Immoral behavior by grateful people: The lie that conceals benefactors' dishonest behavior

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20304
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0110:Psychology and related fields
• Research Institution: Sophia University
• Principal Investigator: Yamamoto Akitomo 上智大学, 総合人間科学部, 研究員 (30908851)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 感謝 / 道徳 / 不正 / 嘘

Outline of Final Research Achievements

First, this study examined whether grateful individuals engage in lying to conceal the dishonest behaviors by their benefactors. The results of both a behavioral experiment and a scenario-based experiment did not support the notion that they are more likely to tell such lies. Therefore, more abstract indicator was introduced, focusing on the extent to which individuals sacrifice third parties to avoid harm to the benefactor. The findings revealed that participants who experienced high levels of gratitude while reading gratitude-inducing scenarios exhibited a tendency to sacrifice third parties for the sake of benefactor's harm avoidance. Furthermore, this study investigated the third parties' evaluation of grateful individuals that conceal the dishonest behaviors of their benefactors. The results of two scenario experiments suggested that such grateful individuals receive positive evaluations, indicating that third parties perceive building reciprocal relationships with them as easy.

Free Research Field

社会心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は，感謝体験者がある種の他者犠牲をしてでも感謝対象者を守ろうとする可能性や，それに対する第三者からの評価が肯定的になる可能性を示した。この知見は，向社会性の向上や良好な関係構築の機能など，感謝のポジティブな側面ばかりが着目される従来の研究動向に対し，検討課題の拡張を促す学術的意義がある。また，感謝を金科玉条とする教育の風潮に対し，行動科学の観点から警鐘を鳴らしうるという社会的意義がある。