Stumbled when following a moral ideal

Most people are determined that they will never do that. Never! Never deliberately cause suffering to others, even if only for the purpose of getting information from them. Never inflate the value of any financial product to take advantage of the ignorance of others. And of course, never turn yourself into an eater and sit down to receive aid from the government.

Of course they are asserting themselves. And others, across newspapers can see a wealth of information about social freeloaders, shady business owners, or investigators who use barbaric torture.

'I remember that at the time I thought I was more kind than others, and that I would never compromise with my principles,' said Jordan Labouff, a 25-year-old Texas student, remembering. a collective negotiation with the university managers he joined a few years ago.

'And they, the managers, gave me a reward; I had previously sworn that I would never receive anything from them. But then, of course, I stood up on the podium and took it.

In recent years, social psychologists have begun to study the so-called 'self-thought more holy than people' effect. They have long known that people are often too optimistic about their own abilities and qualities - they overestimate their discipline, integrity, and social position.

But this trend of self-inflating is even more powerful in moral evaluation, and it can greatly affect how people judge other people's actions, as well as evaluate the behavior. your own dynamics. Psychologists say, culture, religious beliefs and experiences, all form a person's perception of moral quality in relationships, and recent research is making sense. I myself will prevail when it will be beneficial, and when I will hurt myself.

David Dunning, social psychologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said: 'The message of this work does not say that you should give up the attitude of moral outrage, which is sometimes reasonable. But the problem is, a lot of behavior is determined by the situation, not by a person's personality. What someone does in a situation will be a strong prediction of your actions in the same situation. '

The way to check whether someone really follows moral values ​​as they still think is not to put them in real life. In one study, 251 Cornell University students predicted the purchase of daffodils at the Water Festival, a four-day event to raise money to support the American Cancer Society. Sure, 83% predicted that they would buy at least one flower, and that only 56% of their friends did so.

Five weeks later, when the festival took place, the researchers obtained results that only 43% of students actually bought daffodils. In another experiment, researchers saw the same thing - people also overestimated their willingness to follow morality, for example, to raise money, vote and cooperate with non-relatives. familiar. Finally, their uneasy predictions about the behavior of others are accurate for both themselves and the rest.

'The distance between thinking how I will act and how I actually act is part of the function to adapt to the situation.' Nicholas Epley, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, co-authored many experiments with Dr. Dunning, said.

'The problem with assessing' I'm more holy than people 'is that we overestimate how we will act,' said Dr Epley. 'One more thing, we tend to blame the personality for every crisis or scandal - you know, if you lay off all unethical bankers on Wall Street with morals, we will solve the problem. '

In real-world experiments, the 'I am more saintly' effect will quickly disappear when people have experienced what they are evaluating: obscure accounting explanations will not be so subtle, wrong for someone who has ever fallen into failure to run a company. And this effect seems to be less frequently mentioned in cultures, but people always appreciate the importance of the team and collaborate in every achievement an individual achieves.

One thing that can lessen your sense of morality than people is religion. In the world all major religions emphasize the value of humility and the danger of arrogance. 'Always think that you are inferior to others,' that's what St. Paul said in the letter to the Philippine congregation.

However, for some people, religion seems to add to the feeling that you are a good example of morality. In a 2002 study, researchers from Texas Baylor University and Simpson State University of California reported that 80% of the 249 students participating in the church were regular church attendants.

Researchers led by Professor Wade C. Rowatt of Baylor found that in general, students in the 80% group considered themselves pious to biblical teachings twice as much as others.

The study also indicates that among the surveyed students, most fundamentalists are the ones with the most powerful thoughts.

'This reminds me of one of my favorite car rear guard stickers: God loves you, but I am the God of all things,' said Dr. Epley of the University of Chicago.

The moral superiority is actually what some psychologists call self-promotion. Highly motivated people always think that they are blessed, that they are promoted by others, and they will always be bright people. And sometimes it's true - especially in the fragile disasters between life and death, like the 9/11 or the Bosnian war.

'In a comprehensive way, pushy people act very well, especially mentally,' says George Bonanno, a Columbia University psychologist.

But in earthly life, the feeling of believing in one's virtue is sometimes a threat. 'These stock traders will not act wisely; Sometimes they buy too many bad stocks. In the economic field, the business results of these people are not very good, ' Dr. Dr. Dunning said.

In addition, if you care too much about moral issues, you will hardly be able to stand up immediately after making mistakes or doing wrong things.

(Photo: The New York Times)