Define “Stealing”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110413093211.htm

In a new study examining college student’s beliefs on stealing, researchers found that students judge shoplifting as immoral but view online digital theft as moral. This could possibly be explained by the lack of obvious harm stealing an online song might be, but I believe these beliefs are guided by the principle of cognitive dissonance. Festinger (1957) described cognitive dissonance as arriving when we behave in ways which are inconsistent with our attitudes or beliefs. Festinger asserted that dissimilarity between our attitude and behavior would result in an aversive state of dissonance and that individuals would strive to reduce this aversive state by changing behavior or attitude. He became interested in this phenomenon when he saw that a cult proclaiming the end of the world only became more devout followers when their leader’s doomsday prophecy did not come true. He speculated that because the followers had quit their jobs and given away their possessions, they wanted to make sense of their actions. The disconnect between actions and beliefs is said to cause an uncomfortable dissonance and the way to rectify this feeling is to change either your actions or beliefs to align with one another. 

More students will steal online music then go out and shoplift in stores. If the students deemed online stealing as immoral this might violate their self-concept of being moral and therefore cause dissonance. Appraising online stealing as being moral might be in response to the feelings of dissonance they might experience if they had a self-view of morality and actions of immorality. The interpretation from Aronson (1969) links cognitive dissonance with inconsistencies between actions and self-concepts rather than actions and beliefs. Students self-evaluation of morality must align with their actions, so a belief about digital stealing must be altered. Students will generate excuses to perceive their actions as moral, thus protecting their self-image of morality.