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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · Jul 23

Very excited to see this published!

Society for Personality and Social Psychology @spspnews.bsky.social · Jul 9

📈New meta-analysis reveals when "moral licensing" really happens. After good deeds, people act less morally only when being watched by others, not when alone. This explains why many online studies failed to replicate the effect.

Read more in #PSPB: ow.ly/YFIp50WmjYE

A group of people, shown in silhouette, watching the sun set.

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · Jun 10

5 more days left!

Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 29

🚨Job alert in Psyc! 🚨

Northumbria is hiring ⭐Vice Chancellor Fellows ⭐!

- Assistant Profs, with 3 years for research focus
- then transition to regular role

Check out it out here: work4.northumbria.ac.uk#en/sites/CX_...

work4.northumbria.ac.uk

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 29

🚨Job alert in Psyc! 🚨

Northumbria is hiring ⭐Vice Chancellor Fellows ⭐!

- Assistant Profs, with 3 years for research focus
- then transition to regular role

Check out it out here: work4.northumbria.ac.uk#en/sites/CX_...

work4.northumbria.ac.uk

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 9

I'm working on a paper that will address this!

Long story short, unless they have a reason to signal being highly moral, on average it would be better to behave normatively. Being too moral can be bad! My coauthor Pat Barclay has a paper on this

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

Mark Rubin @markrubin.bsky.social · May 8

“The moral licensing literature is highly heterogeneous, therefore interpreting the overall effect without accounting for methodological moderators may not be meaningful (i.e., comparing apples and oranges).”

Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

1/ 🌟Paper *just* accepted @ PSPB!🌟

Does moral licensing (doing a good thing, then a less good thing) really exist??

➡️ Many failed replications. Why?
➡️ Using #metaanalysis, we put the effect to the test

🧵👇

Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...

#SocialPsychology #Bayesian #Theory

OSF

osf.io

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

8/8

Huge thanks to my co-authors Jisoo Jung, Chris Chinn, and Pat Barclay, to everyone who shared their data, and reviewers for helping make the paper stronger!! 💪🏻

Questions or comments? I’d love to hear them! 🧠💬

#OpenScience #MoralPsychology #MetaAnalysis #SocialPsych

Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

7/
🌟This paper reframes moral licensing as a social effect—not a purely internal one based on self-regulation.

🌟And it shows how experimental methods can shape the effects we (dis)cover.

Check out preprint here: osf.io/preprints/ps...

OSF

osf.io

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

6/ This also helps explain when we might get #MoralLicensing v #MoralConsitency

➡️ When establishing a new rep to others, we may license

➡️ When on our own, may be more morally consistent

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

5/ ☠️This helps explain why many replications failed ☠️

➡️Recent moral licensing studies were online, where reputational cues are weak or absent 💻❌

➡️We need to be careful when moving social effects online!

⚠️Looked like the #ReplicationCrisis, but really it was methods! ⚠️

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

4/ 🤯 Why? Because reputation matters ✅

➡️ When others are watching, a moral rep can “buy” you leeway for a *slightly* less moral act (e.g., might not donate💰, but won’t got steal a 🚗)—without ruining your image

Online or unobserved? Licensing vanishes.

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

3/ 🌟In a meta-analysis (k = 115, N > 21,000):

Moral licensing effect is much stronger when people are observed!! 👀

➡️ Not observed: essentially no effect (Hedge’s g ≈ 0)
➡️ Explicitly observed: Med effect size (g = 0.51)

Bayesian analysis shows 9x more evidence for licensing when observed! 📈

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

2/ We advance that methods changes (moving lab studies online) have masked the effect because the effect is social!

➡️Explains failed online experiments
➡️ We test if the effect is interpersonal (social effect based on reputation) vs intrapsychic self-image)

OSF

osf.io

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · May 8

1/ 🌟Paper *just* accepted @ PSPB!🌟

Does moral licensing (doing a good thing, then a less good thing) really exist??

➡️ Many failed replications. Why?
➡️ Using #metaanalysis, we put the effect to the test

🧵👇

Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...

