What predicts moral behavior?

Situational influences and not moral values prove to be a more accurate predictor of behavior, according to a nonprofit research group studying the psychological basis of immoral behavior.

David Bersoff, PhD, director of the Diogenes Project in Woodbridge, Conn., theorizes that the presence of situational influences, or environmental conditions, can make it difficult for individuals to invent rationalizations for unethical behavior.

To test his theory, Bersoff overpaid 120 participants for completing a task. He noted the circumstances under which the participants admitted to receiving too much money. Without any situational influences to hinder rationalizing, 80 percent of the participants kept the extra money. But the numbers decreased to 17.5 percent when research assistants introduced various situations designed to prevent rationalizing behavior.

Those situational factors included:

* Asking the participant if he or she received the correct amount of money.

* Personalizing the victim. In some cases participants were more apt to accept the overpayment when they thought it came from a faceless organization, but were less likely if they thought an individual researcher was paying them.

* Creating circumstances in which participants might criticize others for the reasons they might have given to hold onto the extra money.

Bersoff also found that more participants pointed out the overpayment when researchers combined any two of the situational factors. By introducing new elements to impede rationalization, Bersoff demonstrated the possibility of making it harder for individuals to deceive themselves into thinking that even minor unethical behavior is acceptable.

Bersoff's study was published in the January issue of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (Vol. 25, No. 1, p. 28­38)

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