The Influence Of Moral Emotions On Moral Hypocrisy: The Role Of Social Responsibility And Imaginative Contact

Moral hypocrisy is a phenomenon of universal morality.It has aroused the attention of the society since its introduction.It includes two levels.Among them,the hypocrisy of the individual is expressed by the image ‘‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’’,and interpersonal hypocrisy is a double standard for different individuals.Hold a relaxed ethical standard for yourself,but demand others with strict ethical standards.As a typical violation of ethical,moral hypocrisy is not conducive to the establishment of trust and the establishment of universal morality.The prevalence of moral emotions is an immediate feedback on individual behavior and has a guiding effect on the individual’s follow-up behavior.Studies have shown that moral emotions have an impact on moral hypocrisy,and guilt can negatively predict the behavior of moral hypocrisy and pride can increase the behavior of moral hypocrisy.However,few studies have explored the mechanism of the action,whether there is a mediator variable between the two.Studies have found that social responsibility can positively predict the pro-social behavior and altruistic behavior of individuals,and reduce the deceptive behavior of individuals.Imaged contact can increase the inter-group trust of individuals and bring the social distance between individuals and other individuals and groups closer.However,in the field of moral hypocrisy,there is still a lack of research on social responsibility and imaged contact.Therefore,whether the two play an important role in the relationship between moral emotions and moral hypocrisy remains to be explored.In this study,three studies conducted six experiments,using the paradigm of revised task assignment and the paradigm of ethical situation judgment.Through the initiation of two moral emotions of guilt(self-awareness)and sympathy(focusing on others),we explored the moral emotions,the influence of moral hypocrisy and its internal mechanisms,and the role of the level of imaginative contact in it.Among them,Study 1 includes two experiments to explore the effects of moral emotions(guilt and sympathy)on personal hypocrisy and interpersonal hypocrisy.Study 2 consists of two experiments.Based on previous research,social responsibility is introduced as a potential mediator variable to explore whether it has a mediating effect between moral emotions and personal hypocrisy,moral emotions and interpersonal hypocrisy.Study 3 consists of two experiments to explore the relationship between moral emotions,imaged contact levels and personal hypocrisy and interpersonal hypocrisy,and to verify the moderate role of imaged contact levels.The study found that:(1)Moral emotions have an effect on moral hypocrisy.Participants in the guilty and sympathetic groups showed less moral hypocrisy than the control group.Guilt and sympathynegatively predict the behavior of moral hypocrisy.(2)Social responsibility plays a mediating role in the influence of moral emotions on moral hypocrisy.Among them,the social responsibility plays a full mediating role between moral emotions and personal hypocrisy,and plays a partial mediating role between moral emotions and interpersonal hypocrisy.Guilt and sympathy improve the individual’s social responsibility,and then negatively predict the behavior of moral hypocrisy.(3)Imaged contact moderate the influence of moral emotions on moral hypocrisy.At the level of low-imaged contact,the initiation of guilt and sympathy will reduce the level of moral hypocrisy of the individual.But at the level of high-imaged contact,the influence of moral emotions on moral hypocrisy has been offset.Specifically,more participants make consistent choices and have stricter ethical standards for others,no matter what kind of moral emotion they are in.