Main body
Morality is a complex interplay of factors that determine our choices and reactions to ethical decisions and thus, self reflection plays a major role in influencing our sense of morality. Gino and Mogilner (2014) have tested this concept by examining the effects of time, a precursor to self reflection, and money have on ones decision to cheat, representing their level of morality, successfully showing a prominent link between these factors. Despite this, the ability for Gino and Mogilner’s (2014) research to be applied to real life situations is limited by their experimental choices and operationalised variables. The prominence of self reflection within moral decisions is clearly experimentally evident, however in real life situations, an array of other factors are involved.
When it comes to moral decisions, it has been suggested that ethical behaviour is largely influenced by the self and ones desire to maintain a positive image of themselves (Adams, Bryan & Monin, 2013). Gino and Mogilner (2014) have shown, across both single and two-factor experiments, that prompting self reflection minimised the difference between effects of money and time primes, consolidating that self reflection, or specifically, question of self image (Ploner & Regner, 2013) is a determining factor in moral decisions. Thus, they have proven to successfully advocate a relationship between time, money and morality however limitations arise when applying their study and the concept of self reflection to real life situations.
Gino and Mogilner (2014) have operationalised cheating as a measure of morality, somewhat limiting the application of the experiment. Specific to the study, this concept is successful in that an individual’s moralit...
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...no external implications or influences, and thus the priming of time or money respectively is illuminated as they are the only factors influencing the decision. Although in real life self reflection may encourage more moral
decisions, the array of other influential factors will show this factor to be of less significance and, hence, their research has limited application to real life scenarios.
Overall, Gino and Mogilner (2014) have successfully shown that time, money and, more prominently, self reflection have a distinct influence on one’s morality. Despite this, their experimental methods and operationalised variables, although sound, limit the applicability of the study to real life. Ultimately, self reflection has a large influence on moral decisions but this influence is less prevalent in real life ethical situations due to the complexity of morality.
Adam Smith’s moral theory explains that there is an “impartial spectator” inside each of us that aids in determining what is morally and universally good, using our personal experiences and human commonalities. In order to judge our own actions, we judge and observe the actions of others, at the same time observing their judgments of us. Our impartial spectator efficiently allows us to take on two perceptions at once: one is our own, determined by self-interest, and the other is an imaginary observer. This paper will analyze the impartiality of the impartial spectator, by analyzing how humans are motivated by self-interest.
Experiments like the Asch Experiment and the Milgram Experiment provides evidence that individual’s conscience really did not have a part in how one behaved in a scenario. These experiments provided evidence that the behavior is situational, and one must have contextual details to understand these findings. Personal conscience did not have effect on behavior, but situational variables
In a society where one must often compromise their thoughts and beliefs to fit into the social norms of society, one must be careful not to alter their views and morals too much. The consequences can be devastating. Experiments from Stanley Milgram, Solomon Asch, and Philip Zimbardo all show the effects and consequences the modification of ones morals and beliefs can have. We must learn from the past and attempt to keep these experiments in mind when our morals or beliefs are on the line.
“Most people in the U.S. want to do the right thing, and they want others to do the right thing. Thus, reputation and trust are important to pretty much everyone individuals and organizations. However, individuals do have different values, attributes, and priorities that guide their decisions and behavior. Taken to an extreme, almost any personal value, attribute, or priority can “cause” an ethical breach (e.g. risk taking, love of money or sta...
Graham, Jesse and Johnathan Haidt. 2011. The Social Psychology of Morality: Exploring the Causes of
(Jensen, 2005, p. 69) could be compared with the importance of desired moral reasoning. The
Hypothesis 2: Anticipatory regret about passing up a last opportunity for enrichment will make people more willing to cheat when they think that no more cheating opportunities remain.
Disparity between these moral theories means that what is considered the right action varies in situations, such as Bernard William’s thought experiment ‘Jim and the Indians’ . A non-c...
