Every day, we face a series of opportunities o do the right thing. Sometimes we seize (抓住) those moments; other times, we don't. And what drives some people to take the moral high ground?
Jessie Sun interviewed 952 people about the motivations (动机) for moral behavior and the changes they wished to make in their lives order to become more morally good.
When we think about morals, we often think about making "personal sacrifices (牺牲)" for the greater good. In Sun's study, she found that nearly half of the participants said they were most encouraged to become more moral for themselves. And fewer participants said that they most wanted to benefit friends and people in general.
Moreover, many people believe that acting more morally—for example, being more thoughtful, more open-minded—would increase their own well-being. The more they believed that their moral change would have positive results for themselves, the more they reported being encouraged to make that change. That was the most surprising finding in the study.
Interestingly, participants generally expected possible harms to themselves and others if they were honest. You can imagine that some people regularly tell white lies to save other people's feelings, and they believed it would be hurtful if they were honest.
Researchers also asked people about the things they'd like to improve about themselves. If they're extremely shy, they usually want to become more comfortable in social situations. But if they aren't especially honest or thoughtful, they usually won't improve those aspects of their lives on purpose.
A. How can we become more moral?
B. So, why do we make these choices?
C. Being moral just isn't what most people consider first.
D. Being moral means different things to different people.
E. But people see some disadvantages of being moral, too.
F. In short, many people want to become more moral for their own benefits.
G. Sixteen percent said that they most wanted to become more moral for their family.
