'Most People Consider Themselves To Be Morally Superior'

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The article “Most People Consider Themselves to Be Morally Superior” by Cindi May discusses Ben Tappin and Ryan McKay’s study in which they researched the influence of irrationality on the “self-enhancement” effect, the concept that most people consider themselves morally and virtuously superior to others. They surveyed participants, asking them to: rate their relation to 30 character traits related to morality, sociability, and agency, how they would relate these traits to the average person, and their desire to acquire these traits. While analyzing the results, the researchers used techniques to reason how rational or irrational the participants were in their answers. To differentiate between the natural rationality involved in self-enhancement …show more content…
The article discusses consequences of the result that people believe themselves to be more moral than they actually are and than those around them. A positive consequence mentioned is that people tend to be more critical of those who they trust; protecting themselves from people who they believe to be morally inferior, who could harm their emotional or physical safety. Negative consequences relate to ethical corruptions. People who feel better than, often forget that their actions have the same effect as those who they deem morally inferior. This can be seen daily in personal and wide-scale relationships. Personally, it is important to understand the psychology of moral superiority in order to figure out who is actually superior and who just averagely believes themselves to be. In a broader relation, the current political state in America is driven by people who likely feel irrationally superior to others, and their actions are having a powerful effect over the nation. For the personal and large-scale reasons, it is important for the psychology of morality to be understood so people can be aware of their personal actions and try to understand what might influence the actions of others and how to reason with those
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