Moralisation
Neurotic-level defence and a relative of rationalisation; secondary in McWilliams' scheme. The person turns a situation charged with feeling into a question of duty, principle or right and wrong, so their own wishes and fears disappear behind the moral frame.
What drives it
Swaps an uncomfortable feeling (fear, envy, wanting) for righteousness, which feels clean and strong, and makes disagreement look like a moral failing in the other person.
How it shows
Work
Firing someone they feel threatened by becomes “a matter of standards”. Turning down a risky role becomes “loyalty to my team”. Words like integrity, values and principle applied to what are plainly preferences. Opponents are cast as unethical rather than mistaken. Others feel judged and unable to disagree without seeming bad.
Relationships
Disappointment becomes “It's about respect.” A parent's control is “for your own good.” Arguments turn into trials, and the partner feels convicted rather than heard.
Self
You feel righteous, energised and slightly superior, and you couldn't easily say what you personally want or fear in the situation.
What tells it apart
Rationalisation: Rationalisation offers practical or logical reasons; moralisation offers moral ones and casts the other side as wrong, not just mistaken.
Should statements: Should statements are rigid rules, often aimed at oneself, that produce guilt; moralisation is a defensive reframe, usually aimed at others, that produces righteousness.
Moral foundations: Moral foundations describe stable value priorities; moralisation is situational and tracks the person's feelings, appearing when a moral frame is convenient.
A test
Ask what they personally want to happen, setting principle aside; difficulty answering, or annoyance at the question, points to moralisation.
Questions to carry
- Asked what they personally want, with principle set aside, what kind of answer comes?
- Behind which of my moral stands is there something I want or fear?
How strong the research is
clinical. A clinical concept; social psychology studies moralisation of attitudes as a process, which overlaps without testing the defence.
Where it comes from
Nancy McWilliams, 1994
Sources
- Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1886)
- Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality (1887)