Straying From the Righteous Path and From Ourselves: the Interplay Between Perceptions of Morality and Self-Knowledge

The present research addresses the relationship between morally valenced behavior and perceptions of self-knowledge,an outcome that has received little attention in moral psychology. we propose that morally valenced behavior is related to subjective perceptions of self-knowledge,such that people experience lower levels of self-knowledge when they are reminded of their immoral behaviors. we tested this proposition in four studies (n = 1,177). study 1 used daily-diary methods and indicates that daily perceptions of self-knowledge covary with daily levels of morally valenced behavior. the final three studies made use of experimental methods and demonstrate that thinking about immoral behaviors attenuates current perceptions of self-knowledge. the predicted relationships and effects generally persist when controlling for self-esteem. based on our findings,we argue that perceived self-knowledge may play a functional role in moral self-concept maintenance and moral regulatory processes. © 2016,© 2016 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.