Scrolling through headlines every morning on my way to school, I’ve become accustomed to seeing bad news. Recent weeks have featured ongoing international crises, civic unrest in cities, and national debates. Starting my day reading The New York Times’ The Morning, which arrives in my inbox before sunrise, feels far from the idealistic experience of poring over newspapers with coffee and more like an exercise in shock and confusion. By the time I click on a few articles and scroll to the bottom of the email, where a lighter distraction of a recipe or puzzle awaits, I’m no longer interested in seeing more.

          Today, more than ever before, our news feeds elicit a psychological response termed moral outrage. Moral outrage, as the term suggests, describes the indignant gut reaction we feel in response to witnessing unjust events that violate our core beliefs. Moral outrage dominates the media we consume. It can be a force for good, compelling us to act. People re-post the latest injustices and demand that things change. Celebrities speak out about the day’s controversies. Comment sections fill with remarks condemning the ills of society. Yet sometimes this outrage can dead-end in an odd feeling…indifference.

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Roots of Moral Outrage

          What aspects of these news stories, exactly, do we find so agitating? The deluge of emotions can be difficult to untangle. Are we upset about the state of chaos, or riled up that good people are being hurt? Or are we simply afraid?

          Moral outrage is just one piece of the emotional puzzle, and a “disinterested” one at that. That is, while revenge or personal indignation are triggered by direct threats to ourselves, we can experience moral outrage over any breach of ethical standards, even if we’re not involved. According to psychologists like Jonathan Haidt, all humans possess innate notions of right and wrong, and violations of these codes trigger an emphatic response: an urge to assign blame, restore justice, and punish the perpetrator.

          Research by Hechler & Kessler (2018) suggests that whether an event sparks moral outrage mostly hinges on how we perceive the offender’s intentions. The same tragedy, such as a truck driver causing a car crash, can induce very different emotions depending on how it is framed. If a driver loses control because of reckless driving (as opposed to experiencing a medical emergency), we feel more up in arms rather than simply feeling saddened for the victims, even though the outcome was exactly the same.

          Hechler & Kessler (2018) further draw a distinction between moral outrage and empathetic anger on behalf of those hurt, which is triggered by concern about the actual harm experienced. We feel moral outrage because of a perpetrator’s malicious intentions, regardless of whether they come to fruition. This may help explain why moral outrage is so ubiquitous in a day when headlines frequently announce looming or intended harm. In this environment, moral outrage does not sharply distinguish between the headlines “Company attempts to exploit workers” and “Company found to have exploited workers.”

The Problem With Moral Outrage

          The problem with moral outrage stems from this ubiquity. Being exposed to anger-provoking news 24/7 leads to a phenomenon known as “outrage fatigue.” At some point, to protect ourselves, our capacity to feel anger simply decreases. It is like the villagers in the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Too many alarms, whether real or false, risk audiences growing skeptical and emotionally disengaging. The danger: we grow indifferent when real, non-negotiable wrongs occur.

Other Problems with Moral Outrage

          Despite its highly taxing nature, moral outrage seems here to stay. Just like fake news, posts featuring moral outrage are more likely to be re-tweeted and travel faster on social media. As a result, people may act more morally outraged than they actually are to garner publicity. Moral outrage can become a strategy used to incite public engagement. News outlets may release scathing headlines that are heavily biased against one group, leaving little margin for gray area and contributing to polarization.

          Additionally, while moral outrage is often fully justified and genuine, research by Rothschild & Keefer (2017) indicates that it may sometimes have deeper, less-than-noble intentions. Loudly expressing moral outrage may be a way of relieving our own guilt and covering up our own moral insecurities. Conspicuous moral outrage convinces ourselves, and society, that we’re good people and that we’re acting in the right.

The Path Forward

          Ultimately, social psychologists like Kurt Gray at UNC suggest that we are evolutionarily ingrained to experience moral outrage; it’s a way of protecting our society and upholding our fundamental norms. Gray proposes that the human brain is wired to be constantly vigilant for threats, and as modern-day society mitigates the risks of real dangers, differing opinions can suddenly loom as the greatest threats to our way of life.

          In terms of a solution, Gray proposes more productive dialogue, wherein people share vulnerable, personal stories and seek to understand other perspectives. I agree with this view that the world can become a kinder, more empathetic place so long as we are willing to listen. I think that the best path forward lies in prioritizing this optimism, this glass-half-full mentality. While reading the news, perhaps we should seek to rectify the bad but also take the time to dwell on the good, and emphasize our common ground with others rather than our divides.

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References

Hechler, S., & Kessler, T. (2018). On the difference between moral outrage and empathic anger: Anger about wrongful deeds or harmful consequences. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 270-282.

LaFaro, A. (2024, November 14). Outrage Explained. UNC Research Stories. https://endeavors.unc.edu/outrage-explained/

Nanay, B. (2020, February 11). The Psychology of Moral Outrage. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychology-tomorrow/202002/the-psychology-moral-outrage

Rothschild, Z. K., & Keefer, L. A. (2017). A cleansing fire: Moral outrage alleviates guilt and buffers threats to one’s moral identity. Motivation and Emotion, 41(2), 209-229.

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