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Handbook of the Sociology of Morality pp 385–409Cite as

The Social Psychology of the Moral Identity

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Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

For some time, psychologists have been studying the relationship between moral reasoning and moral behavior. A growing body of research insists that a moral identity rather than moral reasoning is crucial to understanding moral functioning. However, despite the interest in moral identity, there is no general theory that helps us understand this identity, or more generally, the moral self. In this chapter, I discuss the well-established control systems approach of identity theory to show how different aspects of the moral self: one’s moral identity, moral behavior, and moral emotions are linked in a logical and coherent way. I conceptualize social actors as self-regulating moral entities whose goal is to verify their moral identities. When moral identity verification does not ensue, moral emotions arise and motivate individuals to behave differently in order to produce outcomes that will better accomplish moral identity verification. I also discuss how we can theoretically understand the moral identity given the various other identities individuals claim.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Since then, alternative approaches that have been offered (e.g., Damon 1984, Rest et al. 1999).

  2. 2.

    Blasi (2004) claimed that a mature identity is a moral identity.

  3. 3.

    As we will see later, these meanings are contained in the identity standard.

  4. 4.

    Studies using the centrality measure of moral identity find that those high in moral identity are more likely than those low on moral identity to perceive and behave more benevolently to out-group members (Reed and Aquino 2003), and they are less likely to use moral disengagement maneuvers that facilitate people supporting war-related activities (Aquino et al. 2006).

  5. 5.

    This is where unconscious and automatic cognitive processing is evident in the social-cognitive model compared to intentional or deliberate action in the self model.

  6. 6.

    The working self-concept is very similar to the idea, in identity theory, of our self-image or working copy (Burke 1980). This is the self-view that we bring into situations and that is subject to constant change and revision based on situational influences in contrast to our idealized views of who we are that are relatively unchanging.

  7. 7.

    Individuals may have individualizing and binding elements within their moral meaning structure thus “speaking two or more moral dialects” (Wong 2009:103). Thus not all meanings are internally and logically consistent. Rather than thinking they lead to contradictions and psychological tension, Wong indicates that they may simply reflect moral complexity that may result in novel behaviors.

  8. 8.

    As we will see a little later, identity theorists earlier labeled this “effort” commitment, with greater effort reflecting greater commitment to an identity and reduced effort reflecting less commitment to an identity (Burke and Reitzes 1991).

  9. 9.

    Future research will want to disentangle the causal ordering between identity centrality and salience, that is, whether an identity that is important influences which identity gets invoked or whether an identity that gets invoked influences which identity becomes important.

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Jan E. Stets

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  1. Jan E. Stets
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Correspondence to Jan E. Stets .

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  1. Dept. Sociology, University of Iowa, Seashore Hall W. 124, Iowa City, 52242-1401, Iowa, USA

    Steven Hitlin

  2. , Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, Barrows Hall #1980 410, Berkeley, 94720, USA

    Stephen Vaisey

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Stets, J.E. (2010). The Social Psychology of the Moral Identity. In: Hitlin, S., Vaisey, S. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Morality. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6896-8_20

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