Testing Education and Accountability as Moderators of the Self-Interest Bias in Moral Character Judgments

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cris.lastimport.scopus2025-12-15T04:18:25Z
dc.abstract.enThe self-interest bias describes an inclination of people to evaluate transgressors morally better when the latter’s actions serve the former’s interests. Effective interventions to mitigate this type of self-serving bias remain underexplored. The current research investigates education and accountability as potential moderators of this bias. In preregistered Study 1 (N = 668), as predicted, educating participants about the self-interest bias eliminated its effect on their moral character judgments. However, across three preregistered accountability studies (N = 2,239), holding participants accountable for their judgments did not attenuate the bias. Similarly, in preregistered Study 5 (N = 641), we found no evidence of a combined effect of education and accountability on reducing the bias. These findings suggest that while increasing awareness through education may effectively reduce biased moral judgments, accountability, especially when lacking external scrutiny or consequences, does not. Theoretical implications, methodological limitations, and future research opportunities are discussed.
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii w Sopocie
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.contributor.authorLu, Yong
dc.contributor.authorMiazek, Katarzyna
dc.contributor.authorBocian, Konrad
dc.date.access2025-08-28
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-19T09:14:41Z
dc.date.available2025-09-19T09:14:41Z
dc.date.created2025-07-14
dc.date.issued2025-08-28
dc.description.accesstimebefore_publication
dc.description.grantnumber2021/43/D/HS6/02013
dc.description.physical1-17
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.identifier.doi10.1177/01461672251364308
dc.identifier.eissn1552-7433
dc.identifier.issn0146-1672
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/1802
dc.identifier.weblinkhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01461672251364308
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOTHER
dc.subject.enself-interest bias
dc.subject.enmoral character judgments
dc.subject.enmotivated cognition
dc.subject.eneducation
dc.subject.enaccountability
dc.swps.sciencecloudnosend
dc.titleTesting Education and Accountability as Moderators of the Self-Interest Bias in Moral Character Judgments
dc.title.journalPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle