The theory of moral credentialing (Monin & Miller, 2001) states that when individuals become aware of their moral good they may act immorally in future endeavors because they feel they have earned "moral credits". The current experiment expands this theory to investigate the effects of relationship closeness (friend v. acquaintance), volitional choice (choice v. no choice), and valence (positive v. negative) of an experience on moral credentialing. Results show that relationship closeness leads to increased prejudice and induces moral credentialing.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• McKenna, Casey Ann

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-052310-164506

Advisor

• Skorinko, Jeanine LM

Year

• 2010

Date created

• 2010-05-23

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Psychological Science

Rights statement

• In Copyright

License

• All rights reserved

Last modified

• 2021-02-03