Acting on one’s moral principles is not always easy. Upholding one’s moral beliefs

may run counter to one’s social environment or situational demands. It may often

cause people to remain silent on their convictions, while at the same time some

may show the moral courage to speak out. How do people evaluate those who do

stand up, and how does it affect their self-evaluations? In two experimental studies

(Ns = 207 and 204), we investigated both types of evaluations. The studies demonstrate

that people who failed to uphold their moral beliefs still had positive evaluations

of others who showed moral courage. More specifically, pro-gay participants

who went along with writing an anti-gay essay denouncing equal rights for sexual

minorities had positive evaluations of another person who spoke up and refused this

task. The failure to display moral courage had negative consequences for participants’

self-concepts. In Experiment 1, we show that pro-gay participants’ positive

self-concepts were lowered after writing an anti-gay essay (vs. a pro-gay essay). In

Experiment 2, we reveal that participants’ positive self-concepts were lowered only

when they were confronted with morally courageous behavior and their own failure

to uphold their moral beliefs was visible to the experimenter.