People self-servingly inflate the moral value of randomly assigned personality traits they believe they possess

People self-servingly inflate the moral value of randomly assigned personality traits they believe they possess. Andrew J. Vonasch, Bradley A. Tookey. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 112, May 2024, 104580. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103123001373

Abstract: Are people self-serving when moralizing personality traits? Past research has used cross sectional methods incapable of establishing causality, but the present research used experimental methods to test this. Indeed, two experiments (N = 669) show that people self-servingly inflate the moral value of randomly assigned personality traits they believe they possess, and even judge other people who share those same traits as more moral, warm, and competent than those who do not. We explain various methodological challenges overcome in conducting this research, and discuss implications for both psychology and philosophy.