Morality, Situational Moral Cues, and Crime Decisions

• In Event: Decison Making, Morality, Emotionality and Virtual Reality

Abstract

Research increasingly suggests morality plays and important role in criminal decision making. In criminology, morality is primarily conceived to operate as an enduring individual-trait, but there is reason to believe that morality is also dependent on the context in which opportunities for crime arise. In social and moral psychology for example, the influence of morality on prosocial behavior is highly dependent on situational and contextual input. This implies that situational moral dynamics may decrease the moral acceptability of a transgression and subsequently encourage legal compliance. The current study investigates these issues with a survey containing randomized experiments administered to a nationwide sample of respondents. Specifically, we examine the influence of morally laden situational cues on behavioral rationalizations and crime outcomes. Two moral dynamics are investigated: incidental moral primes which are external to the situation, and integral moral cues which stem from the crime opportunity itself. We further test the degree to which these situational moral dynamics interrelate with a person’s preexisting level of moral identity.

Authors

• Shaina Herman, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law

• Greg Pogarsky, University at Albany, SUNY