Do Good Deeds Make Bad People?

Sophie Clot, Gilles Grolleau () and Lisette Ibanez

Working Papers from LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier

Abstract: A limited but growing literature contends that licensing can operate by committing to a virtuous act in a preceding choice, which reduces negative self-attributions associated with donating less or behaving less virtuously in the succeeding decision. Psychological research and behavioral economics strongly suggest that pre-existing intrinsic motivations of individuals play a major role in determining their subsequent choices when faced with a voluntary or mandatory virtuous ‘act’. In this paper, we report the results of a pilot experimental study examining licensing effect in the environmental realm, using a 2 (mandatory or voluntary nature of the virtuous act) X 2 (intrinsically or non-intrinsically motivated individuals) between subjects design. We found that intrinsically motivated and non-intrinsically motivated subjects reacted adversely to the two policy scenarios. The licensing effect occurs when combining intrinsically (resp., non-intrinsically) motivated individuals and mandatory (resp. voluntary) conditions.

Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2011-11, Revised 2011-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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http://www.lameta.univ-montp1.fr/Documents/DR2011-21.pdf First version, 2011 (application/pdf)
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Related works:
Journal Article: Do good deeds make bad people? (2016)
Working Paper: Do good deeds make bad people? (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lam:wpaper:11-21

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