Moral psychology isn't always
an easy thing to study.
First of all,
just using a survey
to ask people
what they think is moral
doesn't always reveal what they
would do in real life.
An experiment that actually
puts people
in what feels like
a real scenario
may get more realistic results,
but researchers must always
balance the benefits
of what we could learn
with the safety and well-being
of the people they study.
Secondly, what we learn from
moral psychology experiments
doesn't always make humans
look good.
For example, today we're going
to look at moral licensing:
the theory that when you do
something good...
you subconsciously feel
you've earned a license
to then do something bad.
I've been working
with Dr. Kyle Stanford,
from the Department of Logic
and Philosophy of Science
at the University
of California, Irvine,
on a way to observe
moral licensing in the wild.
So I want to see moral licensing
in effect.
I want to see people
who have been led to believe,
through their own actions,
that they're good.
Use that feeling
to do bad.
The thing to keep in mind,
it's like people
are keeping tabs,
and they give themselves credit
for the moral...
the good thing they did.
But none of that is happening
consciously, right?
So we shouldn't imagine
that a person who's engaged
in moral licensing is asking
themselves in their head...
Right, pulling out
their scorecard.
...what should I be?
Does it make me a good person?
But it is going on,
and they don't experience it.
-They don't know that it's
happening.
-Right.
I think we're going to learn
a lot today.
-I say we go get started.
-Let's do it.
Let's do it.
[Michael] So here's how
the moral licensing test
we designed is going to work.
First, we're going to take
this beautiful park
and, for the purposes
of science,
throw trash everywhere.
Next, we've hired
some unsuspecting actors
who think they're going to film
a public service announcement
about the park.
-Hey, Jake. Hey, man.
-Hi.
-Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you.
Once they've arrived,
it will be obvious
that the trash is a problem.
We just need to clean up this
little alleyway right here.
Will they do a good deed
and earn some moral credit
by volunteering to help
pick up the trash, or not?
And to make everything
feel more real,
we did have them film
our fake PSA.
Forget the concrete
and the heat.
Relax in over
16,000 square feet.
Of outdoor space
that can't be b*at.
Right outside your door.
Right outside
your door.
Right outside your door.
After sh**ting the PSA,
each participant will be asked
to wait in a separate area
for some final paperwork.
There, our confederate Cameron,
who appears to be homeless,
will ask them for money.
Meanwhile, Dr. Stanford and I
will be watching
behind the scenes to observe
how our subjects react.
So, will our participants
keep their subconscious
moral scorecards balanced
by giving money
when they didn't clean,
or feeling like they don't need
to give money if they did?
-Hey!
-Makaylo.
Makaylo, nice to meet you.
First up in our demo
was Makaylo.
We used our actual
Mind Field crew
as the crew of the fake PSA
who are overwhelmed
with the task
of cleaning up
all the trash.
We normally sort of
never ask this, but...
we've got, like, all this stuff
that we're trying to clean up.
I'm going to grab some gloves.
I was wondering,
would you help me?
-I'm sorry...
-Let's do it. Let's do it.
All three of us
can triple-team it.
-and we can get this thing
going.
-Let's do it. Let's do it.
Yeah, this is just
what we wanted to do today.
It looks like someone
had a good time, though.
[Michael] All right,
so picking up the trash.
How do you think
that's currently sitting
with our actor?
He's thinking of himself as
having done a good deed
that he didn't need to do,
that he didn't have to do.
Right? And so the moral credit
is high.
[Michael] Then it was time
to sh**t our PSA.
[man]
Take it away.
Forget the concrete
and the heat.
Relax in 16,000
square feet.
[man]
That was great! All right, man.
-Hey, thanks so much.
-Cool. No problem, man.
We compensated our participants
for the PSA in small bills
so they would have plenty
to give the homeless man,
should they choose to do so.
-Here's $50.
-Thank you, thank you.
Then we asked them to wait
in a nearby tent
for their final paperwork.
