Analysing your IQ
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AKA: "Good Deed Credit"
Past good behavior gives you psychological permission to behave badly later.
Moral Licensing is one of the most common cognitive errors—and one of the hardest to spot in yourself. This page explains what it is, why your brain does it, and how to mitigate it.
You exercised this morning, so you "deserve" dessert. You donated to charity, so you can skip helping a friend.
This bias is particularly dangerous because it operates below conscious awareness. By the time you notice it, the damage is often done.
This error is driven by Self-concept maintenance: you've proven you're good, so one bad act won't change your identity..
Evolution optimized for speed and safety, not truth. Moral Licensing is a byproduct of heuristics that once had adaptive value.
In investing: Moral Licensing leads to holding losing positions too long or selling winners too early.
In relationships: This bias causes people to interpret ambiguous signals in ways that confirm existing beliefs about partners.
In work: Moral Licensing makes it harder to update strategies when market conditions change.
In health: People ignore symptoms that contradict their self-image as "healthy" or "young."
Experiments on Moral Licensing often use controlled conditions that make the bias obvious to observers—yet participants still fall for it. This demonstrates how powerful the effect is.
Treat each decision independently. Past virtue doesn't create a balance you can spend on future vice.
Seek disconfirming evidence: Actively look for data that challenges your current belief.
Use decision journals: Write down predictions before outcomes are known, then review accuracy.
Consult diverse perspectives: People with different backgrounds spot different biases.
Implement decision rules: Pre-commit to criteria before emotionally charged situations arise.
Time-box decisions: Revisit important conclusions after a cooling-off period.
Some brains are more susceptible to this than others. Test your Discipline to find out.
Past good behavior gives you psychological permission to behave badly later.
The alternate name "Good Deed Credit" captures the intuitive essence of the bias. Moral Licensing is the formal psychological term, while "Good Deed Credit" describes what it feels like in practice.
Treat each decision independently. Past virtue doesn't create a balance you can spend on future vice.
The underlying mechanism is self-concept maintenance: you've proven you're good, so one bad act won't change your identity.. Human brains evolved heuristics for speed and survival, not accuracy in modern contexts.
Yes. Intelligence doesn't provide immunity—sometimes it makes the bias worse because smart people are better at rationalizing. Awareness and structured decision processes are more protective than raw IQ.
You exercised this morning, so you "deserve" dessert. You donated to charity, so you can skip helping a friend.