Automatic Ethics: The Effects of Implicit Assumptions and Contextual Cues on Moral Behavior

We empirically examine the reflexive or automatic aspects of moral decision making. To begin, we develop and validate a measure of an individual's implicit assumption regarding the inherent morality of business. Then, using an in-basket exercise, we demonstrate that an implicit assumption that...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied psychology 2010-07, Vol.95 (4), p.752-760
Main Authors: Reynolds, Scott J, Leavitt, Keith, DeCelles, Katherine A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Behavioural psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Business Organizations
Contextual Cues
Cues
Culture
Decision Making
Ethics
Ethics, Business
Exercise
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Moral aspects
Moral behaviour
Moral decision making
Moral Development
Morality
Morals
Occupational psychology
Professional ethics
Psychological effects
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social Behavior
Social interaction
Social Perception
Studies
Work condition. Job performance. Stress
Young Adult
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We empirically examine the reflexive or automatic aspects of moral decision making. To begin, we develop and validate a measure of an individual's implicit assumption regarding the inherent morality of business. Then, using an in-basket exercise, we demonstrate that an implicit assumption that business is inherently moral impacts day-to-day business decisions and interacts with contextual cues to shape moral behavior. Ultimately, we offer evidence supporting a characterization of employees as reflexive interactionists: moral agents whose automatic decision-making processes interact with the environment to shape their moral behavior.
ISSN:0021-9010
1939-1854
DOI:10.1037/a0019411