Diffusion and displacement of responsibility operate through emotional loyalty to a leader

Evidence

Although O’Reilly began as soigneur for the U.S. Postal Service team when Armstrong was competing in the Tour de France, before long she was a conflicted participant in an elaborate doping scheme, obtaining drugs, disposing of syringes, covering up needle marks with makeup, distributing doping products to other team members, and helping to conceal the doping operation. She became enmeshed in this sophisticated conspiracy through her emotional attachment and loyalty to Armstrong: “I was incredibly fond of Lance.” She even felt remorseful for not being more helpful: “I was feeling bad that I was not helping him as much as I could” (“Lance Armstrong ‘Sold,’” 2012). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 229

Categorization

• XREF: Loyalty-driven complicity echoes the vault’s authoritarianism claims about deference to authority figures; parallels Cooper’s social-conservatism argument about loyalty as a binding motive.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 229