Humanizing the Transgressor and Lightening the Immoral Behavior: The Role of Likeability Bias and Moral Rationalization.

People often perceive their moral judgments as objective and unbiased, yet research indicates that positive interpersonal attitudes lead to more lenient moral character assessments. Here we investigate how likeability towards moral transgressors and the different moral rationalization strategies they may employ impact both the perceived severity of the immoral behavior and the attribution of humanity to the transgressor. In two studies, participants ( = 475) engaged in a 2 (likeability towards the transgressor: high vs.