Will Makaylo's good deed
be enough moral credit
for him to pass on
helping the homeless guy?
All right, Cameron,
this is Michael.
You can go ahead.
What's up?
-What's up?
-Hi.
Are you with this?
Yeah, I'm just waiting
for someone to help me out here.
Could you help me out
with like a dollar or two?
Just, I can go
to the vending machine?
Sorry, my man, I ain't
got nothing but $20 bills on me
right now.
Oh, I got nothing
but $20 bills.
[laughs]
-You sure?
-Yeah, man.
All right, well...
[Michael]
We're going to go talk to him.
Hey, Makaylo.
-Hey.
-Thanks for waiting.
-I'm Michael. Nice to meet you.
-No problem. Makaylo.
-This is Kyle.
-Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you,
Makaylo.
We really appreciate
your help today.
-I just saw-- Did a guy come by?
-Yes.
What did he ask?
-For a dollar bill.
-[Michael] Oh, for a dollar
bill?
Yeah.
Did you give him money?
-No.
-What'd you tell him?
I just told him
I didn't have anything.
So I'm going to debrief you
on what we're doing here today.
We're doing a psychological
exploratory experiment
on what's called
moral licensing.
We're looking at the correlation
between people
who do volunteer to help
pick up the trash,
and how generous you are later
to a homeless person
who walks by.
Interesting.
Now, you just exhibited
the exact pattern
of moral licensing, right?
In that you had already
done a good deed--
So I was good for the day.
Right.
[Michael]
Did we just see
moral licensing in effect?
Perhaps.
Let's see what
our other subjects do.
Here, let me just have you
hang out here.
Is there anybody
that can help us clean up this?
-I'm going to go look around.
-All right.
Okay, so this is Alex.
And Alex is just messing
with his stuff.
[Kyle]
He's either not really noticing,
or pretending not to notice.
But all of that is just fine.
The question is
what he then goes on to do.
[Michael] So Alex didn't help
pick up trash.
Will his guilt put him
at a moral deficit,
and therefore motivate him to
give money to the homeless man?
Hey.
Can you spare some money?
Maybe help me out?
-You want a buck?
-A buck? Yeah.
Can I give you a buck?
Is that cool?
[Cameron]
That's more than cool, man.
I just got paid to be here.
-Really?
-Yeah.
Helping to sh**t a PSA, yeah.
Where do I sign up?
-Thank you.
-All right, take care.
All right.
Very interesting.
I do wonder if he felt
a little bit of guilt.
We got it in the opposite
direction,
-which was going to be
the hard thing to do.
-Yeah.
I'm very happy about this.
[Michael]
Next, we have Jake.
So I'm on set doing a PSA sh**t.
[Michael]
Hey, he's doing a vlog.
And I get here,
and it appears
that someone had a...
what could only be described
as a trash party.
I mean, they just threw trash
literally everywhere,
all over where they want
to sh**t.
So I'm going to go help them
pick up some of the trash.
First, I'm going to make sure
that I document
that I'm a helper.
I would also like to point out,
though, that he has not helped.
-[Kyle] Right.
-He's gone back into the tent.
And I wonder, when it comes
to moral licensing,
does this play an effect?
I can check the box.
Not only am I good,
but the world knows I'm good.
Now, this is something
we haven't seen before.
[Michael]
I love this.
I love that he got credit
for helping,
-but didn't.
-Right.
What's interesting
but hard to know
is how that'll look to him,
whether he'll see himself
as having done a good deed,
or seeing himself as kind of
skated on the obligation,
because he didn't
really help.
Hey, do you think
you could spare some money,
maybe help me out?
Here, man.
Here's a dollar.
-Really?
-Yeah.
Go for it.
All right, you're a good man.
Thank you.
We were really curious as we
were watching this all unfold,
because you agreed to help,
and then you recorded a video
about how you were
going to help,
but by the time all that
was over,
you didn't need to help.
