Moral dispositions resist contrary incentives yet people overestimate their behavioral role

Evidence

Also note the important potential fact that contrary incentives might not be very effective in altering motivations grounded in moral dispositions. We do not have a good account of the psychological or other force of such dispositions, but they seem to be extremely strong in some cases. We should qualify this claim, however, because psychological research suggests that we tend to overestimate dispositions as a cause of behavior (Jones 1979). On the contrary, we may tend to underestimate the role of interests, as is suggested by the account of supervenience in chapter 3. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 216

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Total Blindness arc: the wife’s disposition to trustworthiness persists under brutal contrary incentives (the starving, degraded blind colony), while we should also not overread disposition as the cause — interests may better explain collapses into violence. — connects to: Moral denunciation constrains behavior more effectively than merely procedural rules — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 2517; Ethical merit requires the conquest of contrary impulses — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 243; Trustworthiness carries the moral burden because short-run incentives favor betrayal (+13 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 216

Broader Connections

• Moral denunciation constrains behavior more effectively than merely procedural rules #corroborates (0.85) — , The Rod and the Child, 2517
• Ethical merit requires the conquest of contrary impulses #corroborates (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 243
• Moralized accounts of trust actually moralize trustworthiness #expands (0.85)
• Trustworthiness carries the moral burden because short-run incentives favor betrayal #complicates (0.78)