Enabling or Limiting Cognitive Flexibility? Evidence of Demand for Moral Commitment

Moral behavior is more prevalent when individuals cannot easily distort their beliefs self-servingly. Do seek to limit or enable ability beliefs? How do these choices affect behavior? Experiments with over 9,000 participants show preferences are heterogeneous—30 percent of prefer belief distortion, while 40 it, even if costly. A random assignment mechanism reveals that being assigned the preferred environment necessary for curbing enabling self-serving behavior. Third parties can anticipate effects, suggesting some sophistication about cognitive constraints distortion. (JEL C91, D82, D83, D91)