The asymmetric effect of regulatory fit on moral judgments of other-oriented lies |
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| Authors: | Song Wu Tinglanxue Yuan Shenghua Jin |
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| Institution: | 1. College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China;2. School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China |
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| Abstract: | We examined whether regulatory fit effects are asymmetric—namely, whether they occur only among individuals with a promotion focus or a prevention focus. We adopted a task where individuals make moral judgments of other-oriented lies and conducted three studies. The results indicated that prevention-focused individuals judged other-oriented lies based on a vigilant strategy as more moral than lies based on an eager strategy (Studies 1 and 2). Meanwhile for promotion-focused individuals, there were no differences between eager and vigilant strategies on moral judgments of other-oriented lies. Additionally, the results suggested that the feeling of rightness is an underlying mechanism of the regulatory fit effects of prevention focus (Study 3). |
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| Keywords: | Regulatory focus Regulatory fit Moral judgments Other-oriented lies Asymmetric |
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