#SocialPsychology #Bayesian #Theory

OSF

osf.io

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 24

2/ Shout out to the extraordinary organizing team for #EHBEA2025 ✒️🐧📝

@tvpollet.bsky.social
@jeannebovet.bsky.social
@francescadp.bsky.social
@amrotella.bsky.social
@gillianpepper.bsky.social
@mdconstable.bsky.social
@lrrenner.bsky.social
Martin Tovee
Connor Leslie
Tamsin Saxton
& Kris McCarty

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 17

Gillian Pepper looks at #risk in high/low volcano risk areas in Sicily! 🌋

➡️ people weren't more like to help in or out group members 🇮🇹

➡️ but! Less likely to wear seat belts in high risk areas! 🚗

@gillianpepper.bsky.social
#ehbea2025
#volcano

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 17

How to align individual & group interests?? 🤔

➡️ Gilbert Roberts models how honest signaling of cooperative intent can do this in a public goods game!

➡️ signallers are chosen as partners

#cooperation #pgg #ehbea2025
@gilbertroberts.bsky.social

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 17

Starting off the #cooperation session, Julia Phelps talks about the relationship between #kinship & reciprocity

➡️ Finds that people react better to nonreciprocation from other households, from past reciprocators who are close kin 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦

#ehbea2025

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 17

What an excellent final plenary at #EHBEA2025!! 👩‍🏫

Prof Christine Caldwell shared research on #CulturalTransmission

🧠 Adults & childre can transmit subsets of info, that perform as well as if they transmitted full info! 🗣

#CulturalEvolution #InformationSharing #EHBEA

@ehbea.bsky.social

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 17

8/ It’s been an incredible week of evolutionary human science. 🧑🏻‍🔬🧪🍻

👉🏻 Let’s finish strong, make new connections, and celebrate all we've learned! See you out there! 🎓🌍

#EHBEA2025 #EvolutionaryScience #Scientists #Networks #Collabs #HumanBehaviour #Research

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 17

7/ 🏆 Finally, wrap up at 16:50 with the Conference Awards and AGM! Don't miss celebrating the top talks and highlights!

🍷🍴 Lastly - Our big dinner bash at the Biscuit Factory!

🎨 Gorgeous art + social + science + excellentfood == the best conference #farewell you can ask for! 🍽️💃

#EHBEA2025

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 17

2/ 🧠 Kicking us off at 09:00 is Christine Caldwell with a plenary on cognitive challenges in human cumulative cultural evolution.

A big brain start to Day 4! #EHBEA2025

#Cognition #CulturalEvolution #CumulativeCulture

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 17

1/ 🎉 It’s the FINAL DAY of #EHBEA2025 and it’s packed with mind-blowing science and big ideas!

Let’s dive into today’s highlights 🧵👇

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Amanda Rotella @amrotella.bsky.social · Apr 15

Looking forward to an exciting day!! Some really cool talks coming up. Check it out 👇🏻😁 #EHBEA2025

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 15

🧠✨ EHBEA 2025 — Tuesday Highlights ✨🧠

From cultural transmission to chatbots and grandmothers, here's what's coming up on Day 2 (April 15) at #EHBEA2025.

A thread 👇

@ehbea.bsky.social #HumanBehaviour #EvPsych #Anthropology #Research #EHBEA

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

Dr Eve Holden (she/her) @chimpanzeve.bsky.social · Apr 14

#EHBEA2025 kicks off with pre-conference panel on large scale collaborations

Great to hear about some of the often unspoken aspects of large-scale collaborations

@ehbea2025.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @thorabjorns.bsky.social @shona-d.bsky.social @amrotella.bsky.social

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Reposted by Amanda Rotella

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · Apr 14

Great start to #EHBEA2025 with our preconference panel on Big Team Science!

Big thanks to @thorabjorns.bsky.social, @shona-d.bsky.social, Harry Clelland, @amrotella.bsky.social, and our fantastic host @francescadp.bsky.social!

Great discussion & insights about managing big teams in science 👏 👍

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