Behavior is regulated by legal, social, and self-evaluative sanctions

Evidence

Regulation of transgressive behavior by outcome expectations operates through three types of sanctions: legal, social, and self-evaluative. These regulatory sanctions are based on anticipation of consequences. In the legal form, people refrain from behaving transgressively for fear that they will get caught and suffer legal penalties. In the social form, people refrain from transgressive behavior for fear of social censure and other aversive social consequences. In self-regulation based on self-sanctions, self-censure deters people from behaving transgressively. Legal and social systems of control, which are rooted in external sanctions, are called fear controls. The control rooted in self-sanctions is called guilt control. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 68 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

In the development of a moral self, individuals adopt standards of right and wrong that are guides and deterrents for conduct. They do things that give them satisfaction and a sense of self-worth. They refrain from behaving in ways that violate their moral standards because such conduct will bring self-condemnation. Moral agency is thus exercised through the constraint of negative self-sanctions for conduct that violates one’s moral standards and the support of positive self-sanctions for conduct faithful to personal moral standards. In the face of situational inducements to behave inhumanely, people can choose to behave otherwise by exerting self-influence or learn how to do so. Self-sanctions keep conduct in accordance with internal standards. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 52 (#complicates, via linked claim)

It is not uncommon for individuals to find themselves in situations in which they are overtly or subtly punished for beliefs and activities they value highly. Principled dissenters and nonconformists often find themselves in such predicaments. The relative strength of self-approval for adhering to one’s moral standards and social censure for acting on them determines whether a morally valued course of action is pursued or forsaken. Under severe social threats, individuals often hold in check personally valued but socially chastised behavior in risky situations. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 224 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: 1970s congressional scrutiny drove behavior modification out of civilian institutions — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1020; Means of social participation now equal means of behavioral modification for most people. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1082; Behaviorism says self-control is just manipulating variables that determine behavior — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1163 (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• Behavior is regulated by fear of penalties, social censure, or self-censure #corroborates (0.93) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 68
• Moral self-sanctions regulate conduct before external sanctions do #complicates (0.78) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 52
• Social censure can outweigh self-approval in suppressing valued conduct #complicates (0.76) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 224