"Moral attitudes are influenced by a self-interest bias, yet theory suggests that people should value coordination with others in the moral domain. Thus, in deciding what moral propositions to endorse, people have to balance the pursuit of self-interest with the preservation of coordination. In bargaining over contested moral issues, the ability to recruit support from a coalition with a shared moral agenda influences bargaining strength. Accordingly, moral self-interest bias should be moderated by the strength of the coalition supporting one's interests. The current study found qualified support for this account in a group economic game where players assigned to one of two roles with competing interests vote on how to divide a reward. The current study also tested whether the self-interest bias arises due to universal self-deceptive processes and/or individually differentiated strategic tendencies and found evidence that is consistent with both of these mechanistic routes." -- Abstract.
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