Gain or non-loss: The message matching effect of regulatory focus on moral judgements of other-orientation lies.

Previous studies found that individuals with promotion focus are more likely to be persuaded by messages framed in terms of gain-related words; individuals with prevention focus are more likely to be persuaded by messages framed in terms of loss-related words. This is known as the message matching effect of regulatory focus. The present study extended this effect into the field of moral judgement of other-orientation lies. Two experiments were conducted, revealing that (a) individuals with promotion focus judged gain-framed other-orientation lies to be more moral, while individuals with prevention focus judged non-loss-framed other-orientation lies to be more moral; and (b) the subjective processing fluency had a partial mediating role in the message matching effect. Theoretical implications and future research directions were discussed.