Moral Licensing
A good deed earns a felt licence for a bad one; after donating, recycling or 'doing the ethical thing', people permit themselves more; sellers offer cheap virtue to unlock spending.
An everyday example
Choosing the organic option, then adding the dessert; approving a diversity statement, then skipping the audit.
What it can cost you
Ethical accounting where symbolic goods offset substantive harms; being sold a licence.
Warning signs
- My virtue is being used as a voucher.
- The good act was symbolic and the indulgence is real.
One thing to do
Treat each decision on its own; notice 'I've earned this' and ask whether the earning and the spending are even in the same currency.
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