Health & Science

When do-gooders go bad; Land of the superbugs; Getting randy after 55; Great art isn’t subjective

When do-gooders go bad

It’s a familiar story: A moralistic preacher or respected politician gets caught indulging in extramarital pursuits or dipping into funds that don’t belong to him. Why is such hypocrisy so common? A new study finds that people who think of themselves as highly moral can become the worst cheats, because they think their virtue entitles them to flout the rules that govern common sinners. “When people have a strong moral identity, their behavior tends to go to the extremes,” study author Scott Reynolds of the University of Washington tells LiveScience.com. In a survey of 290 workplace managers and 230 college students, Reynolds found that some of the subjects who described themselves as exceptionally moral were very frank in admitting that for them, their good intentions justified cutting ethical corners. People in this category were far more likely to cheat on tests, pad their expense accounts, steal, and lie, according to their own accounts of their behavior. Their breaches of ethics, moreover, were often major and frequent. Since these supposed do-gooders tell themselves they’re entitled to special rewards for their piety and their virtue, Reynolds says, “they do it in spades.”

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