Moral Licensing

What is it?

Moral licensing is the psychological phenomenon where past good behavior creates a sense of "moral credits" that permits subsequent questionable behavior. Having done something virtuous, we feel licensed to be less virtuous next time—as if morality were a bank account that can be deposited into and withdrawn from. In one classic set of experiments, people who had first had the chance to reject blatantly sexist statements, or to pick a Black candidate for a job, were later more willing to say a job suited a man, or a white person, better. In another study, people who wrote about their own good qualities then donated less to charity than those who wrote about their flaws. The pattern may extend beyond ethics: people sometimes eat more after exercising, and in one study, people who had just bought eco-friendly products were more likely to cheat afterwards. A meta-analysis found the effect real but modest on average. Licensing also works prospectively: intending to be good later can license being bad now. In organizations, moral licensing may help explain why diversity initiatives sometimes backfire, why companies with strong CSR programs still have ethical lapses, and why individuals who see themselves as ethical may be blind to their own transgressions. Counteracting moral licensing requires treating ethical behavior as reflecting identity rather than earning credits, maintaining consistent standards rather than compensating across domains, and being especially vigilant after feeling virtuous.