I’m not racist but…
Question: How often have the above words preceded a comment that is most definitely racist? Answer: Always.
Why do we think it is okay to make racist remarks if they are preceded by this disclaimer? Why does ‘I’m not homophobic, I have loads of gay friends’ mean people can make homophobic jokes? Apparently for the exact same reason that you feel okay about demolishing a tub of Ben & Jerry’s after the gym.
It’s called ‘moral licensing’.
Moral licensing is a psychological concept that explains why we allow ourselves to make bad decisions when we’ve been ‘good’ all day, why we think we ‘deserve’ an hour of TV after a half-hour jog and how, on a larger scale, anti-black attitudes became more visible in America after the election of a black president.
Experiments, conducted before the 2008 US presidential election by psychologists at Stanford, found that expressing support for Obama made people feel justified in favouring whites over blacks.
Supporters felt they could not be accused of being racist because they were already absolved of the label by showing support for a black leader.
Moral licensing explains why some Obama voters have switched to being Trump supporters, why racist driven attacks increased during Obama’s presidency and why the Black Lives Matter movement has had to emerge in a time people no longer feel they need to hide their prejudices for risk of being labelled a racist.
During Obama’s presidency the presence of anti-government or ‘patriot’ groups increased dramatically.
Hate groups, engaging in racist behaviour, also rose drastically and racial tensions between white Americans and African-Americans have exploded during Obama’s presidency.
Moral licensing explains how this process of a trade off extends out to every aspect of life.
People are more likely to show their true opinions, prejudices and desires when they feel they are excused by previous actions, such as voting in a black president.
It turns out that even imagining yourself doing good deeds is enough to give you a ‘license’ to make decisions that are less virtuous. By just imagining yourself helping someone with their homework, for instance, that means you’re likely to give less money to charity later in the day.
The Stanford psychologists also found that when given a chance to make ‘good’ choices, like choosing environmentally friendly products over regular ones, people are then more likely to make immoral choices in another area like cheating and lying to make money.
This permission to sin goes a long way to explaining why diets never seem to work and good intentions lead us to making decisions in the short-term that don’t aid our long-term goals.
It may also explain why the once unthinkable prospect of seeing Donald Trump in office is now much more than a vague possibility.
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