Human beings are confronted with numerous issues throughout his or her lifetime that would require him or her to examine the best action to take to avoid the damaging consequences. In most cases, individuals restrain his or her action to take into consideration the consequences that may lead to the right or wrong behavior. One’s ethical and moral standards are first learned at an early age from his or her culture, how he or she is raised, religious background, and social system. Scientifically, there are various ethical theories, such as the virtue theory, deontological ethics, and utilitarianism (Boylan, 2009). By understanding these theories one can compare, contrast and uncover the reasoning behind his or her ethical and moral standards.
Every human being carries with them a moral code of some kind. For some people it is a way of life, and they consult with their code before making any moral decision. However, for many their personal moral code is either undefined or unclear. Perhaps these people have a code of their own that they abide to, yet fail to recognize that it exists. What I hope to uncover with this paper is my moral theory, and how I apply it in my everyday life. What one does and what one wants to do are often not compatible. Doing what one wants to do would usually bring immediate happiness, but it may not benefit one in the long run. On the other hand, doing what one should do may cause immediate unhappiness, even if it is good for oneself. The whole purpose of morality is to do the right thing just for the sake of it. On my first paper, I did not know what moral theories where; now that I know I can say that these moral theories go in accordance with my moral code. These theories are utilitarianism, natural law theory, and kantianism.
The debate between moral relativists and moral cognitivists is centered around the question of whether there exists a metric by which actions and intentions can be judged. To avoid any confusion and prevent the opportunity for any strawman attacks, morality will be considered in a broad sense as the distinction between what a person ought to do and ought not do. Also, moral relativism will be defined as holding the belief that moral actions are relative, or subjective, to contextual circumstance and that there exists no metric by which actions and intentions can thereby be globally judged. In this sense, relativism does not attach any truth or falsity to actions or intentions outside of a specific individual or cultural context. Moral objectivism,
From earliest childhood, we are indoctrinated with a sense of justice, of fairness, of right and wrong. Every schoolyard echoes with cries of "No fair cheating!" We seem to know inst...
The results produced in this study suggest that none of the variables tested seem to influence a person’s morality. In previous research about color and morality, De Bock, Pandelaere, and Van Kenhove (2013) study of morality and color found participants rated less negatively on bad consumer behavior if present on a red background while they rated positively on good consumer behavior on a green background. While Glover’s (2001) study found that gender did not affect a person’s moral reasoning and that justice and caring orientation were the factors, this current study cannot determine if participants were in justice or caring orientation. Even if we were able to in this study, seeing that gender was insignificant in influencing morality, it is possible that either justice or caring orientation had no influence as well. De Bock, Pandelaere, and Van Kenhove’s study present that color does influence morality, even though it’s not in the direction of our hypothesis. The results of this study go against what De Bock found, and there could be explanations as to why the results don’t match up with previous
Cheating in our culture is often looked at with distain and is something that most find unacceptable. However, the question will always remain, is there ever a time when cheating can be justified? To answer this question one must define what cheating really is. Cheating at its root is dishonesty and with moral relativism swiftly becoming the norm in our society, dishonesty has fallen into a rather grey are of life. Something that one would find to be dishonest on all accounts another would find to be acceptable under the right circumstances. For each individual there must be a baseline from which their morals are established and from which they define the difference between right or wrong. One area of life we can look to for clarity is the world of sports. In sports, there are rules which govern a players conduct
‘Moral judgments are nothing more than expressions of personal preference. While there is some point to arguing about questions of fact, moral arguments are a waste of time. The only thing at issue is what people like or don’t like’. I have probably read this statement about a million times and still do not have any qualms against it. Moral judgments are typically based on your upbringing, your likes, your religion (or non-religion), and numerous other aspects that make up your personality. Those listed traits and further attributions give you the basis of what you are going to feel morally to many issues such as: homosexuality, abortion, murder, stealing, etc. While many of us feel that we are always precise when making a judgment, this paper will show that no matter how hard we try; the above statement will always be true.