McIntire School of Commerce.
Organisational Behaviour Subject Area.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2020 Sep;119(3):540-559. doi: 10.1037/pspa0000195. Epub 2020 Apr 23.
What counts as hypocrisy? Current theorizing emphasizes that people see hypocrisy when an individual sends them "false signals" about his or her morality (Jordan, Sommers, Bloom, & Rand, 2017); indeed, the canonical hypocrite acts more virtuously in public than in private. An alternative theory posits that people see hypocrisy when an individual enjoys "undeserved moral benefits," such as feeling more virtuous than his or her behavior merits, even when the individual has not sent false signals to others (Effron, O'Connor, Leroy, & Lucas, 2018). This theory predicts that acting less virtuously in public than in private can seem hypocritical by indicating that individuals have used good deeds to feel less guilty about their public sins than they should. Seven experiments (N = 3,468 representing 64 nationalities) supported this prediction. Participants read about a worker in a "sin industry" who secretly performed good deeds. When the individual's public work (e.g., selling tobacco) was inconsistent with, versus unrelated to, the good deeds (e.g., anonymous donations to an antismoking cause vs. an antiobesity cause), participants perceived him as more hypocritical, which in turn predicted less praise for his good deeds. Participants also inferred that the individual was using the inconsistent good deeds to cleanse his conscience for his public work, and such moral cleansing appeared hypocritical when it successfully alleviated his guilt. These results broaden and deepen understanding about how lay people conceptualize hypocrisy. Hypocrisy does not require appearing more virtuous than you are; it suffices to feel more virtuous than you deserve. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
什么算作虚伪？目前的理论强调，当一个人向他人发出关于其道德的“虚假信号”时，人们会认为这个人虚伪（Jordan、Sommers、Bloom 和 Rand，2017）；事实上，典型的伪君子在公开场合的行为比私下里更有道德。另一种理论则认为，当一个人享受“不应得的道德利益”时，人们会认为这个人虚伪，例如，他或她的行为比他或她的感觉更有道德，即使他或她没有向他人发出虚假信号（Effron、O'Connor、Leroy 和 Lucas，2018）。这一理论预测，在公共场合的行为比私下里的行为不那么有道德，可能会被认为是虚伪的，因为这表明个人利用善行来减轻自己对公共罪恶的内疚感，而这种内疚感是不应该有的。七个实验（N = 3468，代表 64 个国籍）支持了这一预测。参与者阅读了一个从事“罪恶行业”的工人的故事，他秘密地做了好事。当个人的公共工作（例如，销售烟草）与善行不一致（例如，匿名向反吸烟事业捐款与反肥胖事业捐款），而不是无关时，参与者认为他更虚伪，这反过来又导致对他的善行的赞扬减少。参与者还推断，个人正在利用不一致的善行来为自己的公共工作清洗良心，而这种道德上的清洗在成功减轻他的内疚感时显得虚伪。这些结果拓宽和深化了人们对如何理解虚伪的概念的理解。虚伪并不需要表现得比你更有道德；只要你感觉自己比应得的更有道德就行了。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2020 APA，保留所有权利）。
