Posted on April 24, 2008 by Kathy McManus in All, Ethics Comments (25)
Morality Bites
We’ve watched all things personal undergo very public makeovers on reality TV—our noses, our houses, our cars and jobs and spouses. But something more fundamental may have quietly fallen victim to a makeover as well: our moral identities.
Moral identity is how you view and describe yourself in ethical terms—honest, caring, opposed to cheating, committed to doing the right thing, etc. But two business researchers say people with a strong sense of moral awareness can actually become the biggest failures in the face of moral challenges.
In a study reported by LiveScience.com and originally published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the researchers asked a group of people if they considered themselves moral, and if they would cheat on a test.
The people who said they would never cheat described themselves as very moral—no surprise. But the people who said they would indeed cheat also described themselves as very moral. Huh?
The study deduced that when a person with a strong moral identity is faced with a moral decision, they choose their fate—for good or bad—and then pursue it until the extreme end, driven by their extreme moral identity.
In other words, they justify cheating as a means to a moral end, as in this example given by one of the researchers: “If I cheat, then I’ll get into get into graduate school. And if I get into graduate school, then I can become a doctor. And think about all the people I’m going to help when I’m a doctor.”
Is doing the wrong thing—but claiming it’s for the right reasons—ever really right?
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Doing the wrong thing and claiming it’s for the right reasons is never right. For example “cheating” doesn’t teach you anything except learning how not to learn and work hard. What good are those good grades going to be when you somehow can’t remember where the gallbladder is located at in the middle of surgery.
Relative Morality
Many cultural critics decry moral relativism. However, the reality is that we live in a world with relative morality. Things that are generally accepted include: killing in self-defense; just war theory; cultural morality of food (in the U.S. eating dogs is suspect, in other cultures it is acceptable).
My point is that there are few clear cut issues of right and wrong.
I know folks are thinking “cheating is different.” I would argue not so much. The post does not mention how many people felt cheating was moral. If it is around 5% then it would signify people on the “bad” end of a bell curve distribution of the population. And thus indicate that bad folks rationalize their actions. However, if the percentage is 20%, then it is much more likely that our societal mores encourage an end-justifies-the-means mentality.
Philip Zimbardo has argued that there are three levels of causation for immoral actions:
Dispositional (individual)
Situational and
Systemic.
However, the common response to immorality is to blame the individual and ignore the situation and system in which the individual acted. Perhaps people see themselves as moral even if they acknowledge a willingness to cheat because the current systems (corporate, political, academic) allow/encourage ends and not means.
Moral Dilemma, Ethical Consciousness
Cheating we know is wrong and doing it for what we think is the right reason, to be of help to others, is also wrong. But, in a world where we are killing innocent people, being killed by terrorists, and having to see poverty, and disease everywhere we look, cheating is irrelevant when done for the right reasons. I am a “moral” person but if it came down to cheating to be able to save others or be of service to others, I would have a personal conversation with God and ask forgiveness, but I would do what was best for the other, meaning to change the face of poverty or find homes for the homeless, cures for diseases. Cheating is the least concern when such huge humane injustices are taking place.
Critical thinking
Why is it that whenever the topic of right and wrong is discussed it inevitably revolves around religion or god or some morality thing?. There is no dilemma. If you do something that hurts yourself or someone else you absolutely know it and you take responsibility and consequences that go along with it. If you cheat, you hurt yourself and eventually others. There is no guilt or shame or some morality issue at play here, you cheated, that it…deal with it.
Now I know I there are many reasons why someone might cheat and that there differences in the degrees of cheating etc. etc, but the outcome is unarguable. People can justify, blame, seek some form of absolution from it all they want, but the cold hard truth is cheating is cheating.
I have cheated and I certainly don’t need a big drawn out study or some specialist to tease out the reasons of why I did it and how I felt about it. I know exactly what I did and why I did it. I knew the consequences if I were to get caught and I ultimately knew the longer term consequences if I got away with it. I would venture a guess that most if not all people have the same understanding when they cheat and if they say otherwise it would be a lie. And that is a whole other topic of discussion…
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Bravo! I think there isn’t any grey area of right and wrong. You cheat inevitably you cheat yourself. And the one thing school doesn’t teach you is critical thinking.
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If there were no religion, God or other morality thing, then cheating would not be an issue at all. How would we determine what is right or wrong? We would not have issues about conscience, guilt or morality so the entire topic would be completely irrelevant.
The issue is the results of a study not an opportunity to randomly judge others. I have a tendency to see and believe the best in others, and I hope others feel that way too, so I would first assume someone had not cheated, before I would ever think they had. I think there will always be a moral gauge about cheating, lying, stealing, etc.and I am grateful for that. Conscience is what tells us what is right or wrong for “us.”
