this explains a lot

In a tragically beautiful twist of irony, a recent study found out what many already know: that a sense of moral superiority can actually encourage one to commit unethical acts such as cheating.

"The principle we uncovered is that when faced with a moral decision, those with a strong moral identity choose their fate (for good or for bad) and then the moral identity drives them to pursue that fate to the extreme," said researcher Scott Reynolds of the University of Washington Business School in Seattle. "So it makes sense that this principle would help explain what makes the greatest of saints and the foulest of hypocrites."