Standing up for close others: the relationship effect on moral courage across care and fairness contexts

Moral courage is defined as standing up for others and intervening when a norm is violated. This research aimed to examine the effect of relationship type between the bystander and the victim (close or distant) and the moral context in which the norm violation occurs (care/harm or fairness/reciprocity) on moral courage. Two studies (n = 164 and n = 200) utilized a scenario method in which participants were presented with short vignettes of another person (close or distant) being victimized (in either a care or a fairness context) and were asked to indicate their willingness to intervene, representing degree of moral courage. As expected, participants reported greater levels of moral courage when the victim was their family member or friend (vs. stranger) and this effect was stronger in the care (vs. fairness) context. Moreover, anger - a moral emotion - mediated the relationship effect on moral courage in both contexts. Consequently, relationship type and context should be considered when addressing interventions against norm violations.