What is social approval theory?
By Enoc vt (File:Botón Me gusta.svg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Social approval is the positive evaluation of an individual or group in a social context. Social approval is a driving factor in morality and is an important dynamic when evaluating reputation. Another concept connected to social approval is likability. Individuals typically want to be liked by others and approval seeking is a means of achieving this likability. Avoiding stigma is a defensive mechanism to maintain likability.
Likability ratings are poll based measurements which determine how likable a person is. The likability rating allows an individual to track the public sentiment around their social approval. Why is this all important?
Morality and what others believe is right
Thinking about morality, if an individual is trying to be perceived as a "good person" then they are seeking social approval. Good persons are generally well liked by others and reputation also plays a role in this. The loss of social approval can be thought of as a cost, or put in a different way the lowering of an approval rating such as likability is a social cost. Personal morality is about doing what you believe based on your best judgment to be the right thing. On the other hand there can be a conflict between your personal judgment as to what you perceive as "the right thing" and the public opinion on "the right thing". Likability can suffer even if an individual does what they perceived to be "the right thing" if it violates what public opinion dictates is "the right thing".
To seek approval under social approval theory is to have behavior which focuses on the personal opinions of a significant others like (parents, coaches, priests, spouse, children). Unlike the pressure to conform to public opinion, this is an even stronger pressure to conform to the expectations of family, friends, those closest. It is this pressure which I hypothesize keeps people locked in patterns of moral behavior because they wonder what would their significant other think of them if they did something which could be perceived as immoral.
The ultimate question, is it more important to do what others believe is right or to do what you believe is right? Perhaps the answer to that question is influenced by how important it is to maintain the approval of those others.