Chapter 12: Moral Disengagement and the Bystander Effect

Vocabulary flashcards covering Albert Bandura's framework of moral disengagement, social identity concepts, and the bystander effect theories developed by Darley and Latane.

Albert Bandura

Psychologist known for social learning theory and developmental psychology, focusing on how collective social norms and standards for moral thinking and behavior are established.

Inhibitive Morality

In the context of behaving morally, a moral orientation centered on doing the wrong thing.

Proactive Morality

In the context of behaving morally, a moral orientation centered on doing the right thing.

Social Identity Theory

A theoretical framework revisited by Tajfel and Turner (1979) highlighting in-group vs. out-group dynamics, self-categorization, in-group idealization, out-group generalization, and attribution theory.

Deindividuation

The act of perceiving out-group members as a whole collective rather than as distinct individuals.

Isomorphic Reflex

A neurological empathy effect of social identity discussed in Sapolsky's (2017) 'Us vs. Them'.

Oxytocin

A neurochemical described as the 'love hormone' that facilitates trust and enhances conformity within social identity dynamics.

Moral Disengagement

The process of separating moral reactions from inhumane conduct by disabling self-condemnation mechanisms and avoiding judging one's own actions as immoral.

Moral Imperative

A form of justification within Bandura's framework where an action is framed as an unavoidable necessity, such as self-preservation in a zero-sum game.

Exonerative Comparison

A justification strategy where one's harmful behavior is compared to the actions of an out-group to make it appear acceptable.

Euphemistic Labeling

The use of sanitized language to relieve personal agency, justify actions, or obscure the negative reality of inhumane conduct.

Reinterpretation of Negative Consequences

The second step in Bandura's disengagement framework, involving ignoring, minimizing, or misconstruing the harmful outcomes of one's actions.

Dehumanization of the Other

A disengagement mechanism involving the stripping of human qualities and the attribution of blame directly onto the victim.

Displacement of Responsibility

Relieving personal accountability by diffusing it across an in-group or shifting blame onto a higher authority (e.g., 'I was just following orders' or 'It was God's will').

Urban Apathy

A term associated with the bystander effect where individuals fail to intervene because they rely on the reactions of others and wait for them to act.

Kitty Genovese

A NYC bartender murdered across three attacks in a half hour in Queens in 1964; early reports claimed 37 eyewitnesses failed to intervene, sparking bystander intervention research.

Darley and Latane (1968)

Social psychologists who conducted early experiments staging simulated emergency situations to investigate bystander behavior.

Diffusion of Responsibility

A psychological phenomenon wherein the presence of more people reduces an individual bystander's felt sense of personal obligation to help.

Evaluation Apprehension

The fear of being socially judged or criticized by others for acting incorrectly in an ambiguous situation.

Pluralistic Ignorance

A state in which bystanders look to social norms and the non-reactions of others to conclude that intervention is neither required nor appropriate.

The Arousal: Cost-Reward Model

A model stating that emergency intervention is driven by physiological fight-or-flight arousal and a rapid cognitive assessment of the costs and benefits of helping versus not helping.

Cost-Reward Analysis

A quick mental calculation weighing the costs of intervening (time, effort, danger) and not intervening (guilt, social criticism) against the rewards of intervening (praise) and not intervening.