People require moral justifications before harming others

Evidence

Public dispute over the morality of the death penalty is stressful for executioners because it threatens their justifications for it: “Having the whole country concerned about the death penalty creates more stress for us than the actual execution”. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2048 (#complicates, via linked claim)

In many organizational settings in which an action that is going to result in harm to others is taken, at least initially, there is no overt target for the actions committed, no salient other human who is seen to be a victim of the actions. The individual who decides to let the assembly line use substandard cord in the fabrication of radial tires is not thinking of the accidents that decision could cause; he or she is simply keeping the assembly lines moving. Because a good many of the forces that cause people to avoid doing harm to others rely on the salient presence of specific or specifically imagined victims, if they are not present, then restraining forces are considerably weakened. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4008 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Justification must precede any effective sanctification cleansing — Chuck Missler, The Kingdom, Power and Glory: The…, 1613; Context makes some killing morally required rather than wrong; People justify harmful acts to themselves before committing them — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 341 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Public moral debate threatens the justifications that shield harm-doers from distress. #complicates (0.80) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2048
• Moral restraints weaken when no specific victim is salient #complicates (0.76) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4008