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Well I think part of my point is that indeed people do have a conscience and that in general do understand what is “good and what is “bad” because of that inherent conscience. It is a bit narrow to think that if religion were not determining the rules that are already inherent in human nature then it would be irrelevant. On the contrary, repression of human nature and not the initial belief in that inherent “good” has had far more impact on the history and future of humanity than anything else.
Back to point, it is exactly that inherent understanding of right and wrong and the impact and consequences of decisions and actions made that drives behaviors. So the gauge that drives the threshold of a decision to cheat, steal, lie or any other hurtful behavior is not legislated or governed by anything other than the desire to find a balance of not hurting yourself or others and the happiness that can foster.
Morality Exists "without".
I believe that we are born with the innate ability to be kind and good, but as soon as we are born, our parents, society and our environment influence our decision-making and the very essence of our nature…bringing with it attitudes and ideas that influence who we “become”. The words religion, God, moral, are all just that words. And conscience, I believe is the “ego” and when we separate from the ego, conscience does not exist, “within”.
Deriving our morals
Annmarie and Ben, you are both in your own ways addressing the existentialist/essentialist question. That is, are we born with a sense of right/wrong or do we choose throughout our lives what we believe and how we live?
Both of these positions miss a central point, which is that much of what we internalize as “our own” values are in fact derived from the world in which we live. There is a fascinating article in last week’s “New Yorker” by Jared Diamond that tells how one culture deals with moral issues that result in life or death. It is totally different than what we consider “right” but is totally internalized by the subject of the article. There seems to be little doubt that we derive much of what we call our own values. There is nothing wrong or necessarily bad with this. However, it has profound implications. Just as we speak the language of those around us, so too we have a language of morality/God/personal-responsibility that is passed on to us. In effect, this gives us a prism that shows our absolutes as not single truths but composites with many different spectrums contributing to their creation.
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“I am a “moral” person but if it came down to [an immorality] to be able to save others or be of service to others, I would have a personal conversation with God and ask forgiveness, but I would do what was best for the other…” my sentiments exactly….
Cheating, stealing, etc are never “right” per say….but if it directly contributes to a positive then they balance out….you had a bad act you rectified with a good one. Yea, we can be high and mighty and say wrong is wrong, but would you sing that same melody if that wrong saved your life? Yea, there’s right and then the not so right, and most times there is no gray area, but, sometimes there is and we must all be open-minded and not judgmental. What’s best isn’t always what’s right, and what’s right isn’t always what’s best.
Right is Right, Wrong is Wrong
Granted, we have come a long way as a people and as a constantly evolving society, but I do believe that right is right, wrong is wrong. Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Were his motives good and altruistic? Quite possibly. Is stealing still a violation of the law? Most definitely. I don’t think, personally, that one should make excuses for these lapses in moral judgment but, rather, accept that the action was “outside the moral lines”, learn from it and move on.
My conversation within!
I agree with ““outside the moral lines”, learn from it and move on.”
I think that right and wrong is “within” and deciding what is right or wrong is not our place…“without”. We have no power to decide what is right or wrong actually. It is not our business what others think about us, it is “within” that matters, we do have to take responsibility “without”, but ‘within” accepts, so there actually is no guilt. My conversation within.
Guilt
We see cheating everyday by our lovely government in ways that make us angry like Vetter, Craig, Abramoff, and yes even Bush and Cheney. How do these guys get away with this and expect our little Americans not to want to do the same?
For me it’s guilt. My mother was Italian and I lived in a Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx. When one of the neighborhood kids went bad we always had an Italian or Jewish mother telling us right from wrong and then there was the threat; “wait ‘til your father gets home”. Where is that today? I see 4th graders with cell phones texting the other side of their school. Good way to keep the kid quiet but bad example as to how does one get what he truly works for honestly. I thank those mothers from the Bronx to include my own. I feel little guilt for what I’ve not done.
No, It Isn't Right
It’s just a silly excuse.
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I agree with Thecp29. My mother would punish me and then say “wait til your father comes home.” He rarely spanked me it was his presence and his “I’m seriously not happy with you attitude.” Even if he did spank he would walk out of the house cause he felt bad, would come back in and explained that he was sorry and why he yelled or spanked. We always learned something.
Sorry if parents would just be there to teach kids right and wrong well then kids will learn. Plain and simple in my eyes. I don’t understand why this topic has to be so complicated for everyone.
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On another note I’m a religious person; however, I very much dislike people using just religion when it comes to morals. If people would think, use their critical thinking skills other than relying on religion to guide them we might have a more tolerant society. Maybe, just maybe.
JUST 1 HOUR A WEEK JUST ON COMPASSION
I agree that the parents that raised us were different. I feared my parents until I was a teen and started to see things differently. Even though I was raised in Christianity and was taught to fear God, I still took risks. I wrote a blog a while back about how I tested God, by stealing, when I was in middle school. I see it now as a result of the dysfunction I was raised in but I try to take responsibility for my actions with everything I do.
