Everyday (Im)morality

Along with Yoel Inbar, I investigate perceptions of daily immoral behaviors conducted by individuals who vary in their beliefs about whether their actions are wrong. We study how knowing a target’s beliefs about the acceptability of their own actions lead to subsequent assumption about their meta desires. We further study how these beliefs affect our own perceptions of the acceptability of the target’s behavior, as well as assessments of their moral character.

Schwartz, S. A., & Inbar, Y. (2023). Is it good to feel bad about littering? Conflict between moral beliefs and behaviors for everyday transgressions. Cognition, 236, 105437.S

Our on going work examines potential boundary conditions for the malleability of act acceptability and character assessment. I am also interested in studying the perceived emotions of those who violate their own values with respect to ‘low level’ infractions.