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Moral Disengagement: The Evidence

 

Moral Disengagement: The Evidence

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But why accept the theory?

Note the contrast with philosophy, where it often seems enough to have a good story. (I’ve nothing against storytelling. It’s proven incredibly useful. But you can’t do moral psychology merely by telling stories.)

Moral Disengagement Questionnaire

To what extent would you agree that ...

It is alright to beat someone who bad mouths your family. (Moral Justification)

It is okay to tell small lies because they don't really do any harm. (Distorting Consequences)

Some people deserve to be treated like animals. (Dehumanization)

Kids who get mistreated usually do things that deserve it. (Attribution of Blame)

(Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996)

Moral Disengagement Questionnaire

32 items, 4 per process

Results

Statistically, a single factor could be regarded as responsible for subjects’ responses on all items.

‘Results supported the presence of a second-order sport moral disengagement factor, indicating that all mechanisms are part of one overriding construct.‘ (Boardley & Kavussanu, 2007, p. 625)

This factor correlated significantly with antisocial behaviour (and not with socioeconomic factors)

(Bandura et al., 1996)

Further Studies

moral disengagement in the United States before and after the September 11th terrorist strike (McAlister, Bandura, & Owen, 2006)

And McAlister et al. (2006) compared moral disengagement in the United States before and after the September 11th terrorist strike, finding a significant increase in moral disengagement which was correlated with a significant increase in support for the use of military force. Strikingly, these authors found that the terrorist strike itself appeared to have no effect on support for the use of military force other than through increased moral disengagement (p. 156).
Image source: https://cdn.cfr.org/sites/default/files/styles/large_xl/public/image/2022/04/TL_2001_AfghanistanInvasion.jpg.webp
Image caption: ‘U.S. soldiers prepare to sweep the home of an Afghan man in November 2002. Scott Nelson/Getty Images’
Image is from an article: https://www.cfr.org/timeline/how-911-reshaped-foreign-policy

Moral disengagement appears to be a valid and useful construct.

A construct is a factor postulated by a theory with the aim of explaining patterns of behaviour.
A useful construct is one that can explain an interesting range of target phenomena.
A valid construct is one that can be measured using a tool (often a questionnaire) where there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the tool measures the construct

Why Is Moral Disengagement Relevant?