Absent salient victims, moral restraints on harmful action weaken

Evidence

In many organizational settings in which an action that is going to result in harm to others is taken, at least initially, there is no overt target for the actions committed, no salient other human who is seen to be a victim of the actions. The individual who decides to let the assembly line use substandard cord in the fabrication of radial tires is not thinking of the accidents that decision could cause; he or she is simply keeping the assembly lines moving. Because a good many of the forces that cause people to avoid doing harm to others rely on the salient presence of specific or specifically imagined victims, if they are not present, then restraining forces are considerably weakened. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4008 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Moral restraints weaken when no specific victim is salient — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4008; Moral inhibition is neutralized by making victims remote and invisible — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 550; Diffusion of responsibility, distortion of harm, and dehumanization each neutralize moral restraint — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 62 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Moral restraints weaken when no specific victim is salient #corroborates (0.97) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4008