Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T23:47:40.430Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Conflicting obligations in human social life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2020

Jacob B. Hirsh
Affiliation:
Institute for Management & Innovation and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, TorontoONM5S3E6, Canada. jacob.hirsh@utoronto.cahttp://www.jacobhirsh.com
Garriy Shteynberg
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleTN37917. gshteynb@utk.eduhttp://www.garriyshteynberg.com
Michele J. Gelfand
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD20742. mgelfand@umd.eduhttp://www.michelegelfand.com

Abstract

Tomasello describes how the sense of moral obligation emerges from a shared perspective with collaborative partners and in-group members. Our commentary expands this framework to accommodate multiple social identities, where the normative standards associated with diverse group memberships can often conflict with one another. Reconciling these conflicting obligations is argued to be a central part of human morality.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bodenhausen, G. V. (2010) Diversity in the person, diversity in the group: Challenges of identity complexity for social perception and social interaction. European Journal of Social Psychology 40(1):116.Google Scholar
Cialdini, R. B. & Goldstein, N. J. (2004) Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology 55(1):591621.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gelfand, M. J., Harrington, J. R. & Jackson, J. C. (2017) The strength of social norms across human groups. Perspectives on Psychological Science 12(5):800809.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gelfand, M. J., Raver, J. L., Nishii, L., Leslie, L. M., Lun, J., Lim, B. C., Duan, L., Almaliach, A., Ang, S., Arnadottir, J., Aycan, Z., Boehnke, K., Boski, P., Cabecinas, R., Chan, D., Chhokar, J., D'Amato, A., Ferrer, M., Fischlmayr, I. C., Fischer, R., Fulup, M., Georgas, J., Kashima, E. S., Kashima, Y., Kim, K., Lempereur, A., Marquez, P., Othman, R., Overlaet, B., Panagiotopoulou, P., Peltzer, K., Perez-Florizno, L. R., Ponomarenko, L., Realo, A., Schei, V., Schmitt, M., Smith, P. B., Soomro, N., Szabo, E., Taveesin, N., Toyama, M., Van de Vliert, E., Vohra, N., Ward, C., & Yamaguchi, S. (2011) Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study. Science 332(6603):1100–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirsh, J. B. & Kang, S. K. (2016) Mechanisms of identity conflict: Uncertainty, anxiety, and the behavioral inhibition system. Personality and Social Psychology Review 20(3):223–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirsh, J. B., Lu, J. G. & Galinsky, A. D. (2018) Moral utility theory: Understanding the motivation to behave (un)ethically. Research in Organizational Behavior 38(1):4359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, S. K. & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2015) Multiple identities in social perception and interaction: Challenges and opportunities. Annual Review of Psychology 66(1):547–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lerner, J. S. & Tetlock, P. E. (1999) Accounting for the effects of accountability. Psychological Bulletin 125(2):255–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rest, J. R. (1986) Moral development: Advances in research and theory. Praeger.Google Scholar
Roccas, S. & Brewer, M. B. (2002) Social identity complexity. Personality and Social Psychology Review 6(2):88106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shteynberg, G. (2012) Intersubjectivity, agency, and idiosyncratic identity. Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford 4(1):121.Google Scholar
Shteynberg, G. (2015) Shared attention. Perspectives on Psychological Science 10(5):579–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shteynberg, G. (2018) A collective perspective: Shared attention and the mind. Current Opinion in Psychology 23(1):9397.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Terry, D. J., Hogg, M. A. & White, K. M. (1999) The theory of planned behaviour: self-identity, social identity and group norms. British Journal of Social Psychology 38(3):225–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed