Licensing

Sometimes people justify doing something they don’t think is good (like lie, cheat, or eat junk food) by focusing on the fact that they recently did something they think is good (like making a charitable donation or eating healthy). This mental justification is known as moral licensing or self-licensing.

Applications

• A person ate a healthy lunch and then goes to an office party with snacks. They overeat snacks, telling themselves that they can have that extra cupcake (or three) because they had a healthy lunch.

• A nurse went out of their way to help one of their morning patients. It’s now late afternoon and they want a break, so they rush through afternoon rounds and don’t take all of the measurements as accurately as they could.