Understanding Bandura’s Moral Disengagement Theory: How People Justify Wrongdoing

Bandura's theory of moral disengagement is a fascinating take on how individuals end up acting against their moral values and commit immoral acts. He attempts to answer the question that many of us have wondered about, "How can someone be okay with doing something like that" or "How do they sleep at night?". Psychologist Albert Bandura's Moral Disengagement Theory describes the way people de-identify and distance themselves from their moral standards to justify damaging behavior. This psychological mechanism enables individuals to perform unethical actions without losing their good self-image.

How moral disengagement works:

Bandura described eight most significant mechanisms through which individuals justify unethical behavior:

1. Moral Justification: Individuals may redefine their destructive acts as being for the greater good. For example: "War is essential for peace." But it disturbs peace and destroys innocent lives.

2. Euphemistic Labeling: Utilizing softer words to make unethical activity appear reasonable or acceptable. For example: Referring to layoffs as "rightsizing." While it sounds reasonable that a company would control their employees based on their need, layoffs cause loss of income and livelihood for many.

3. Favorable Comparison: Pitting one's behavior against something worse in order to make it appear less detrimental. For example: "At least I didn't cheat as much as others." Cheating is always wrong regardless of the amount.

4. Displacement of Responsibility: Basing blame on authority figures or outside forces. For example: "I was just following orders."  You may refer to Stanley Milgram's classic obedience experiment, in which subjects were led to give electric shocks to a learner, showing the shocking trend for individuals to follow orders even when they cause harm.

5. Diffusion of Responsibility – Distributing accountability among a group. For example: "Everybody else was doing it." This “monkey-see-monkey-do” attitude can be detrimental.

6. Distortion of Consequences – Minimizing or avoiding the damage inflicted. For example: "It's just a joke, nobody was hurt." In the television show, “The Office”, Jim often plays pranks on Dwight and laughs it off as inconsequential. But some instances, like when he convinces Dwight that he is being recruited by the CIA, Dwight feels frustrated, but the incident is simply pushed aside as a joke.

7. Dehumanization – Treating victims as less than human or not deserving of compassion. For example: Employing insulting words to rationalize discrimination. During World War II, Nazi propaganda often displayed Jewish people as vermin-like.

8. Attribution of Blame – Blaming the victim instead of accepting responsibility. For example: "They provoked me, so they deserved it." This is similar to how Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory” points fingers at his friends for his outbursts, claiming that they didn’t provide adequate explanations or provoked him, and so he was insensitive. Instead of acknowledging his poor actions, he chooses to blame others for it.

Why It Matters:

Albert Bandura's Moral Disengagement Theory is important because it describes how individuals rationalize immoral actions without experiencing guilt. Understanding this theory helps us identify and prevent threats in many aspects of our life.

1. Avoids Normalization of Harm: When people justify evil, harmful actions become acceptable in society. This is evident in bullying, discrimination, and corruption.

2. Fosters Accountability: Moral disengagement allows people to own up to their actions rather than blame others.

3. Relevant to Many Fields: Moral disengagement is evident in business fraud, war atrocities, corporate ethics, politics, and social media usage.

4. Assists in Mitigating Systemic Injustice: Learning about this theory can assist in combating damaging systems, such as racial prejudice, ecological destruction, and immoral business operations.

5. Supports Ethical Decision-Making: Through understanding these psychological processes, individuals and groups can make more ethical decisions and resist peer pressure.

Moral disengagement enables individuals to disregard the impact of their behavior. Understanding it can facilitate a more responsible, empathetic, and ethical society.

Did you ever observe moral disengagement in action? How can we avoid it? Let's discuss in the comments!