Coping with Moral Threat: Moral Judgment amid War on Terror

By: Bloom P.B.-N., Kimhi S., Fachter S., Shamai M., Canetti D.
Published in: Journal of Conflict Resolution
SDGs : SDG 16  |  Units: Social Sciences  | Time: 2020 |  Link
Description: Moral dilemmas amid war on terrorism include repeated harsh moral choices, which often pose threats to one’s moral image . Given that people strive to view themselves as moral, how do they cope with such morally compromising decisions? We suggest and test two strategies to cope with morally threatening decision-making under in-group moral responsibility amid war on terrorism: (a) trivialization of the moral dilemma and (b) resentment toward the target. Four experimental studies measured (study 1) and manipulated (studies 2–4) these hypothesized mechanisms, presenting a similar collateral damage dilemma to Israeli Jews in the context of the 2014 Gaza conflict (studies 1 and 2) and to Americans in the context of the US campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) (studies 3 and 4). Results demonstrate that both trivialization and resentment facilitate harsh moral choices under conditions of moral accountability. Studying the mechanism underlying moral decision-making in conflicts is key to understanding moral injury and the process of moral repair. © The Author(s) 2019.