Moral licensing, taking the liberty of acting reprehensibly when one has done something good, only occurs when the good deed had been observed

Rotella, Amanda, Jisoo Jung, Christopher Chinn, and Pat Barclay. 2023. “Observation Moderates the Moral Licensing Effect: A Meta-analytic Test of Interpersonal and Intrapsychic Mechanisms.” PsyArXiv. March 28. doi:10.31234/osf.io/tmhe9

Abstract: Moral licensing occurs when someone who initially behaved morally subsequently acts less morally. We apply reputation-based theories to predict when and why moral licensing would occur. Specifically, our pre-registered predictions were that (1) participants observed during the licensing manipulation would have larger licensing effects, and (2) unambiguous dependent variables would have smaller licensing effects. In a pre-registered multi-level meta-analysis of 111 experiments (N = 19,335), we found a larger licensing effect when participants were observed (Hedge’s g = 0.61) compared to unobserved (Hedge’s g = 0.14). Ambiguity did not moderate the effect. The overall moral licensing effect was small (Hedge’s g = 0.18). We replicated these analyses using robust Bayesian meta-analysis and found strong support for the moral licensing effect only when participants are observed. These results suggest that the moral licensing effect is predominantly an interpersonal effect based on reputation, rather than an intrapsychic effect based on self-image.