Group virtue: The importance of morality (vs. competence and sociability) in the positive evaluation of in-groups.

Is it better to be moral than smart? The effects of morality and competence norms on the decision to work at group status improvement.

“…Additionally, we extend previous work showing that moral judgments are more important than competence judgments in determining the value of the groups people belong to as well as their willingness to identify with these groups (Leach et al, 2007). The current results suggest that it is also important for the self to be seen as moral Morality,competence,and status improvement 33 by other members of an in-group, and that individual group members are willing to adapt their behavior accordingly.…”

“…In line with its importance to the individual self, morality appears to play a crucial role in regulating group-level behavior. This may be part of the reason why individuals care so much about the morality of their in-groups and gain positive self-evaluation from it (Leach et al, 2007 Sometimes morality and sociability are combined into a single broader construct relevant to social interactions, which is contrasted with competence (see Wojciszke, 2005;Wojciszke, Bazinska, Jaworski, 1998).…”

“…Of course, being moral is also the best way to be a 'good' individual (Schwartz, 1992). Thus, being moral enables positive self-evaluation on a dimension that is of central importance to the social self (Leach et al, 2007). This is not to say that competence is irrelevant.…”

“…One may argue that the approval of other in-group members might be particularly important for members of low-status groups, who need each other for help and support to cope with their Morality, competence, and status improvement 37 plight (e.g., Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999). Nevertheless, previous research has shown that in-group morality is important for members of high-status groups as well as lowstatus groups (Leach et al, 2007). This would suggest that, in principle, moral norms might also be more important than competence norms in groups with high status.…”

“…Morality is also important to group-level selfevaluation. In a recent paper, Leach, Ellemers, and Barreto (2007) showed in-group morality (i.e., honest, trustworthy) to be distinct from sociability (i.e., warm, kind) and competence (i.e., competent, intelligent). Although all three characteristics were considered important to peoples' membership in a variety of in-groups, morality was most associated with identification with, pride in, and positive evaluation of the in-group.…”