Morality in the flesh: on the link between bodily self-consciousness, morality and (dis)honest behaviour
The sense of owning a body (ownership) and controlling its actions (agency) are two main pillars of bodily self-consciousness (BSC). Although studies suggest that BSC signals may influence morality, the direction of such remains unclear. To investigate this issue, we conducted an online study in which 658 participants completed BSC- and morality-related questionnaires, and undertook a task where they could cheat for monetary gain. We found that those with high sense of ownership, and low reward sensitivity, displayed both high moral identity and deception. This seemingly counterintuitive result supports the notion that people who feel highly moral allow themselves to act immorally. Moreover, we found that high agency was associated with increased moral identity in participants with higher levels of moral disengagement and sense of power. That BSC can differently affect moral identity and behaviour may inspire policies of contrast to immorality and dishonesty, based on changes of corporeal awareness.