It was all cleaned up.
-Right.
-So we were wondering,
did you feel like
you had helped, or not?
No. I didn't have time to.
And you didn't feel guilty.
Like, ooh, I kind of like
got out of helping.
No, I didn't feel bad
about that.
I would have definitely
picked up trash.
Erin's likely to be thinking
that she's doing a good deed.
Yeah.
Could you maybe help me out,
give me some money?
I'm sorry, I don't have
anything on me here.
-No?
-They won't let me.
-Oh.
-Yeah.
-That was great.
-Yes, we have a couple
good illustrations
in both directions.
[Michael] We seemed to have
witnessed moral licensing
at play in several cases.
But, of course, as with
any demonstration like this,
our results weren't always
cut-and-dry.
I'm going to go try
to clean this up myself,
and then...
Gotcha. Yeah, yeah.
Some of the participants
both didn't help clean
and declined to give
our homeless man money.
Could you maybe
spare some change?
I just want to go
to the vending machine?
Uh...
However, they did find
other ways to help hiim
that could qualify
as a good deed.
They have snacks, maybe.
I'm going
to take a pop.
[laughs]
Okay.
Do you want a soda
or something?
Yeah, that'd be...
Do you maybe have a little
money as well?
-I don't, sorry. But...
-Okay.
...which one
do you want?
So what was going
through your mind
when you made the decision
not to give
some of the cash
that we know you had
to the man who was asking?
You know, there's just like
a whole bunch of stereotypes
about homeless people.
And you don't know
what you're getting into.
[Michael]
And we had a couple subjects
who both volunteered to clean
and gave money.
Do you need any
assistance?
If you wouldn't mind,
that'd be really helpful.
[Michael]
Oh, he's offering to help. Oh!
-Do you need any help?
-Oh, would you mind?
-[Kyle] Oh, she just offered.
She offered.
-[Michael] She's volunteered.
These were the only two
participants
who did good deeds
at both opportunities.
-[man] Thank you so much for the
help.
-[Diana] Of course.
-Do you maybe have some spare
change?
-Here you go.
-Thanks a lot.
-Best of luck.
-Here you go. Hope it helps.
-Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
[Michael]
All right, let's go talk to her.
Another good,
good person.
What motivated you
to give the man money?
I actually tend to give people
money often.
I don't know if that's
the best thing.
Interesting.
So two people both cleaned
and donated money.
But everyone else either
cleaned and didn't give,
or didn't clean,
but gave in some form.
What do you think
about how everything went?
Well, it was really interesting.
I would like to do it with many
more people.
But I think we saw
the phenomenon, right?
We saw the thing happen.
Something we weren't expecting,
actually,
is sort of the gap between
what people did
and what they said
about why they did it.
-Yeah.
-Right? And that's something--
I mean, social psychology
generally has learned
to be very suspicious
of people's rationales
or justifications
for their own behavior.
But these actually fit
kind of nicely.
You could see people straining
to defend themselves
if they didn't do a good deed
that was open to them.
Right? And then a lot of people
who did good deeds had the,
"Well, of course, that's what
anyone would do" attitude.
-Right?
-[Michael] Yeah.
I believe our study
successfully created
the conditions
for moral licensing
to emerge.
It was a great first step
towards taking
this kind of study
out of the lab
and into the real world.
But, of course, many people
already have a philosophy
about giving to the homeless
that might be stronger
than the impact
of a good deed they do.
So we're not done yet.
Now, here's what I want
to do next, okay?
We learned a lot
of lessons today,
and I think one of them is that
when the scenarios
you put people in
are scenarios they may have
experienced before,
that can affect
the results.
If someone did or did not
give money to a homeless person,
they can easily
explain it away as,
"Well, I never do,"
or "I always do."
I want to find a scenario
that we don't find ourselves
in very often,
that we haven't created
a philosophy
or identity about ourselves
around.
