Situational context moderates the relationship between moral disengagement and aggression.

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we examined whether dispositional moral disengagement is associated with a specific act of laboratory-based aggression. No study, to our knowledge, has yet demonstrated this simple, yet necessary, link. We also investigated whether situational context moderated this relationship. Method: A university sample of 181 participants completed the Moral Disengagement Scale and the Hot Sauce Paradigm in an experimental design. Participants allocated hot sauce for consumption by a fictional partner who had insulted them (experimental conditions) or not (control condition). In two of three experimental conditions, participants were given instructions incorporating statements of diffusion of responsibility and displacement of responsibility; the third experimental condition measured baseline aggression in a Revenge-only condition, without additional moral disengagement statements. Results: Dispositional moral disengagement was correlated with behavioral aggression, but only in the Revenge-only condition. This relationship disappeared in the Diffusion-primed and Displacement-primed conditions, demonstrating that situational context moderates the relationship between moral disengagement and aggression. Conclusions: Moral disengagement is indeed associated with specific acts of interpersonal aggression. However, while moral disengagement may play a substantial role in predicting aggression, the situational context must be taken into account. Our data suggest that situational characteristics can disrupt the association between trait moral disengagement and aggression, and this may be an avenue for future prevention research.

“It was only harmless banter!” The development and preliminary validation of the moral disengagement in sexual harassment scale

“…As a theoretical construct, moral disengagement has been measured and tested across diverse behavioral contexts. For example, it is a positive predictor of juvenile offending (Shulman, Cauffman, Piquero, & Fagan, 2011) aggression and delinquency (Bandura et al, 1996;Caprara et al, 2014;Pelton, Gound, Forehand, & Brody, 2004;White-Ajmani & Bursik, 2014), corporate crime (e.g., Bandura, Caprara, & Zsolnai, 2000;Detert, Sweitzer, & Trevino, 2008), dishonest academic behavior (e.g., Shu, Gino, & Bazerman, 2011), anti-social conduct in sport (e.g., Boardley & Kavussanu, 2007;Traclet, Moret, Ohl, & Clemence, 2015), and civic offenses such as vandalism (e.g., Caprara, Fida, Vecchione, Tramantano, & Barbaranelli, 2009). However, as previously stated, the construct of moral disengagement has received almost no empirical or theoretical application to the context of sexual violence.…”

Think About It: Cognitive Load and the Trolley Scenario as an Analogue of Gun Violence

“…This assignment of exercises (which can cause discomfort) was the operationalization of aggression. This is similar to measures of aggression that involved delivery of unpleasant stimuli in a laboratory context such as allocating the amount of hot sauce that a target is to ingest (White-Ajmani & Bursik, 2014).…”

Moral Disengagement

“…For example, Samnani et al found that the relationship between negative affect and counterproductive workplace behavior was stronger for those higher in dispositional moral disengagement [18]. White-Ajmani and Bursik found that after being insulted, individuals high in moral disengagement were more likely to harm the person who had insulted them (by making them drink hot sauce) [54]. And Panasiti and colleagues [55] found that moral disengagement did not trigger increased rates of lying an experimental game across the board, but individuals who were more morally disengaged were less affected by reputational risks when making a decision to lie.…”