In the Bully Pulpit: ‘It’s the Right Thing to Do.’

The Huffington Post:

In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama urged the Congress to take action on paid sick leave for American workers. Forty-three million workers currently have no paid sick leave, the President noted, forcing many to make “the gut-wrenching choice between a paycheck and a sick kid at home.” Rectify this situation, he told the lawmakers: “It’s the right thing to do.”

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After the volunteers read these justifications, the scientists asked them how much they supported each policy, and also asked them to rate the leaders on kindness, compassion and caring. The results, described in a forthcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science, were clear: They were much more supportive of policies framed in moral terms than policies framed in practical terms. And importantly, they found that the public support was mediated by the perception that leaders who offer moral justifications are in fact of better moral character. Indeed, in another version of the study, the scientists found that regardless of how a policy was justified, people support policies championed by leaders high in moral character.

Read the whole story: The Huffington Post

Wray Herbert is an author and award-winning journalist who writes two popular blogs for APS, We’re Only Human and Full Frontal Psychology. Follow Wray on Twitter @wrayherbert.