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First published online July 19, 2010

Moral Transformation: Good and Evil Turn the Weak Into the Mighty

Kurt Gray [email protected]View all authors and affiliations

Volume 1, Issue 3

https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550610367686

Abstract

Moral transformation is the hypothesis that doing good or evil increases agency—the capacity for self-control, tenacity, and personal strength. Three experiments provide support for this hypothesis, finding that those who do good or evil become physically more powerful. In Experiment 1, people hold a 5 lb. weight longer after donating to charity. In Experiment 2, people hold a weight longer when writing about themselves helping or harming another. In Experiment 3, people hold a hand grip longer after donating to charity. The transformative power of good and evil is not accounted for by affect. Moral transformation is explained as the embodiment of moral typecasting, the tendency to “typecast” good- and evildoers as more capable of agency and less sensitive to experience. Implications for power, aging, self-control, and recovery are discussed.

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Published In

Social Psychological and Personality Science

Volume 1, Issue 3

Pages: 253 - 258

Article first published online: July 19, 2010

Issue published: July 2010

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History

Issue published: July 2010

Published online: July 19, 2010

Authors

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Kurt Gray

University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

[email protected]

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Notes

Kurt Gray, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Biology/Psychology Building, College Park, MD 20742 Email: [email protected]

Kurt Gray completed his PhD at Harvard University and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. He studies morality and mind perception, and their real-world implications.

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