Kajsa Hansson
Postdoctoral fellow
Voting and (im)moral behavior
Author
Summary, in Swedish
Due to diffusion of responsibility, majority voting may induce immoral and selfish behavior because voters are rarely solely responsible for the outcome. Across three behavioral experiments (two preregistered; n = 1983), we test this hypothesis in situations where there is a conflict between morality and material self-interest. Participants were randomly assigned to make decisions about extracting money from a charity either in an experimental referendum or individually. We find no evidence that voting induces immoral behavior. Neither do we find that people self-servingly distort their beliefs about their responsibility for the outcome when they vote. If anything, the results suggest that voting makes people less immoral.
Publishing year
2022-12-31
Language
Swedish
Publication/Series
Scientific Reports
Volume
12
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Topic
- Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 2045-2322