Go Ahead And Keep Judging Others, Study Says It’s A Good Thing

Society often discourages people from judging others despite being made of a wholly judgmental populace. As it turns out, looking down on others for being despicable is actually a good thing, at least to some extent. According to a new study, judging someone’s morality is actually a great way to gain their cooperation when working on a project as a group. Who knew that being self-righteous is actually useful?

The study led by a researcher at Stanford where participants were actually encouraged to judge the morality of others in the group, Phys.org reports. As it turns out, the participants put such a high value on their reputation that they would put in extra effort in order to make sure that the others would have nothing but high praises for them.

Robb Willer, a Stanford sociologist worked with University of South Carolina researchers to see what people would do if they knew their morals were being openly judged. It was also a way to a shine a light on a concept that is prevalent in society and is surrounded by misconceptions.

"Generally, people think of moral judgments negatively," Willer explained. "But they are a critical means for encouraging good behavior in society."

In the paper that the researchers published, they noted how past studies have often looked at the individual process of judging morality rather than in a social setting. The participants in their particular research developed more trust in one another, which is counter to what most people would think in terms of the effects of being judgmental.

“In a laboratory experiment, groups whose members could make moral judgments achieved greater cooperation than groups with no capacity to sanction, levels comparable to those of groups featuring costly material sanctions,” the study reads. “In addition, members of moral judgment groups subsequently showed more interpersonal trust, trustworthiness, and generosity than all other groups.”