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Most days, the world isn't a clear-cut, black-and-white kind of place.
大多數時候，世界并不是一個黑白分明的地方。
And that means that, sometimes, people you think are good do bad things.
也就是說，有時候，你所認為的好人會做一些壞事。
In fact, sometimes good people do bad things because they normally do good things.
事實上，好人有時候也會做壞事，因為他們通常都做好事。
This is what's known as moral licensing, also called self-licensing or moral self-licensing.
這就是所謂的道德許可，也稱自我許可，或道德自我許可。
And while it sounds like it might not make a lot of sense,
雖然聽起來可能不是很在理，
you might be more familiar with it than you would like to think.
但你可能比你想象的更熟悉它。
Moral licensing is basically what happens every time you decide that you deserve something because you have been good.
從根本上說，每次你認為你應該得到某樣東西就會存在道德許可，因為你一直表現得很好。
When an action is morally ambiguous,
當一個行為在道義上模棱兩可時，
your history of doing good things can make you feel like you can cut yourself some slack and grant yourself an exception.
以往做的善事會讓你覺得你可以給自己一個例外。
Thankfully, those bad things aren't usually that bad.
值得慶幸的是，那些所謂的壞事通常沒那么糟糕。
Like, maybe you got a ginormous waffle cone after your spin class
比如，你在上完旋轉訓練課程后得到了一個巨大的華夫餅，
or you bought those sweet new kicks that you can't really afford because you've done such a good job saving this month.
或者你買了那些你買不起的新鞋子，因為你這個月存了不少錢。
Look, you do you! We don't judge. Treat yourself!
聽著，做你自己！不要判斷，善待自己！
But moral licensing can undermine our ability to meet our goals.
但道德許可會削弱我們實現目標的能力。
And it also has an even more sinister side:
而且道德許可還有其更邪惡的一面：
It can cause people to give themselves permission to cheat or to be more prejudiced.
道德許可會讓人們允許自己作弊，或者變得更有偏見。
So why do we do it, and what can we do, when necessary, to put a stop to it?
那么，我們為什么要這樣做呢？必要的時候，我們能做些什么來阻止這種現象的發生呢?
Researchers have found that moral licensing shows up in a whole bunch of different situations.
研究人員發現，道德許可在很多不同的情況下都會出現。
One 2017 study found that employees who participated in a corporate social responsibility program were more likely to shirk their duties for their actual job,
2017年的一項研究發現，參加企業社會責任項目的員工更有可能在實際工作中逃避責任
because they felt like they were doing good.
因為他們覺得自己在做好事。
Similarly, participants who were part of a 2013 water conservation program did save water…
同樣，參加2013年水資源保護計劃的參與者確實節約了水資源……
but ended up using more electricity.
但最終消耗了更多的電。
Some of the examples, though, were a lot more… concerning.
然而，其中的某些例子更令人擔憂。
For example, in one study, people who had a chance to disagree with some really sexist statements tended to favor a male candidate for a job over a female one later on.
例如，在一項研究中，那些反對性別歧視言論的人相較于女性求職者更青睞男性求職者。
And another paper with around 100 participants showed that those who endorsed Barack Obama were more likely to later make pro-white judgments.
另外一篇約100人受試者的論文顯示，那些支持奧巴馬的人后來更有可能支持白人。
It's worth pointing out that some meta-analyses have found that the strength of the evidence for moral licensing is due in part to a publication bias.
值得注意的是，一些元分析發現，道德許可的證據之所以很多，部分原因在于發表偏倚。
Interesting findings, after all, are more likely to get published than ones showing no effect.
畢竟，比起沒有影響力的研究，有趣的研究更容易發表。
But even taking that into account, moral licensing still appears to be A Thing.
但即便考慮到這一點，道德許可似乎仍是一件事。
And it turns out you don't even have to do the good stuff to cut yourself slack later on.
事實證明，之后你甚至不需要做什么好事來放自己一馬。
Like, one study found that participants who had imagined agreeing to help another student donated less money in a follow-up task than those who hadn't imagined doing anything nice.
比如，一項研究發現，那些想象過幫助其他學生的人后續的捐贈比那些沒有想象過做任何好事的人要少。
Writing about yourself in generally positive terms, rather than recalling some specific incident of good behavior, also seems to do the trick.
用積極的語言來描述自己，而不是回憶一些做善事的特定事件，似乎也能起到作用。
And then there's moral cleansing, which is sort of the opposite of moral licensing.
