Description:

This presentation examines the psychosocial mechanisms by which people selectively disengage moral self-sanctions from inhumane conduct. The moral disengagement may center on redefining inhumane conduct as a benign or socially worthy one by moral justification, sanitizing language and expedient comparison with worse cruelty; disavowal of personal agency in the harm one causes by diffusing or displacement of responsibility; disregarding or minimizing the injurious effects of one’s actions and dehumanizing those who are victimized and blaming them for bringing the suffering on themselves. Given the many mechanisms for disengaging moral control at individual and collective levels, civilized life requires in addition to human personal standard, safeguards built into social systems that uphold compassionate behavior and renounce cruelty.

Educational Objectives:

1. To describe the different mechanisms through which people disengage moral self-sanctions from detrimental conduct.
2. To list the social conditions that foster moral disengagement.

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*