For instance,
allowing someone else
to take the blame
for something that you did.
Because that seems
like a scenario
where all of us would say
we would never let that happen.
But if we build up significant
moral license in that person,
will they actually
do something
that none of us would ever want
to admit that we would do?
Are you down to plan
something else?
I am down indeed.
All right, let's do it.
[Michael] Kyle and I developed
a different sort of test
to really try and pinpoint
moral licensing
by putting our participants
in a situation
they'd likely never
been in before,
and thus had no preconceived
assumptions about.
A test that might make people
behave in a way
that could surprise
even themselves.
Welcome, everybody.
Thank you for coming today.
In a nutshell,
what we're doing
is we're going to see if we can
get people to do something
that almost all of us
would never admit
we're capable of doing:
to allow a child
to take the blame
for a crime
they committed.
And we're going to do that
by using moral licensing.
Early on in the demonstration
or experiment,
they're going to have
an opportunity to donate money.
To really up the value
of their moral action,
we will tell the participants
that for every dollar they give
of the money
they've made today,
100 times that amount will be
given to children's hospitals.
So if they donate
just a dollar today,
they'll feel like
they gave $100.
We're giving them a chance there
to do something morally good
that will hopefully
make them feel
like they don't have
to step up
and keep this innocent child
from taking the fall
for their crimes later on.
They just think they're coming
to test out
really cool VR equipment
at the YouTube Space
in Los Angeles.
Our participants will think
that they're here to focus-test
a new kind of VR technology.
But what they don't know
is that everyone else
is a hired actor,
including the child, Noah.
[laughs]
Participants will be told
that security
is of the utmost concern,
and not to let anyone
into the room.
Just be sure not to let
anybody in,
because the doors...
you need a key card.
But while waiting,
someone will knock
on the door.
[knock]
If they break protocol
and open the door,
the man they let in will steal
some of the VR equipment.
[man]
You guys have a good day.
Even though the participant
let the thief in,
Noah will volunteer
that he did,
and be blamed for what
the participant knows
they were responsible for.
-And, Noah, you let him in?
-Yeah.
Yeah, I let someone in.
[Michael] Putting participants
into difficult moral scenarios
needs to be done carefully,
so we have a psychiatrist
on call.
Now with all the details
in place, it's time to begin.
All right, Noah,
we are starting...
now.
[woman]
All right.
Head on in.
Go ahead and grab a seat.
Our first participant
is Kimberly.
Kimberly gave $1 of her
earnings from the study,
which means she thinks
that she's donated $100.
[woman]
Just be sure that if you guys
need to go to the bathroom
or anything like that,
be sure to let someone know.
Because no one
without a key card
-should be coming back in.
-Okay. Gotcha.
All right, Noah,
you can cue your mom to leave.
-[mother] Just stay there.
-[Noah] Okay.
[Michael]
To get rid of any eyewitnesses,
Noah's mom left the room
to go get a coffee.
-[door closes]
-Have you done this?
-No. I'm excited.
-No?
-Oh, nice.
-Have you?
-No.
-Oh.
I'm excited.
[both chuckle]
[knock on door]
[Michael]
Oh, there's the knocking.
So our thief is trying
to get in.
The question is,
will Kimberly let him in?
[knocking persists]
Is somebody knocking?
I love those suspicious eyes.
-[man] Thank you so much.
-Oh, yeah, you're welcome.
-Oh, "thank you,"
"you're welcome."
-Awesome.
You guys having
a good day?
Yeah.
You guys have
a good day.
Thank you.
All right, I think we are
finally ready for you.
Okay, I'll have you...
do you guys know
if there was anybody
who wasn't supposed
to be in here?
Yeah, I let someone in.
Okay.
Um...
stay right here.
I'll be right back.
Okey-dokey.
[door closes]
What happened?
I don't know.
Kimberly didn't speak up.
We'll get to see
the full escalation.
