Standing up against moral transgressions: An integrative perspective on the socio-psychological antecedents and barriers to moral courage

Moral courage, or acting against perceived moral transgressions despite personal risks, is an important social force that shapes the functioning of human societies. This chapter presents a narrative review that advances the understanding of the socio-psychological factors and processes that facilitate or hinder moral courage in a variety of social contexts. First, the authors discuss the different ways in which the term “moral courage” has been used in the literature and arrive at a synthesized conceptualization. We then review literature that has been previously disconnected but offers collective insights into bystander behaviors that can be viewed as morally courageous. Based on this review, the authors propose an integrative model of moral courage, highlighting the importance of considering attitudes and beliefs, moral emotions, relational and group-level processes, as well as contextual factors in tandem for understanding morally courageous behaviors. Finally, they identify gaps in the existing literature and suggest directions for future research.