It is common to assume that people who act morally are normally

Question

It is common to assume that people who act morally are normally motivated to act so, while those who act immorally lack moral motivation. However, research carried out by Monin and Miller strongly points to the existence of a moral licensing effect, according to which the performance of morally commendable actions in turn licenses subjects to later engage in dubious behavior. This work suggests that individuals are motivated to perform moral acts not by innate goodness on their part, but by a desire to appear to be moral people, whether to themselves or others.

Researchers continue to disagree whether licensing is best understood as involving moral credentials, in which subjects interpret their later, dubious activity in terms of the moral identity they have supposedly established for themselves in prior acts, or as involving moral credits, where subjects see themselves as having built up a surplus that they can then “trade-in” by acting selfishly. The research strongly suggests, however, that individuals care about their moral self-image (how they think about themselves morally), and not merely about what others think of them. Khan and Dhar, for example, found that subjects who were asked to merely imagine performing a generous act, such as tutoring a student, were later less likely to donate a portion of their earnings to charity than those who were asked to imagine engaging in a morally neutral activity; that is, those who simply imagined their own generosity then gave themselves license to be selfish. If individuals are normally motivated to at least strive for a moral self-image in this way, we should not be too hasty to discount the common-sense assumption that moral motivation is typically behind moral action.    1 
 1 
 Q1. The author refers to a study by Khan and Dhar in order to demonstrate that

A. individuals can perform moral actions without giving themselves moral license
B. there is no correlation between individuals’ giving themselves moral license and individuals’ moral behavior
C. there is no relation between individuals’ moral self-image and their moral standards
D. individuals appear to take any kind of moral behavior to count toward or against their moral credits or credentials
E. individuals can give themselves moral license without performing any moral action

2 
 Q2. Which of the following results of a later study, if true, would weaken the conclusion stated in last sentence of the passage?

I. Subjects who, on a scale of generous to selfish, rated themselves as more generous were no more or less likely to act generously than subjects who rated themselves as more selfish.

II. Subjects who acted the most generously in a spontaneous situation were largely unable to identify clear reasons for their actions.

III. Subjects who acted generously in the first phase of an experiment were less likely to act generously in the next phase of the experiment.

A. I only
B. II only
C. I and II only
D. I and III only
E. II and III only

Jarvis07 · Accepted Answer

I think I can help with the second question.

Let us look at what the last sentence says:

It essentially means:  Based on what we have discussed so far,  Moral Motivation ==> Moral Actions  
Any option that breaks this logic will be our answer.

This option tells us that regardless of what subjects think of themselves regarding their generosity, their moral actions are same. In other words, motivations do not affect the moral actions of the subjects. This option would weaken the conclusion.

This option again says that the subjects are not able to identify the reason(s) for their moral actions. This means motivation is not present. Otherwise they would have been able to identify Motivation as one of the reasons. Hence, we see moral actions without moral motivation. This option, again, would weaken the conclusion.

We cannot draw any conclusion based on this statement regarding moral actions or motivations of the subjects. It is simply possible that some of the subjects were Morally motivated in the first phase of the experiments but lost the motivation in the next phase. We cannot conclude anything with this option.

Therefore, I and II it is. 
Option  C  should be correct.

BIGDAMNGOD · Answer

Experts can you please explain Q2? why is option B right?

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

Any expert would like to explain Q1? Why is D wrong?
Or where is the OE? Thanks

arya251294 · Answer

My reasoning for choosing option E -

those who  simply imagined  their own generosity then  gave themselves license to be selfish .

As mentioned in the line above, the study is talking about people who simply imagined that they performed a generous act (such as tutoring a student) were later less likely to donate a portion of their earnings to charity.

which tells us that - Individuals can give themselves moral license without performing any moral action
thus, option E

Not sure about Q2 though.

mitul19 · Answer

can anyone please explain Questionn 2?
Thanks

Ayushi2399Agarwal · Answer

Can anyone please give explaination to both the questions

Thanks in advance

nityabhasin2 · Answer

"If individuals are normally motivated to at least strive for a moral self-image in this way, we should not be too hasty to discount the common-sense assumption that moral motivation is typically behind moral action."

Can someone please elaborate on this line and tie it up with the passage?

Can someone please elaborate on this line and tie it up with the passage?

Ps1810 · Answer

Q2. Which of the following results of a later study, if true, would weaken the conclusion stated in last sentence of the passage?

I. Subjects who, on a scale of generous to selfish, rated themselves as more generous were no more or less likely to act generously than subjects who rated themselves as more selfish.

II. Subjects who acted the most generously in a spontaneous situation were largely unable to identify clear reasons for their actions.

III. Subjects who acted generously in the first phase of an experiment were less likely to act generously in the next phase of the experiment.

A. I only
B. II only
C. I and II only
D. I and III only
E. II and III only

I think I will take a shot at Q2
What we need to prove is Moral Motivation is not behind Moral Action.  .
So B clearly says that the subjects weren't able to identify the line of thought or motivation for their action. This is what we need to prove that MM doesn't lead to MA.
A says that everyone, From the most generous to most selfish person acted in a similar way. This again is what we need to prove. This says that there was not motivation.

urban_hide · Answer

D is actually framed according to the passage if we look for khan and Dhar statement option E would behave well

Ro_007 · Answer

The issue I have with Q1 is it asks "why does the author mention that".

When I look at the preceding statement to the example, which gives a pre-cursor to why an author mentions an example it seems to be mentioned to prove the point that "individuals care about their moral self-image (how they think about themselves morally), and not merely about what others think of them.", which when read with the earlier line of the 2nd para seems to point to Option D, rather than Option E, though the subsequent point to the example is in line with Option E.

What would be a thumb rule one can use to understand why author gives an example ?

It is common to assume that people who act morally are normally

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It is common to assume that people who act morally are normally

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