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upon to distinguish between these first two causes. clearly central to the role of moral principles as guides to
Fortunately, in his JMI interview, Kerr provides us with a behavior (Batson & Thompson, 2001).
concise way to consider the relationship between these Through the use of example, and taking into account the
causes. He suggests that we combine them into one cause. role of self-interest, our goal is to clearly make the case that
His rationale is that the fascination with objective criteria ostensibly moral individuals all too often fail to act morally.
and an overemphasis on highly visible behaviors are both But was this failure solely the result of moral hypocrisy?
ways of being seduced by what is easy to measure. For Kerr, More generally, psychologists attribute this failure to act
the underlying logic is simple. While it is not important to morally to one of two general causes: learning deficits or
measure what is easy to measure, it is valuable to measure situational pressures (Batson & Thompson, 2001). Those
what is important to measure (Kerr, 2009). We rename this who view the problem from a developmental psychology
new combined cause as the overemphasis on objective, lens will typically see the problem as the result of a deficit in
highly visible criteria or behaviors. learning. In other words, one’s mastery of moral principles
In the Wells Fargo example, it was easier to measure was somehow not completed or learned in an appropriate
employee performance based on new account activity, seem- manner. However, those viewing the problem from a social-
ingly disregarding customer service and satisfaction. In the influence perspective are likely to see any number of situa-
case of academic journals, reported impact factors and article tional pressures, such as the extant reward system, as the
downloads have become the proxies for research quality. cause of the problem. Grounded in classic work on authori-
tarianism (Adorno, Frankel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford,
Moral Integrity and Hypocrisy 1950; Hoffer, 2010), analyses of pressure to obey and con-
form (Asch, 1956; Milgram, 1965; Weber, 1947) indicate the
A person of moral integrity is one who has the forbearance of apparent willingness of many individuals to abrogate or dis-
his or her convictions to speak the truth and is able and will- engage from long-standing moral standards and beliefs
ing to take responsibility for his or her actions (Wright, (Bandura, 1999). Although there is truth to each of these
Quick, Hannah, & Hargrove, 2017). Thus, a person demon- explanations to moral failure, none tell the whole story. In
strating moral integrity is one who habitually is both able and fact, even an individual with a well-articulated set of moral
willing to adhere to his or her long-standing moral standards principles can fail to act morally in even the most noncom-
and beliefs in the face of conflict and adversity. With this pliant situations. To understand how this can happen, we
backdrop, and putting the “Folly” in further context, Kerr’s need to pursue Kerr’s original thesis further and more fully
JMI interview highlights the need for additional insight into consider the role of hypocrisy in the nature of moral
the role of moral hypocrisy. Upon reflection, Kerr acknowl- motivation.
edges that the discussion of hypocrisy received too little Although it has long been assumed that moral individuals
attention in the original article. In fact, the entire discussion want to be moral and display moral integrity (Velasquez,
constituted only three sentences, with no real definition 2002), a growing body of research suggests that many indi-
being offered. Kerr adds that he is now unsure whether viduals may only want to appear moral and thus avoid the
hypocrisy is even an accurate and fair label for what he origi- often significant costs associated with actually behaving in a
nally meant. For Kerr, hypocrisy has today come to mean moral manner (Ariely, 2012; Batson, Kobrynowicz,
that not only is someone being inaccurate or false, but also Dinnerstein, Kampf, & Wilson, 1997; Batson & Thompson,
sleazy. According to Kerr, an example of sleazy could be 2001). Batson and Thompson call this motive moral hypoc-
lying for personal self-interest or gain. But what if someone risy. In a series of creative experiments, Batson and his col-
in a position of power believes that his or her misrepresenta- leagues (Batson, Kobrynowicz, Dinnerstein, Kampf, &
tion of the facts is truly acting in the interests of the social Wilson, 1997; Batson & Thompson, 2001; Batson,
good? Does this misrepresentation of the facts in itself con- Thompson, Seuferling, Whitney, & Strongman, 1999) have
stitute an act of moral hypocrisy? Or is it something else? It participants assign both themselves and another participant
all comes down to whether or not the intent of the actor is to to tasks of varying degrees of desirability. In one manipula-
ensure a fair and moral process as opposed to maintaining tion, participants are instructed that the other participant
control over the desired outcome by whatever means doesn’t know that they were allowed to assign the tasks; the
necessary. other participant is left to assume (incorrectly) that the
Hypocrisy comes from the Greek, through Latin, and assignments were made randomly. Depending on the specific
means “to play a part or a role.” Political pundit Ben Stein, study, 70% to 80% assign themselves the positive-conse-
combining humor with sarcasm on the topic of health care, quence task, even though less than 10% report that this is the
remarked “Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that moral choice. Considered together, the results of these stud-
requires every citizen to prove they are insured . . . but not ies provide evidence of moral hypocrisy. Batson and his col-
everyone must prove they are a citizen.” As Stein makes evi- leagues concluded that moral hypocrisy is the primary
dent, the topic of hypocrisy bears further discussion, as it is motive if the context or cue ambiguity of the situation affords