We all make mistakes, we know what is right or wrong, and what consequences go along with it. Guilt is self imposed and probably a side effect of what we have been taught or what we have experienced. If we consider it the “ego” then we see that we are able to detach ourselves from it and free ourselves from the guilt.
I heard Wayne Dyer last week on tv, he was on “Ellen” and he quoted the Dalai Lama with, “If every child in the world, at the age of 5 years and up, was taught to meditate for 1 hour per week on just compassion, in one generation, we could end all violence and the prospect of war forever on our planet”, just 1 hour per week and only on compassion. I think that the difference we
(me) baby boomers see about how we were raised and how we raised our children, alone, is a basis to believe that statement could make a huge, global shift in morality on any level.
I think that it is our responsibility to try, on whatever level we can, to initiate change toward a more passive environment, in order to raise the next generation of children without violence and guilt.
“And then she silently stepped off her soap box, as she slipped away, into the quieting of her mind.”
Right Vs. Wrong
Doing the wrong thing, regardless of reason, remains the Wrong Thing.
What is truth? What is wrong?
There is a classic moral dilemma posed in many college philosophy classes:
All philosophical systems state that lying is wrong. Imagine yourself in Munich in 1942. What if you were hiding a Jewish family in your home when an SS officer knocked at your door and asked if there were any Jewish people inside?
I would lie!
I would not even have to think about that…I WOULD LIE. WHO gets to really determine right from wrong anyway? I always think it is too bad that we cannot use Hitler’s mind as a tool for non-violence. He originally just joined a group that had nothing to do with his cause…and then he turned it into his cause, with such ease. He convinced that many soldiers to believe in him. What we need are more minds like his but not with evil intent. Actually, I guess we could say there is an army of people like him, but no one that has the ability, has actually made the effort to change the way we treat others in the world. It needs to be done collectively, on a really large scale, which actually begins with just one small step by one individual to get it started and not to quit until it is done. I know: I talk the talk.
Who decides?
We do. The issues that arise between people are when we cannot come to an understanding of what we each believe, or how to disagree without being disagreeable. A wise woman of my acquaintance was known for always being able to see the good in all human beings, and she was asked what was good about Hitler… her answer? “He was a good example of what we must stand against, and in the future, hopefully, we will have to courage to stand up more quickly.”
For what it is worth…
Peace
You must be joking
If you know it is right to hide someone from a great outside evil, then that is right. The question is whether or not cheating, or any other act that one would consider immoral, could be justified as an end to a means. Committing an act of civil disobedience requires an understanding of what one is doing. One must also accept the consequences of that act.
If you and I were in agreement that to pay a tax for what we knew to be an immoral war, would you allow yourself to go to jail, or just stand on the outside wondering what I was doing in there?
cf: Ralph David and Henry David.
Peace.
I'll take the Jail Time!
I would never be on the outside of something I firmly believed was worth standing up for. I would go to jail, if that were the consequence for not paying a tax to support an immoral war – oh wait, we are doing that.
I think we are going way off track here…the issue is cheating and I still believe that there are times when cheating, as with lying or any other “wrong” doing, is the right thing to do.
“It is not my business what others think of me”, Eckhart Tolle. Again, it is only unacceptable “without” (where others make the rules) “within” is what should rule us. I realize we do not all believe that, but I do, “within.”
Rules are made by human beings, we are human beings and yes we should follow the rules, but to say that there is never a time where cheating is the right thing to do, just doesn’t sit with me. Can we all say that we have never “abetted” cheating by letting a friend copy our homework? Maybe so, but I can’t say that and I carry no guilt for it. But, I’ll take the jail time…just kidding.
WHAT??!!
“If I cheat, then I’ll get into get into graduate school. And if I get into graduate school, then I can become a doctor. And think about all the people I’m going to help when I’m a doctor.” …Oh my gosh, please tell me who this is so I don’t EVER take a loved one into this doctor’s office – PLEASE! What a twisted logic and messed-up outlook on ethics and critical thinking!
Twisted Logic...
Anyone who thinks this way (that is, thinking it’s OK to cheat his way through med school so that he can help people) is really only trying to help himself in the end, which is why that excuse doesn’t fly with me. I would question why this person REALLY wants to be a doctor (possibly for the money and/or status). Someone who struggles their way through med school through hard work, sleepless nights and possible nervous breakdowns and STILL wants to be a doctor, with all the stress and baggage that comes with the medical profession – now, that’s someone to whom I would entrust my life because he has proven that he is actually capable AND wants to save lives. Anyone can cheat and shirk responsibility; not everyone is strong enough to overcome weaknesses on the road to greatness.