Publications
Publications
- January 2017
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
The Dark Side of Going Abroad: How Broad Foreign Experiences Increase Immoral Behavior
By: Jackson G. Lu, Jordi Quoidbach, F. Gino, Alek Chakroff, William W. Maddux and Adam D. Galinsky
Abstract
Due to the unprecedented pace of globalization, foreign experiences are increasingly common and valued. Past research has focused on the benefits of foreign experiences, including enhanced creativity and reduced intergroup bias. In contrast, the present work uncovers a potential downside of foreign experiences: increased immoral behavior. We propose that broad foreign experiences (i.e., experiences in multiple foreign countries) foster not only cognitive flexibility but also moral flexibility. Using multiple methods (longitudinal, correlational, and experimental), eight studies (N > 2200) establish that broad foreign experiences can lead to immoral behavior by increasing moral relativism, or the belief that morality is relative rather than absolute. The relationship between broad foreign experiences and immoral behavior was robust across a variety of cultural populations (anglophone, francophone), life stages (high school students, university students, MBA students, middle-aged adults), and seven different measures of immorality. As individuals are exposed to diverse cultures, their moral compass may lose some of its precision.
Keywords
Citation
Lu, Jackson G., Jordi Quoidbach, F. Gino, Alek Chakroff, William W. Maddux, and Adam D. Galinsky. "The Dark Side of Going Abroad: How Broad Foreign Experiences Increase Immoral Behavior." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 112, no. 1 (January 2017): 1–16.