Chapter 1. Moral Disengagement

Short Description

In this video, Albert Bandura addresses past and present theories of morality. He notes that previous moral theories centered around moral theories and principles, but did not address specific moral behaviors. Most of humanity are decent people. Bandura indicates that people encounter moral predicaments in which the things they really desire they can get by violating moral standards. He notes that individuals will strip morality from the behavior in order not have to pay the costs of contempt and guilt.

Long Description

Bandura reflects on and explains mechanisms of moral disengagement. He identifies moral justification, in which the ends justify the harmful means and this type of justification has multiple motives (e.g., political, economic, etc.). He also identifies sanitizing comparisons, in which individuals emphasize that harm saved is greater than the harm potentially caused.

Bandura also discusses euphemisms in our language that reduce the focus on the moral ambiguity or harm of a specific event or behavior. Bandura discusses diffusion of responsibility, group decision making, and fractioning of tasks as means of moral disengagement. These mechanisms serve a dual function as they invest morality in the mission itself, but disengage morality in the actors themselves.

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