Moral duty or moral defence? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of ingroup perpetrated harm

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Moral duty or moral defence? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of ingroup perpetrated harm. / Morton, Thomas A.; Postmes, Tom.

In: European Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 41, No. 1, 01.02.2011, p. 127-134.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Morton, TA & Postmes, T 2011, 'Moral duty or moral defence? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of ingroup perpetrated harm', European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 127-134. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.751

APA

Morton, T. A., & Postmes, T. (2011). Moral duty or moral defence? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of ingroup perpetrated harm. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41(1), 127-134. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.751

Vancouver

Morton TA, Postmes T. Moral duty or moral defence? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of ingroup perpetrated harm. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2011 Feb 1;41(1):127-134. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.751

Author

Morton, Thomas A. ; Postmes, Tom. / Moral duty or moral defence? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of ingroup perpetrated harm. In: European Journal of Social Psychology. 2011 ; Vol. 41, No. 1. pp. 127-134.

Bibtex

@article{331c2ea55ebe4adeaf6c80ea168df6d2,
title = "Moral duty or moral defence? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of ingroup perpetrated harm",
abstract = "Previous theory and research suggests that perceiving shared humanity with others should be a positive force for intergroup relations. The present research considers the alternative possibility, that notions of shared humanity might protect people from feelings of guilt over ingroup perpetrated harm by obscuring the ingroup's unique role in these events. Consistent with this idea, Study 1 (N=58) found that perceiving shared humanity with a harmed outgroup was associated with less guilt and stronger expectations of forgiveness among members of the perpetrator group. Study 2 (N=52) demonstrated that these effects only occurred when the moral integrity of the ingroup was open to question. When ingroup morality was instead secure, defensive use of humanity was not apparent. Together, these studies suggest that perceiving harmful ingroup actions as 'only human' can sometimes be a moral defence that absolves group members of feelings of responsibility for wrongdoing.",
author = "Morton, {Thomas A.} and Tom Postmes",
year = "2011",
month = feb,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1002/ejsp.751",
language = "English",
volume = "41",
pages = "127--134",
journal = "European Journal of Social Psychology",
issn = "0046-2772",
publisher = "JohnWiley & Sons Ltd",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Moral duty or moral defence? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of ingroup perpetrated harm

AU - Morton, Thomas A.

AU - Postmes, Tom

PY - 2011/2/1

Y1 - 2011/2/1

N2 - Previous theory and research suggests that perceiving shared humanity with others should be a positive force for intergroup relations. The present research considers the alternative possibility, that notions of shared humanity might protect people from feelings of guilt over ingroup perpetrated harm by obscuring the ingroup's unique role in these events. Consistent with this idea, Study 1 (N=58) found that perceiving shared humanity with a harmed outgroup was associated with less guilt and stronger expectations of forgiveness among members of the perpetrator group. Study 2 (N=52) demonstrated that these effects only occurred when the moral integrity of the ingroup was open to question. When ingroup morality was instead secure, defensive use of humanity was not apparent. Together, these studies suggest that perceiving harmful ingroup actions as 'only human' can sometimes be a moral defence that absolves group members of feelings of responsibility for wrongdoing.

AB - Previous theory and research suggests that perceiving shared humanity with others should be a positive force for intergroup relations. The present research considers the alternative possibility, that notions of shared humanity might protect people from feelings of guilt over ingroup perpetrated harm by obscuring the ingroup's unique role in these events. Consistent with this idea, Study 1 (N=58) found that perceiving shared humanity with a harmed outgroup was associated with less guilt and stronger expectations of forgiveness among members of the perpetrator group. Study 2 (N=52) demonstrated that these effects only occurred when the moral integrity of the ingroup was open to question. When ingroup morality was instead secure, defensive use of humanity was not apparent. Together, these studies suggest that perceiving harmful ingroup actions as 'only human' can sometimes be a moral defence that absolves group members of feelings of responsibility for wrongdoing.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78751637612&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/ejsp.751

DO - 10.1002/ejsp.751

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:78751637612

VL - 41

SP - 127

EP - 134

JO - European Journal of Social Psychology

JF - European Journal of Social Psychology

SN - 0046-2772

IS - 1

ER -

ID: 214452290