Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Righteous Or Self-Righteous Anger? Justice Sensitivity Moderates Defensive Outrage At A Third-Party Harm-Doer, Zachary K. Rothschild, Lucas A. Keefer

Faculty Publications

While bystanders' outrage over moral transgressions may represent a genuine desire to restore justice, such expressions can also be self‐serving—alleviating guilt and bolstering one's moral status. Four studies examined whether individual differences in observer justice sensitivity (JS_O) moderate the degree to which outrage at third‐party harm‐doing reflects concerns about one's own moral identity rather than justice per se. Among participants low (vs. high) in JS_O, feelings of guilt predicted greater outrage and desire to punish a corporation's sweatshop labor practices (Studies 1 & 2). Furthermore, affirming one's personal moral identity reduced outrage and support for punishing …