Moral self-licensing or how "good deeds" might lead to undesirable situations.

Abstract

Recent research argues that a good deed can disinhibit individuals and lead them to achieve undesirable deeds (e.g., choosing a salad which leads to increased snack intake). This so-called licensing effect has been recently documented in several analyzes, but we still lack a stabilized analytical framework. We also mention several contributions in behavioral economics that can explain licensing effects by alternative rationales. We aim at defining and characterizing the licensing effect and emphasize plausible circumstances under which it can lead to unexpected adverse effects. We use examples from several domains such as food consumption or prosocial behaviors. Several policy implications are developed. We identify several research extensions to better understand this licensing effect. We also indicate strategies that can be used to overcome this bias. © 2014 Presses de Sciences Po. Tous droits réservés pour tous pays.