The victim matters: Experimental evidence on lying, moral costs and moral cleansing

Lukas Meub, Till Proeger, Tim Schneider and Kilian Bizer

No 233, University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics from University of Goettingen, Department of Economics

Abstract: In an experiment on moral cleansing with an endogenously manipulated moral self-image, we examine the relevance of the addressee of an immoral action. The treatments differ such that cheating on a die roll reduces either the experimenter´s or another subject´s payoff. We find that cheating is highest and moral cleansing lowest when subjects cheat at the expense of the experimenter, while cheating is lowest and moral cleansing highest once cheating harms another subject. A subsequent measurement of subjects´ moral self-image supports our interpretation that the occurrence of moral cleansing crucially depends on the moral costs resulting from immoral actions directed at individuals in different roles. Our results can help to explain the different propensity to cheat and conduct moral cleansing when immoral actions harm either another person or the representatives of an organization.

Keywords: dictator game; laboratory experiment; lying; moral balancing; moral; cleansing; self-image (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-hpe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:cegedp:233

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