Is "virtue signaling" fueling a culture of outrage that destroys our sensitivity to nuance & drives us to harshly punish alleged wrongdoers, even if we’re not sure they deserve it?

Paper w/@NourKteily, just accepted @ JPSP, explores these questions!


🧵👇 osf.io/preprints/psya… Individuals & organizations often punish wrongdoers, even at personal cost and even when we have not been harmed directly by the wrongdoing.

When clearly deserved, such punishment is socially beneficial: it deters bad behavior and upholds norms.

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Excited to share a new paper, out today in @TrendsCognSci!

"A pull versus push framework for reputation"



🧵👇 sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Humans care deeply about their reputations, and the reputations of others.

This paper explores our sensitivity to reputation, which is illustrated by two stylized facts:

My paper w/Maryam Kouchaki, “Virtuous Victims”, is out today in @ScienceAdvances!

We show that people often see victims of wrongdoing as morally virtuous—not because of anything that they have done, but simply because others have mistreated them.

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

🧵👇 We constantly encounter narratives about immoral acts and their victims. How do these narratives shape our perceptions of victims?

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