordination. He also researches how people view and judge others' morality. Scott has published papers in Academy of Management Journal and Psychological Science.
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Benoît Monin is an associate professor of organizational behavior and psychology at Stanford University, and an associate editor of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. His research investigates the role of self-image in everyday morality, as reflected for example in the liberating role of moral credentials and the resentment of moral rebels.
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Rosalind M. Chow is an assistant professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests include perceptions of justice, the psychological experience of power and dominance, and pro-social behavior. Rosalind has published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
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The authors declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
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The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
- © The Author(s) 2010
