On the misguided pursuit of happiness and ethical decision making: The roles of focalism and the impact bias in unethical and selfish behavior

•Individuals engage in unethical and selfish behavior to obtain desired outcomes, such as monetary or career rewards.•The anticipated emotional impact of the outcomes individuals seek to obtain is overestimated (i.e. impact bias).•The impact bias results from focalism (i.e. excessive focus on an out...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Organizational behavior and human decision processes 2016-03, Vol.133, p.1-16
Main Author: Noval, Laura J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affective forecasting
Anchoring
Anticipated emotions
Behavior
Bias
Career advancement
Decision making
Ethics
Financial incentives
Focalism
Happiness
Impact bias
Monetary incentives
Organizational behavior
Organizational behaviour
Psychology
Rewards
Self interest
Selfish behavior
Social psychology
Studies
Unethical behavior
Work ethic
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Summary:•Individuals engage in unethical and selfish behavior to obtain desired outcomes, such as monetary or career rewards.•The anticipated emotional impact of the outcomes individuals seek to obtain is overestimated (i.e. impact bias).•The impact bias results from focalism (i.e. excessive focus on an outcome).•In four studies, focalism and the impact bias about desired outcomes were experimentally reduced.•The focalism reduction resulted in a decreased tendency of individuals to engage in unethical and selfish behavior. An important body of research in the field of behavioral ethics argues that individuals behave unethically and selfishly because they want to obtain desired outcomes, such as career advancement and monetary rewards. Concurrently, a large body of literature in social psychology has shown that the subjective value of an outcome is determined by its anticipated emotional impact. Such impact has been consistently found to be overestimated both in its intensity and in its duration (i.e. impact bias) due to focalism (i.e. excessive focus on the desired outcome). Across four empirical studies, this investigation demonstrates that reducing focalism and thereby attenuating the impact bias in regards to desired outcomes decreases people’s tendency to engage in both unethical and selfish behavior to obtain those outcomes.
ISSN:0749-5978
1095-9920
DOI:10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.12.004