Assignment: Subjective Wellbeing Presentation

Hardy and Carlo (2005) reviewed evidence sug- gesting that people who are highly committed to moral causes are

more likely to describe themselves in moral terms, to regard moral values as more important to their sense of self, to have greater

348 Schlenker, Weigold, & Schlenker

alignment between their personal (self) goals and moral goals, and to

engage in moral behavior. Broadly, commitment reflects a pledging or binding of the self to

something else, such as a goal (e.g., get a college degree), a set of ideas (e.g., a political policy or ideology), another person (e.g., a

marriage partner), or a group (e.g., an organization). To say that people have a commitment means they have selected a particular set

of prescriptions to follow and these prescriptions can be used to evaluate and sanction their conduct, both by themselves and others

who are aware of the commitment. At the same time, they have re- jected or downgraded alternative prescriptions that accomplish different goals, take them along different paths, and offer justifica-

tions for their different conduct. The psychological impact of a moral commitment should be

similar to the impact of commitment on other attitudes and identi- ty images. Commitment crystallizes and strengthens corresponding

attitudes, making them more accessible in memory, resistant to sub- sequent change, and likely to guide future behavior (Kiesler, 1971;

Schlenker, Dlugolecki, & Doherty, 1994; Scholl, 1981). Once people claim to ‘‘be’’ a particular type of person with specific beliefs, they have an obligation to behave commensurately.