[woman]
Yeah, I was gone for maybe,
like, three minutes,
and...
one of the sets is gone.
I mean...
[sighs]
...the amount of technology.
The protocols
that are kept in there.
You just opened the door
and let someone in?
Yeah.
Mm-mm.
Oh, my gosh.
My heart rate's going.
I mean,
I didn't know, so...
I think Kimberly's really
nervous to say anything.
[Kyle]
She hasn't decided at this point
that she's going to let him
take the blame.
But she's seeing
how it plays out.
[Michael] To further heighten
the situation,
and to prolong
the opportunity
for Kimberly to come clean,
we sent in security.
-How old are you, son?
-Twelve.
You're 12? All right, just have
the rest of the employees
stay out of the hallway, give
the officers room to come in.
Okay, we have to keep
things safe,
because just in case there's
something else going on here.
Can you tell me
what you saw?
Is there something
that you saw,
or that you noticed
that was...?
I literally just came in, like,
five minutes ago,
and there was just dudes
coming in and out.
-So...
-Okay.
The guy that he's describing,
he was coming in and out?
There was like a couple guys
coming in and out, so...
-[Noah] But there were tons of
guys coming in and out.
-Yeah.
All right, I'm going to have
Calvin take the kid away.
Okay, sorry, but...
Mom, you and the son are going
to need to come with me, okay?
Yeah, still have them
come in.
[Michael] Kimberly was given
many chances to tell the truth,
but she said nothing,
letting poor Noah
take the blame.
[mother]
Why?
One little thing
to follow.
[Noah]
Sorry.
Can I go?
Like, everybody left.
I'm not going to be here
by myself.
We got to get in there.
Okay, let's go, Kyle.
-Are you Kimberly?
-I am. Yeah.
I'm gonna debrief you on what's
been happening here today.
Okay?
There is no VR experience.
I'm Michael Stevens, I'm the
host of a psychology program.
And this is Kyle Stanford.
He works at UC, Irvine,
-in Philosophy and Logic.
-Yes. Of course.
Now, you gave a donation today.
Yeah.
How'd you feel
about that?
I was, like,
let me help out.
When the child actor
took responsibility
for letting a person in,
were you at all
conflicted
about the fact
that he was taking
full responsibility
for everything?
I was literally, like,
just frozen.
I was just frozen.
And then I was kind of like,
I feel so uncomfortable
right now.
I, like, just kind of let him
say whatever he wanted.
And I assume, like, if somebody
actually took anything,
they'd be like, hey, you're
the one that let the guy in.
In Kimberly's case,
she may have been displaying
moral licensing.
Kimberly donated,
and that might have given her
the moral credit
to then not accept blame.
[Kyle]
If she's not being insincere,
she's not lying...
-She's asking herself, like--
-...and convincing herself,
she's utterly typical,
we all do that.
What subjects are most likely
doing is confabulating
in a way to defend whatever
behavior they engage in,
especially if they decided
to let Noah take the fall.
What I love is that
confabulation.
Some participants gave
no donation...
[knock on door]
...and subsequently followed
the order not to open the door.
[man]
Guys, please.
My hands are full.
I got to get this in there.
My boss told me to.
[knocking persists]
Please, guys.
This is Zeus.
He chose to donate $5,
which means he feels like
he's responsible
for a $500 donation.
Hey, guys.
Did you...
was there anyone in here
who didn't have
one of these key cards?
Yes. Sorry, I let someone in.
Okay, I...
-Wait, wait, wait.
-...I will be right back.
Miss, that was me.
Don't take the blame for me.
It was me.
I thought he worked here.
Okay, um...
just stay right here, guys.
I will be right back.
[Michael]
Even though Zeus donated money,
he still did what many of us
would consider the right thing:
he confessed.
Situations like this
can be difficult.
We don't always like
what we learn about ourselves.
In fact,
one of the participants
who donated
the largest amount
allowed Noah to be removed
by security
and asked to not be included
in this episode.
