 |
| Link to Time Image/Getty Images 2020 |
Virtue signaling is a 2015 term meaning that people are advertising themselves as kind, decent, and virtuous. Virtue signaling is a term used to shame others for their moral grandstanding.
Moral
grandstanding combines the concept of a moral proclamation with the concept of
a prominent display (see Tosi &
Warmke, 2016). Making moral pronouncements is risky because human beings
have different views on morality and rarely live lives that match the call to a
moral stance.
Grandstanding
of any type is also risky because people may look closely at what the speaker
is saying or doing and find fault if the pronouncements from the public grandstand
seem hollow, false, or a thinly disguised attempt to win votes or profit from a
newly discovered cause—often presented as a moral cause.
Psychological
scientists find that people are harsher in their moral judgments when they
perceive a selfish motivation compared to people who do not make a moral
judgment (Zaki
& Cikara, 2020).
Zaki and
Cikara suggest that virtue signaling may work under certain conditions. If you
follow politics or religion, you have likely seen many people saying or doing
things that their leaders say or do. Loud and prominent voices are signals.
People often do not know what other’s think. Most people are influenced by frequent
and persistent opinions. Opinions and information are powerful forces for
social change. Opinions can create social norms, which people adopt without a
great deal of thought.
Virtue
signaling that leads to conformity may be judged in terms of effectiveness. The
actions that are signaled are those subject to be examined for their moral
worth.
Cite this post
Sutton, G. W. (2021, January 14). Virtue signaling & moral grandstanding. SuttonPsychology. https://suttonpsychology.blogspot.com/2021/01/virtue-signaling-moral-grandstanding.html
Links to Connections
Checkout My Website www.suttong.com
See my Books
FOLLOW me on
FACEBOOK Geoff
W. Sutton
TWITTER @Geoff.W.Sutton
PINTEREST www.pinterest.com/GeoffWSutton
No comments:
Post a Comment