Moral Hypocrisy Definition
Webster’s Desk Dictionary of the English Language (1990) defines moral as “1. of or concerned with principles of right or wrong conduct. 2. being in accordance with such principles” (p. 586); it defines hypocrisy as “a pretense of having desirable or publicly approved attitudes, beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually possess” (p. 444). Moral hypocrisy is the motivation to appear moral, while, if possible, avoiding the cost of being moral. This is in opposition to moral integrity, which is the motivation to act in accord with moral principles—to actually be moral.
Moral Hypocrisy Phenomenon
Moral people often fail to act morally. One of the most important lessons to be learned from the atrocities of the past century—mass killings, terrorist bombings, and corporate cover-ups—is that horrendous deeds are not done only by monsters. There are several possible reasons why a typical person might fail to act morally in some situations. One of these may be that people are often motivated by moral hypocrisy rather than by moral integrity.
Moral philosophers often assume a causal link from moral reasoning to moral action, but there is limited evidence for this link. People’s ability to see the morally right path does not guarantee that they will follow it. Early in life, most people learn that moral hypocrisy (e.g., appearing to act fairly when not doing so) can be advantageous if one does not get caught. But how best not to get caught? In the moral masquerade, self-deception may be an asset, making it easier to deceive others. Evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers suggested that if one can convince oneself that serving one’s own interests does not violate one’s principles, one can honestly appear moral and so avoid detection without paying the price of actually upholding the relevant moral principle. Most people are adept at justifying to themselves why a situation that benefits them or those they care about does not violate their moral principles—for example, why storing their nuclear waste in someone else’s backyard is fair. Such justification may allow people to apply these principles when judging others, yet avoid following the principles themselves.
Moral Hypocrisy Evidence
Research suggests that moral hypocrisy is common. College students given the opportunity to anonymously assign themselves and another person (actually fictitious) to two different tasks—one clearly more desirable than the other—typically assign themselves to the more desirable task 70% to 80% of the time. Students reminded of the moral principle of fairness, and given the chance to flip a coin to fairly determine the task assignment, flip the coin about half the time. Yet, even those who flip the coin assign themselves to the more desirable task 80% to 90% of the time. Clearly, most who lose the coin flip fail to abide by it. Furthermore, those who lose the coin flip but assign themselves the more desirable task rate their action as more moral than do those who assign themselves the more desirable task without going through the charade of flipping the coin. This appearance of fairness (flipping the coin) while avoiding the cost of being fair (assigning oneself the desirable task) has been taken as evidence of moral hypocrisy.
Overcoming Moral Hypocrisy
Procedures that one might think would increase moral integrity often increase moral hypocrisy instead. Both (a) expecting to meet the other person when assigning the tasks and (b) explicitly indicating that fairness is important before assigning the task increased moral hypocrisy. In each case, a larger percentage of participants flipped the coin, but those who did still assigned themselves to the desirable task 80% to 90% of the time.
Two procedures have been found to reduce moral hypocrisy. First, when people are made self-aware (e.g., by looking at themselves in a mirror), they become aware of discrepancies between their behavior and salient personal standards. This awareness creates pressure to act in accord with these personal standards. Among self-aware participants, task assignment following the coin flip has been found to be fair. Supporting the role of self-deception in moral hypocrisy, it seems that participants looking in a mirror could not deceive themselves regarding the fairness of the flip, and so they acted morally.
Second, feeling empathy for the other person seems to reduce moral hypocrisy, but not by increasing moral integrity. Empathy is an other-oriented emotion of sympathy and compassion for someone in distress. When induced to feel empathy for the other participant, many participants assigned the other to the desirable task without flipping the coin, suggesting an altruistic motive. However, those who flipped the coin were no fairer than in other studies, suggesting no increase in moral integrity.
Moral Hypocrisy Implications
Moral hypocrisy research highlights the important question of whether widely espoused moral principles such as fairness motivate people to be moral or only to appear moral. If the latter, then psychologists would expect people to act morally only when (a) there is little personal cost, (b) actually being moral is the only way to appear moral, or (c) they care about those that might be harmed by immoral action. Research to date supports this conclusion. Much behavior that has been assumed to be motivated by moral integrity may be motivated by moral hypocrisy instead.
- Batson, C. D., & Thompson, E. R. (2001). Why don’t moral people act morally? Motivational considerations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 54-57.