Harmless bodily pleasures are moralized because they are perceived as reducing self-control and cooperativeness

Abstract

Why do some people moralize overindulgence in inherently victimless bodily pleasures, such as gluttony, masturbation, drinking, or laziness, when these behaviors appear devoid of any harmful consequences to other people? We test the hypothesis that these moral judgements stem from perceptions that overindulgence alters people’s self-control, thus making them more likely to cheat in cooperative interactions. In an online experiment on 400 American adults, participants judged that a target who was caused to increase his indulgence in bodily pleasures would reduce his self-control and disposition to cooperate. Participants judged, by contrast, that sustained restraint from bodily pleasures over several months would improve a target’s self-control and disposition to cooperate. The effect of indulgence (vs. restraint) on perceived change in cooperativeness was fully mediated by perceived change in self-control. This supports the idea that bodily pleasures are perceived as increasing people’s propensity to cheat because they are perceived as reducing their self-control, which is perceived necessary for cooperative behavior. Finally, the more people perceived indulgence as reducing self-control and cooperativeness, the more they regarded indulgence in victimless bodily pleasures as morally wrong (e.g., masturbation, gluttony, harmless drinking and laziness). These results provide preliminary support for the Moral disciplining theory of puritanism, according to which, although inherently harmless, bodily pleasures are condemned as indirectly facilitating antisocial behaviors through their perceived effect on self-control.

An evolutionary contractualist theory of morality

“…Immoderate indulgence in bodily pleasures and intoxicants, meanwhile, appears perceived as degrading people's self-control, thus threatening people's ability to resist temptations to cheat in cooperative interactions (e.g., temptations of adultery, free-riding, violence, or stinginess, Fitouchi et al, 2021, for a review). Supporting this idea, psychological evidence suggests that perceiving harmless bodily pleasures (e.g., gluttony, drinking, idleness, masturbation) as altering people's self-control and cooperativeness predicts the propensity to moralize those pleasures (Fitouchi et al, 2022b). This converges with previous evidence that people perceive individuals indulging in gluttony both as less self-controlled and less trustworthy; that people perceive alcohol and drug consumption as favoring uncooperative behaviors (e.g., violence, nastiness, adultery); and that moralizations of harmless indulgences in sexual pleasure are predicted by perceptions of probable harm, more robustly than by disgust or disgust sensitivity (Fitouchi et al, 2021, for a review).…”

Moral disciplining: The cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality

“…A significant share of people believes that pornography Grubbs et al, 2019), fatty and sugary foods (Ruddock & Hardman, 2017), and intoxicants (Edelstein et al, 2020;El Khoury et al, 2019) can be addictive, while experimental evidence suggests that people intuitively associate addiction with loss of selfcontrol (see Vonasch et al, 2017). In vignette studies, we found that participants judged individuals increasing their indulgence in bodily pleasures over several months (e.g., pornography, alcohol, fatty and sugary foods) as altering their trait-self-control as a result of this lifestyle change (Fitouchi, André, Baumard & Nettle, 2022). Surveying religious attitudes toward pleasure, Glucklich (2020, pp.…”

“…In the General Social Survey, support for legal restrictions of pornography is associated with the belief that "sexual material lead people to commit rape" (Sherkat & Ellison, 1997). In two vignette studies (N > 1,100), we presented participants with a target led to increase their indulgence in bodily pleasures, such as gluttony and masturbation (Fitouchi, André, Baumard & Nettle, 2022). Participants judged that, as a result of this lifestyle change, the target had likely become more prone to uncooperative behaviors, such as refusing to help a friend, free-riding on colleagues' work, and cheating his partner if he had the chance .…”

“…This relates to Buchtel's fascinating data on the centrality of a "cultivated" character in Chinese lay concepts of morality. The core of puritanical morality is that people have a moral duty to cultivate character traits that will help them behave more cooperatively in the future (Fitouchi, André, & Baumard, 2022a;Fitouchi, André, Baumard, & Nettle, 2022b).…”

“…Christian morality, for example, condemns excessive indulgence in food and sex as the deadly sins of gluttony and lust (Adamson, 2004;Hill, 2011). Psychologists have observed that many participants moralize unrestrained or unhealthy eating (Fitouchi, André, Baumard, & Nettle, 2022;Ringel & Ditto, 2019;Steim & Nemeroff, 1995), as well as sexual indulgences such as masturbation or oral sex Haidt & Hersh, 2001;Schein, Ritter, & Gray, 2016). (2) A strong valorization of temperance and self-discipline.…”