Penitence congruity effect: even murderers are seen as less immoral when expressing guilt and deontological beliefs.

In five experiments with a total N = 1558, we studied to which extent the perception of wrongdoers' morality depends on wrongdoers' cognitive and emotional penitence on the example of deontological beliefs and guilt. Both types of penitence improved the target's moral impressions to a similar degree. We established a penitence congruity effect, whereby jointly signaling cognitive and emotional penitence amplifies the strength of each of these types of penitence. The penitence congruity effect was visible when participants compared several wrongdoers (Studies 1, 2, and 5) but disappeared when participants judged them independently (Studies 3 and 4). In a pre-registered Study 5, we showed how the credibility of the statements explained the penitence congruity effect: incongruent penitence (e.g. wrongdoer felt guilt but thought a murder could be justified) decreased the credibility of the positive statements and reduced its impact on the wrongdoer's moral perception. Taken together, people who judge transgressors do incorporate information about their cognitive and emotional penitence and expect this information to be congruent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]