People often say one thing while doing another, and are therefore criticized as hypocrites. Despite the widespread criticism of hypocrites, relatively less is known about factors that influence moral judgment of hypocrisy. In particular, why are some word-deed inconsistencies condemned more harshly than others? The current research focuses on word-deed inconsistency as a common manifestation of hypocrisy, and examines targets' competence as one important factor that influences moral judgment of hypocrisy. We propose and test a Calculating Hypocrites Effect that people perceive hypocrites as less moral than non-hypocrites (i.e., who transgress with vs. without inconsistent claims), particularly when the targets are high rather than low on competence. Across four studies where competence was either measured (Study 1) or manipulated as expertise (Study 2), occupational status (Study 3) and skills (Study 4), we found support for the presumed Calculating Hypocrites Effect. When the targets were high (vs. low) on competence, people interpreted their misaligned words with deeds as more intentional (Study 2) and self-interested (Study 4), which in turn accounted for their severity of moral judgment. Moreover, the Calculating Hypocrites Effect applied even when the targets were competent in domains unrelated to their hypocritical deeds (Study 3). We conclude that perception of competence is an important factor that determines when, and for whom, hypocrisy incurs moral outrage.

中文翻译：

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计算伪君子效应：言行矛盾的道德判断取决于目标的能力

人们常常说一套做一套，因此被批评为伪君子。尽管伪君子受到广泛批评，但对影响伪善道德判断的因素知之甚少。特别是，为什么有些言行不一的行为比其他人受到的谴责更严厉？目前的研究侧重于作为伪善的常见表现形式的言行不一致，并将目标能力作为影响伪善道德判断的一个重要因素进行考察。我们提出并测试了一个计算伪君子效应人们认为伪君子比非伪君子道德低下（即，违反与没有不一致的主张），特别是当目标高而不是能力低时。在四项研究中，能力被测量（研究 1）或作为专业知识（研究 2）、职业地位（研究 3）和技能（研究 4）被操纵，我们发现对假定的计算伪君子效应的支持。当能力目标较高（相对于较低）时，人们将他们与行为不一致的言辞解释为更有意（研究 2）和利己主义（研究 4），这反过来解释了他们道德判断的严重性。此外，计算伪君子效应即使目标在与其虚伪行为无关的领域中胜任（研究 3）。我们得出的结论是，对能力的看法是决定虚伪何时以及为谁招致道德愤怒的重要因素。