Several unconscious behaviours going on in the brain can convince us we are being good, even when we\u2019re not. <\/p>
Here\u2019s something that\u2019s surprisingly common: people who strongly espouse moral or noble ideals\u2026 but regularly use this to justify attacking and mistreating others, something which is surely neither moral nor noble.<\/p>
Isn\u2019t this inconsistent? How can someone loudly insist they\u2019re a good person while behaving in ways which totally contradict this, without mentally short-circuiting in some way?<\/p>
The answer is that there are many psychological and neurological processes that allow people to engage in this behaviour that, for want of a better label, we\u2019ll call \u2018virtue bullying\u2019.<\/p>
A lot of virtue bullying could be seen as virtual <\/em>bullying. It\u2019s a lot easier online.<\/p> We\u2019ve all seen those Facebook posts which make some simple, morally solid claim, like \u201cCancer is bad\u201d, or \u201cI support victims of [latest disaster]\u201d. However, this is followed by something like \u201cShare if you agree. I bet 97 per cent of you won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p> Such posts are basically saying, \u201cI am a good, moral person\u2026 and I\u2019ll manipulate you and malign your character until you agree.\u201d This isn\u2019t the behaviour of a good person.<\/p> But it\u2019s not internet-specific. Wanting to protect children is a good, moral aim, but consider all the books banned and drag shows attacked in the US under the guise of \u2018protecting children\u2019.<\/p> Indeed, the many atrocities committed in the name of a \u2018kind, benevolent\u2019 God or religion means history is awash with self-described good, moral people, doing very<\/em> bad things.<\/p> \u201cThe road to hell is paved with good intentions\u201d is a clich\u00e9 for a reason.<\/p> Good people treating others badly makes more sense when you realise there are several unconscious processes happening in our brain that help convince us we\u2019re \u2018good\u2019, even if we\u2019re not<\/em>.<\/p> There\u2019s the fading affect bias (which leads to memories linked to negative emotions being forgotten more easily), hindsight bias (which causes us to convince ourselves that a past event was inevitable) impression management (a phenomenon that leads to our brains constantly exaggerating our best qualities) and many others.<\/p> As one 2014 study found, our brain works hard to preserve, and enhance<\/a>, our self-esteem<\/a>. However, self-esteem is heavily influenced by other people, and our relative social \u2018status\u2019. We want to be liked and hate rejection. A 2011 study found that an effective way to boost our self-esteem is to attack or demean others<\/a>, so our status becomes (relatively) higher.<\/p> So, thinking you\u2019re good while attacking others can be a very instinctive process. Sadly.<\/p> Read more:<\/strong><\/p> For humans, our morals are a key aspect of our self-image, and therefore our self-worth. Indeed, research has shown that our morals are a key part of our identity, and an important facet of our motivation and decision-making.<\/p> However, humans are innately protective of their identities and decision-making. If these things are underpinned by morals and beliefs, we\u2019ll be subconsciously wary, and hostile, to anyone who poses a threat to them.<\/p> This can lead to what seems to be inconsistent behaviours. People may consciously<\/em> think moral things like \u201cBeing kind and good to others is important\u201d, but their subconscious <\/em>says \u201c\u2026and anyone who disagrees is a viable target.\u201d And so, we get virtue bullying.<\/p> Human brains are also hard-wired to crave fairness and justice. However, these have a strong subjective component. Meaning, our understanding of fairness and justice, and our morals, are heavily influenced by experience. The world around us, and the people we relate to, shape our morals and understanding.<\/p> Humans are weird because they\u2019ll readily endure personal loss if it means justice is done. So, doing objectively immoral things, to those you deem immoral, in the name of your morals is, while confusing, far more common than you\u2019d expect.<\/p> Striving to be good should be lauded and encouraged. Especially because the human brain is still running on millions-of-years-old programming that gifts us with many subconscious hostilities and prejudices. It requires constant vigilance and effort to stick to your moral values in the face of your \u2018baser\u2019 instincts. And it\u2019s only human to slip up.<\/p> But when you do, you end up thinking \u201cI\u2019m a good person, but I did something bad\u201d. This can lead to the psychological discomfort known as cognitive dissonance, where your actions and thinking don\u2019t match up.<\/p> Of course, one way to resolve this is to think \u201cI behaved badly, but to someone who is morally wrong, so it\u2019s okay.\u201d In reality, nothing\u2019s ever that simple. But it\u2019s an easy fix for dissonance and allows you to virtue bully at your leisure.<\/p> Ultimately, for all the explanations offered here, it really should be acknowledged that some people are just\u2026 not nice. To the extent that they\u2019d use some morally praiseworthy goal or belief as a fig leaf to disguise cruel and bullying tendencies.<\/p> How you deal with such people is up to you. Who am I to judge?<\/p> Read more:<\/strong><\/p> Several unconscious behaviours going on in the brain can convince us we are being good, even when we\u2019re not. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":37124,"template":"","categories":[1,29],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/the-rise-of-virtue-bullies-how-self-righteous-shaming-conquered-the-internet.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/the-rise-of-virtue-bullies-how-self-righteous-shaming-conquered-the-internet-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/the-rise-of-virtue-bullies-how-self-righteous-shaming-conquered-the-internet-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/the-rise-of-virtue-bullies-how-self-righteous-shaming-conquered-the-internet-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/the-rise-of-virtue-bullies-how-self-righteous-shaming-conquered-the-internet-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/the-rise-of-virtue-bullies-how-self-righteous-shaming-conquered-the-internet-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/the-rise-of-virtue-bullies-how-self-righteous-shaming-conquered-the-internet-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Several unconscious behaviours going on in the brain can convince us we are being good, even when we\u2019re not.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/37123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}I\u2019m good\u2026 in fact, I\u2019m better.<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>
Resolving the contradiction<\/h2>
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