Suchergebnisse

Abstract. "The powerful are immoral"! Across four preregistered studies (total N = 2,744), we explored the role of perceived autonomy (control over own resources) and perceived influence (control over others' resources) for this belief. In Study 1, perceived autonomy and influence mediated the effect of power on expected immorality. Likewise, directly manipulating perceived autonomy and influence led to increased expected immorality, increased perceived intentionality of a transgression, and consequently to harsher punishment recommendations (Studies 3 and 4). Interestingly, Study 2 revealed an interaction between autonomy and influence, which we however could not replicate in Study 4. Overall, our findings suggest that both autonomy and influence are associated with immorality and thus likely drive the belief that the powerful are immoral.

The United Nations have described the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as the worst global crisis since the second world war. Behavioral protective measures, such as good hand hygiene and social distancing, may strongly affect infection and fatality rates worldwide. In two studies (total N = 962), we aimed to identify central predictors of acceptance and adoption of protective measures, including sociodemographic variables, risk perception, and trust. We found that men and younger participants show lower acceptance and adoption of protective measures, suggesting that it is crucial to develop targeted health messages for these groups. Moreover, trust in politics and trust in science emerged as important predictors for the acceptance and adoption of protective measures. These results show that maintaining and ideally strengthening trust in politics and trust in science might be central for overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. ; peerReviewed ; publishedVersion