Our last participant
was Michael,
who did not donate.
[man]
Hey. Hello.
I got a box out here, man.
I can't...
hello?
Thank you, man.
I'm amazed that no one has asked
the guy for a badge.
Right.
Was there someone
in here?
This guy just came in.
-He was banging on the door.
-Uh-huh.
Came in, picked something up,
and then he walked out.
Okay.
-Um...
-I was drawing.
...did he have a badge?
-I don't know.
-I let him in, so...
I let him in.
I don't know what happened.
He was banging
on the door...
Michael initially confessed,
his behavior in line
with moral licensing.
But Noah spoke up,
giving Michael an out.
Will Michael
stick to the truth?
-Oh, here we go.
-Oh, okay.
He let the guy in.
Son, can you tell me
what happened?
Yeah, a guy was knocking
on the door and he said,
"Can I please come in?"
Something about his boss.
And then...
[security guard]
You said...
Guy was banging on the door,
said "his boss..."
Opened the door for him.
He comes in here...
he takes something,
and then he walks out.
[security guard]
And, Noah, you let him in?
[Noah]
Yeah.
[security guard] Okay, you
opened the door and let him in.
Okay.
What must be racing through
Michael's head right now?
-Why is this kid...
-It's very hard
to imagine.
This is a very strange
situation...
-[Michael] Obviously.
-...a regular person to be in.
I think you're just thinking,
"Why is this kid
saying he did it?"
[Kyle]
Trying to figure it out. Yeah.
I think,
at this point,
you and your mom are going
to need to come with me,
because we're going to need
to talk to the police,
because he opened
the door,
and he was not supposed
to open the door,
-and he opened up the door.
-If you'd just listen.
I tell you,
just listen.
-I promise we're right--
-Mom, come with me.
Promise.
Just keep your hands to yourself
and do what I ask you to do.
God!
[Michael]
We should go in.
Right.
What made it difficult
to come forward
and admit that you were the one
who opened the door?
I felt uncomfortable
that something was stolen, one.
Two, that this kid was going
to take the blame.
I mean, I needed to step up
and be accountable
if I opened the door.
But it was just... didn't quite
know what was going on
in that scenario there.
[Michael]
Michael's behavior shows us
just how complicated
moral reasoning is.
That even when we want
to do the right thing,
it doesn't take much
for us to step back
and abandon that sense
of morality if, and when,
we are given an out.
So, Kyle.
I was pretty surprised
by how far
so many people were willing
to let the wrong blame game go.
Viewers may well
be sitting there
judging the people who didn't
jump up to take responsibility.
But I think the kind of evidence
we're gathering
shows that it's much more
possible than you think
to get regular people
to do things
that they immediately
feel regretful about.
Another kind of lesson
I think we get here
is to remind ourselves
how sensitive all of us are
to features of the situation,
even if we feel
in our heart of hearts
-like there's no way we could
ever have wound up doing it.
-Yeah.
That is probably
the number-one lesson,
and I'm so grateful to the
participants we had here today
who helped us illustrate that,
because without
the illustrations,
it's just a word
in a textbook.
Right.
We are all capable
of doing things
we'd never expect ourselves
to do.
And the choices
that you make
can have less to do
with how good or bad
you are as a person,
and more to do with
how you've acted recently.
Now, that might
sound unfortunate,
but we are
imperfect creatures.
And that's nothing
to be ashamed of,
because we are also curious.
And the more we learn
about why and how
we make the moral choices
that we do,
the better we'll be able
to tackle
difficult questions
in the future.
And, as always,
thanks for watching.
03x02 - Moral Licensing
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"Mind Field" takes a journey into the mysterious depths of the human psyche and investigates the strange and surprising terrain of the Mind Field.
"Mind Field" takes a journey into the mysterious depths of the human psyche and investigates the strange and surprising terrain of the Mind Field.