Moral disengagement
Ηθική αποδέσμευση
The selective switching off, in advance, of the reactions a person normally has to their own conduct, through a small set of routes: calling it something else, spreading the responsibility across a group, comparing it with something worse, or shifting the blame onto whoever is affected. Hearing one of those routes in your own mouth is a signal to look, not a conclusion that you did something wrong.
How to spot it
Listen for four sentences leaving your own mouth: it is for the team, everyone does it, it is not really that it is this, and it was decided before me. Then write the plain version underneath.
The research behind the term
The term is not our invention. It comes from published research, and what follows is what that research found — our own synthesis of the published abstract, not a translation of the original.
Bandura, A. (1991). Social Cognitive Theory of Moral Thought and Action — πηγή
The study examines how moral thought and moral behavior develop. Bandura explains that self-regulation, social influences and cognitive processes work together in shaping moral decisions.
Practised in
The term does not stay a definition. It appears inside missions where the pattern happens in real time and you have to recognise it as it happens to you.
The Loyal Silence
The Version That Goes Outside
Sources
Every claim on this page maps to published research. The citations link to the original source.
- Bandura, A. (1991). Social Cognitive Theory of Moral Thought and Action — Source on taylorfrancis.com