UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ONE’S RELIGIOSITY AND THE MORAL SELF-LICENSING EFFECT: A REPLICATION AND EXTENSION STUDY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

In the current literature, a resolution of the religiosity-morality puzzle has been elusive given the complexities of both constructs, as well as an inability to replicate past findings. In an attempt to further understanding on the conception of the moral self within the context of individual religiosity, the Moral Self-Licensing effect was examined through the constructs of Moral Self-Image (MSI) and Moral Identity (MI). Drawing on previous research, the sequential behaviour paradigm was adopted. As a conceptualization of everyday morality, participants (N = 235) indicated their actual prosocial inclinations in the Visions of Morality Scale (VMS), and were then given the opportunity to make an unsupervised moral choice through a coin flip task. A significant main effect of religiosity on an increased propensity to exhibit the self-licensing effect was found. The moderated-moderation analysis highlighted the crucial interaction between one’s MI and MSI in the overall conceptualization of the self. The present research contends that the high MI values indicated by the High Religiosity group were likely to be exaggerated by self-stereotypes, and a matching MSI through high VMS scores thus justified their unreasonably heightened tendency to indicate a favourable coin flip outcome above the baseline probability. By utilizing religiosity as the research angle from which the self-licensing effect was examined, the indirect effect of self-stereotyping on subsequent self-justifying behaviours was revealed. Further theoretical and practical implications were also discussed.