Wall Street insiders acknowledged the ‘bad apples’ excuse was pervasive self-deception

Evidence

Haight (1980) argues that in much of what is called self-deception, individuals are aware of the reality they are trying to deny, but they create the public appearance that they naively misjudged what was going on. Others are thus left uncertain about how to judge and treat persons who seem sincerely to have misled themselves. The public pretense is designed to head off social reproof. When people are caught up in the same moral predicament, the result may be a lot of collective pretense. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 706 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Wall Street’s liquidity-obsessed culture depends on the liquid, disposable lives of its own bankers — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 174; Insiders dismissed the bad-apples excuse as covering pervasive Wall Street corruption — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1431; Widespread deception across many institutional roles caused the financial crisis — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1552 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Called self-deception often is public pretense designed to head off social reproof #complicates (0.79) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 706