“I’m just being honest.” Ethical justifications enable interpersonal harm

Although honesty is typically conceptualized as a virtue, it often conflicts with other equally important moral values, such as avoiding interpersonal harm. Four experiments demonstrate that people use honesty to license and justify behaviors that harm others. Individuals are more likely to take money from others, and less likely to feel bad about it, when they can do so honestly. Furthermore, individuals are less likely to seek out information about how their actions affect others when such actions can be attributed to honesty. Importantly, actors view their honest but harmful actions as more ethical than targets do. This research suggests that honesty, and moral principles broadly, can blind people to the interpersonal consequences of their actions, thereby providing insight into the mechanisms that allow people to harm others while feeling moral.