Self-serving bias in moral values.
| dc.contributor.author | Tookey, Bradley A. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-01-27T03:36:27Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-01-27T03:36:27Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Evolutionary psychology suggests that the function of morality is to foster cooperation. Often it is moral to sacrifice self-interest in order to benefit the group, and to be seen as selfish can have severe repercussions. But what if we could convince ourselves, and others, that what satisfies our self-interest is also the most moral? Self-interest may be one place where moral values are derived. We are self-serving in a variety of ways, from how smart or skilled we think we are, to how morally righteous we think we are. Moral judgements are sometimes self-serving too, and it is possible that the things we find morally valuable are influenced in this way. We conduct several experiments examining whether people self- servingly inflate the moral value of traits of qualities they possess. We test this by cleverly manipulating what traits participants believe they have. Across two experiments we find that people self-servingly inflate the moral value of randomly assigned personality traits they believe they possess, and even judge other people who share those same traits as more moral than those who do not. However, we were unable to generalize this self-serving effect to different types of intelligence and discuss why this occurred. Universal moral principles should not depend on an individual’s personal traits, yet we find the self-serving bias plays a role in people’s moral valuations. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10092/103322 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://dx.doi.org/10.26021/12424 | |
| dc.language | English | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.rights | All Rights Reserved | en |
| dc.rights.uri | https://canterbury.libguides.com/rights/theses | en |
| dc.title | Self-serving bias in moral values. | en |
| dc.type | Theses / Dissertations | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Psychology | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Canterbury | en |
| thesis.degree.level | Masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |
| uc.bibnumber | 3118907 | |
| uc.college | Faculty of Science | en |