The Effects of Implicit Theories of Moral Character on Affective Reactions to Moral Transgressions

Implicit theories of moral character (ITM) was manipulated in an experiment examining the association between individuals' implicit attribution position and their responses to various social transgressions. As hypothesized, entity theorists, who tend to base their attributions on internal dispositional information, responded with significantly higher levels of negative affect after transgressive episodes than did incremental theorists, who tend to use more external situation–relevant information. Responding more critically to perceived moral transgressions may offer those holding an entity theory a simple alternative to the more effortful processing of situation–relevant information. Findings are presented in light of the social intuitionist model of moral judgment.