Selective moral disengagement lets the same person be both good and bad at once

Evidence

In the insightful words of one of the parishioners, a person is neither “entirely good” nor “entirely bad” (Medina & Lovett, 2013). Indeed, with selective moral disengagement, the same person can be both good and bad simultaneously and even preserve a sense of moral integrity while behaving inhumanely. On one hand, Cardinal Mahony marched with César Chávez for the rights of Hispanic farm workers and championed other Hispanic causes (Goodstein, 2013b). On the other hand, he betrayed the Hispanic community by allowing the sexual abuse of children. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 530

Categorization

• XREF: Directly evidences the reader’s core thesis: ordinary people, even admired ones, rationalize harmful policy while preserving self-image — parallels Cooper’s social-conservatism and authoritarianism claims. — connects to: People more readily punish good moral agents than moral patients. — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 147
• DEEPTHINKING: The central paradox — simultaneous genuine moral accomplishment alongside inhumane conduct preserved by compartmentalized moral disengagement — captures why good institutions fail.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 530