MORAL COURAGE:

“DETERMINANTS”
AND FACTORS
In an article entitled What is Moral
Courage? Definition, Explication, and
Classification of a Complex Construct,
Silvia Osswald, Tobias Greitemeyer, Peter
Fischer, and Dieter Frey (2010) debunk
supposed determinants of morally
courageous behavior while also introducing
several factors that foster it.
 SUPPOSED
DETERMINANTS
Studies show that individuals tend to
inhibit from helping others if there are
people present. This social
psychological phenomenon is popularly
known as the Bystander Effect (or
“Bystander Apathy”).
Though on the contrary, Greitemeyer, Fischer,
Kastenmueller, and Frey (2006) revealed that
people respond to emergency situations. Where
victims’ safety are much evidently at stake,
quicker and with little regard for the bystander
effect compared to ordinary helping situations
(i.e. saving a kid’s pet kitten stuck on a tree).
In short, moral courage is rather easy to arouse
in truly dire scenarios, thus removing the
“Bystander Effect” as a genuine determinant.
Mood also plays an important role on
whether or not a person chooses to
demonstrate helping behavior.
It is said that people are more likely to help
others if they are in a positive mood, because
doing so is seen as a factor in prolonging it
(Isen & Levin, 1972). Furthermore, those in a
neutral to negative mood state were also seen
to augment t because it is believed to counter a
bad mood.
• It was subsequently revealed that
neither of the three mood states
(positive, negative, neutral) affects
one’s capacity for moral courage in any
way, as it varies depending on the
situation (Niesta, Greitemeyer, Fischer,
& Frey, 2008)