Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Wednesday August 01 2018, @06:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the title-field-should-have-the-right-to-more-characters.-on-second-thought,-no-it-doesn't...or-does-it? dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Many commentators considered President Obama’s reversal on same-sex marriage an act of courage. But this isn’t how the public usually perceives moral mind-changers, according to a team led by Tamar Kreps at the University of Utah. Their findings0 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggest that leaders who shift from a moral stance don’t appear brave – they just look like hypocrites.

The researchers conducted 15 studies, of which I’ll focus on one example that illustrates the core approach. Nearly 800 participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk read scenarios where a member of the US Congress took a stance on either the death penalty or same-sex marriage. In some cases, their stance was pragmatic, indicated in their statement through phrases like “it’s a matter of not having to invest in the cost of changing government systems”. In other cases the justification for the stance was moral – “it’s a matter of justice.”

Participants rated their initial feelings about the politician and then learned that he or she had since changed their tune, again making a statement based on either pragmatic or moral reasons. For example, a statement might read “It’s still a moral issue for me…I’ve realized, though, that we can never be 100 per cent certain that the convicted party is guilty, and truly defending justice means never taking the risk of killing an innocent victim.” Finally, participants rated the politicians again.

When their initial stance was moral rather than pragmatic, the political leaders suffered costs and gained no benefits after changing their moral mind. Participants rated them as less effective, less worthy of support and more hypocritical, with the intensity of hypocrisy driving the other two negative judgments. Even those participants who agreed with moral mind-changers’ new position saw them as hypocritical, although slightly less so than other participants. At the same time, moral mind changers were seen as no more courageous, effective, or worthy of support, compared to the congress men and women who changed their initial pragmatically grounded position.

Source: https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/07/31/political-and-business-leaders-who-change-their-moral-stance-are-perceived-not-as-brave-but-hypocritical-and-ineffective/

0Hypocritical flip-flop, or courageous evolution? When leaders change their moral minds. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000103)


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday August 01 2018, @09:52PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 01 2018, @09:52PM (#715927) Journal

    If a politician changes their view to your POV, then they are Brave.

    If they change their view to The Other POV, then they are a Hypocrite.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Insightful=2, Funny=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @10:24PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 01 2018, @10:24PM (#715940)

    It's not that simple. I want to have genuine allies on my side, not people who seem to have changed their view for political expediency. Oftentimes, they just do this so they can win an election, and once they do, they actively work against you. Not always, but usually. Be very skeptical of any corporate politicians who suddenly 'comes around' and is against corporations funding their campaigns, because usually they are liars and using trickery to hide where the money comes from.