然后是道德凈化，這是道德許可的對立面。
When we're starting to feel like we don't come across as particularly moral,
當我們開始覺得自己道德不好的時候，
we'll do something to make ourselves feel or seem better.
我們會做一些讓自己感覺更好或看起來更好的事情。
Like, in one study, participants were more likely to literally sanitize their hands after copying out a story about people doing some immoral stuff.
比如，在一項研究中，參與者在抄寫了一個關于人們做不道德事情的故事后，更有可能真的會去洗手。
But all these different examples beg the question of how this mental arithmetic actually happens.
但所有這些不同的例子都提出一個問題——心算是如何產生的。
How do we decide when we can give ourselves some moral wiggle room?
我們什么時候能給自己一些道德回旋的空間呢?
So far, there are two models for how it might work: the moral credits model and the moral credentials model.
目前為止，有兩種模型：道德信用模型和道德憑證模型。
In the moral credits model, good and bad behaviors are like credits and debits on a bank account.
在道德信用模型中，好的和壞的行為就像銀行賬戶上的信譽和借貸一樣。
If you do something good, then you have moral credit to spend on being naughty.
如果你做了好事，那么你就有道德信用去做不好的事。
In the moral credentials model, past behavior shapes your sense of who you are.
在道德憑據模型中，過去的行為塑造了你對自己的認識。
So in an ambiguous situation, where something might be bad but it could kind of go either way,
所以在模棱兩可的情況下——有些可能的壞事（可能帶來好的結果，也可能帶來壞的結果）
you're more likely to decide that the bad thing really isn't that bad after all.
你更有可能認為這些壞事其實沒那么糟。
Because you're for sure not the kind of person who does bad things.
因為你肯定不是那種做壞事的人。
Psychologists generally like these two models,
通常來說，這兩個模型在心理學家那比較受歡迎，
but they can't say yet which of them is better at explaining moral licensing.
但還不能說哪一個模型更好地解釋道德許可。
Part of the problem is that it might ultimately depend on other factors.
部分問題在于，道德許可最終可能取決于其它因素。
For instance, one 2013 study found that
例如，2013年的一項研究發現了
participants licensed certain immoral behaviors differently depending on the socioeconomic status of the person they were judging,
參與者依靠他們對人社會經濟地位的判斷來不同程度地允許某些不道德行為，
which is a whole different can of worms.
這是一個完全不同的研究。
But! There are some things we can say about moral licensing.
但是，關于道德許可，我們有些事情要說明。
Many psychologists believe that it's more likely to happen when the badness of the thing being licensed is more ambiguous.
許多心理學家認為，當被許可事情的壞處更加模糊時，這種情況更有可能發生。
And it's also not just about making others think we're good people.
這不僅僅是讓別人覺得我們是好人。
It's also about how we think of ourselves.
這也關乎我們如何看待自己。
For instance, we'll let ourselves get away with bad behavior in front of an audience even if that audience doesn't know we're usually upstanding citizens.
例如，在觀眾面前我們會收起不良行為，即使觀眾知道我們通常不正直。
We also have some pretty good ideas about how to put the brakes on moral licensing.
我們還有一些好的方法來避免道德許可。
For the kind that interferes with you achieving your goals, reframing the way you think about those goals can help.
對于那些妨礙目標實現的事，你可以重新規劃對這些目標的看法。
Psychologists suggest thinking of the first steps toward a goal as a commitment you're making, not just some pretty good progress so far.
心理學家建議，把邁向目標的第一步看作是你的承諾，而不僅僅是迄今為止很好的進步。
Because good progress can allow us to let ourselves slack off.
因為進步會讓我們懈怠。
And for everything else? Just knowing that it's a bias can help us counter it.
至于其它？只要知道這是一種偏見，我們就能克服。
It lets us pay more attention to when we let things slide and why.
更加注意什么時候以及為什么不要有道德許可
And that can help us make sure that we're doing the stuff we're doing for reasons that we're okay with.
這可以幫助確保我們對自己所做的事情都能接受。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感謝收看心理科學秀節目。
If you would like to learn more about bias and the tendencies that shape people,
如果你想了解更多關于偏見和人類趨向的問題，
you might want to watch our episode on implicit bias, and whether or not everybody is a little bit racist.
你可能想觀看我們關于隱性偏見，以及每個人是否都有種族歧視的節目內容。
Buckle up.
做好準備哦
