Self-licensing
Also known as: Moral licensing, Licensing effect
A virtuous act earns us psychological permission to indulge in a vice next.
What it means
Self-licensing is the tendency for an initial good or virtuous action to liberate people to subsequently act in ways they would otherwise restrain, as if the first act buys moral or self-regulatory credit. Having affirmed a desired self-image — as healthy, ethical, or disciplined — people feel licensed to deviate from it without threatening that image. The effect spans domains: a workout licenses a dessert, a charitable act licenses a selfish one, choosing a virtuous option licenses a later vice. Mechanistically it can work through moral credentials (reframing the later act as acceptable) or moral credits (a balance of good deeds to spend down). Self-licensing is a major reason behavior-change efforts backfire, since progress itself can authorize the very lapses that undo it.
Examples
After ordering a salad for lunch, a dieter feels entitled to a large slice of cake at dinner.
Having cancelled two subscriptions that morning, a shopper decides she has saved enough to justify an unplanned ninety-pound jacket by lunchtime — the thrift bought permission to splurge.
A driver who buys a hybrid starts making short trips he would once have walked; the green purchase banks credit that quietly licenses the extra miles.
First described in Monin & Miller (2001); Khan & Dhar (2006).