The Internal State of Ethical Behavior

From birth, we are taught important values that help us to develop into good citizens. Some individuals are raised in religious organization’s instilling good moral values into them. Some people are raised in a manner to treat others with respect, so-on and so-forth, but not everyone in this world shares the same moral values, which breaks the integrity of the individuals ethical behavioral code or pattern. In the Bible at Proverbs 13:20, it says “The one walking with the wise will become wise, the one who has dealings with the stupid will fare badly.” (NWT Bible) Why is this? Doe’s it even matter about upbringing, and how they will fare in extreme ethical decisions? My theory, that the ones you associate with on a daily basis, powerful figures individuals look up to, those with some sort of authoritative influential quality imposes on how people will make decisions. Four articles documenting the behavior of participants in controlled experiments have been dissected and used in my research.

Experiments

Good Samaritan Experiment – Lee Ross (Professor of Psychology, Stanford University) and Richard E. Nisbett (Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan)

The Good Samaritan experiment exposes the level of care an individual will offer dependent on their on time. A scenario given was of a man named John, whom comes across another man, slumped in a doorway, pleading for help. Many questions were raised about John’s upbringing, his attitude on a daily basis, membership affiliations and etc. How has John’s altruism been tested in the past? The students agreed that only with such information in hand, you could make a sensible prediction. In 1973 a similar social experiment was created and executed. Students in...

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...ruly thought he was a prisoner, which is until he was reminded that it was all an experiment; the student bounced right back up and continued the experiment. All of these experiments prove my theory correct. It was figures with authority that influenced individuals, it was groups that influenced the decisions of some, and it was associates that changed the mind of a student to a prisoner. Although the bible may be old, the information I found in that scripture is highly applicable to today. Psychological behavior should be operated by good morals, integrity, unfortunately that isn’t true, as we’re ruled by acceptance in social mediums, from small to large.

Works Cited

Stanford Prison Experiment - http://www.prisonexp.org/psychology/1

Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum (Laurence Behrens, Leonard J. Rosen)

NWT (New World Translation) Bible – Proverbs 13:20