Evil and the State: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

It has been argued that situational and experiential factors provide a moral lens through which people judge the morality or otherwise of actions. The research presented within this volume takes this a step further and illustrates that individual differences may interact with these situational and experiential factors to explain the acquisition of positive attitudes towards immoral behaviour. Here the presence of propaganda promoting immoral cognitions interacts with the moral personality (moral identity) of individuals, with those exposed to propaganda and with low moral identity most likely to develop extreme immoral attitudes. This does have implications for the way we think about the role of context in shaping decision-making.