Moral self-sanctions regulate conduct before external sanctions do

Evidence

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

Social cognitive theory grounds the behavioral exercise of morality in the self-sanction component of the self-regulatory mechanism. These self-reactions can take self-evaluative, affective, and behavioral forms. Self-approval and self-respect for behaving in accordance with one’s moral standards and self-condemnation for violating them constitutes the self-evaluation aspect. Feelings of guilt and remorse are the affective aspect. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 220

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the core mechanism of self-sanctions — negative (self-condemnation) and positive (self-worth) — that later chapters show can be disengaged.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 52; Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 220
• XREF: connects to: An imposed hunting rule taught its first ethical lesson in self-restraint — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 433