Actors minimize harm more when acting alone and cannot evade responsibility

Evidence

When people pursue activities that harm others, they avoid facing the harm they cause or minimize it. They are especially prone to minimize the harm they cause when they act alone and thus cannot easily evade responsibility (Mynatt & Herman, 1975). If minimization does not work, the evidence of harm can be discredited. As long as the harmful results of one’s conduct are ignored, minimized, or disputed, there is little or no reason for self-censure to be activated. Vigorous battles are therefore fought over the credibility of evidence of detrimental effects. Witness the heated dispute over the existence of global warming and whether it is caused by human activity. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 441

Categorization

• XREF: The claim that evidence disputes are really moral-disengagement battles reframes climate change denial as cognitive morality rather than mere ignorance.
• QUESTION: Intriguing counterintuitive direction: lone actors with full responsibility minimize harm MORE, not less — worth chasing the original Mynatt & Herman study.