Morality in everyday life

TLDR

Morality research has largely relied on controlled laboratory settings, yet this study argues for examining the antecedents, dynamics, and consequences of everyday moral experience. The study aimed to investigate everyday morality by repeatedly assessing moral and immoral acts and experiences in a large sample using ecological momentary assessment. The authors employed ecological momentary assessment to repeatedly record participants’ moral and immoral acts and experiences in a large sample. Participants reported frequent and varied moral experiences, with liberals and conservatives emphasizing different moral dimensions but no religious differences in moral behavior; being the target of moral or immoral acts most strongly affected happiness, while committing such acts most strongly influenced sense of purpose, and daily analyses revealed both moral contagion and moral licensing.

Abstract

The science of morality has drawn heavily on well-controlled but artificial laboratory settings. To study everyday morality, we repeatedly assessed moral or immoral acts and experiences in a large (N = 1252) sample using ecological momentary assessment. Moral experiences were surprisingly frequent and manifold. Liberals and conservatives emphasized somewhat different moral dimensions. Religious and nonreligious participants did not differ in the likelihood or quality of committed moral and immoral acts. Being the target of moral or immoral deeds had the strongest impact on happiness, whereas committing moral or immoral deeds had the strongest impact on sense of purpose. Analyses of daily dynamics revealed evidence for both moral contagion and moral licensing. In sum, morality science may benefit from a closer look at the antecedents, dynamics, and consequences of everyday moral experience.