One of your readings for the week, “27 Psychological Reasons Good People Do Bad

Question

One of your readings for the week, “27 Psychological Reasons Good People Do Bad Things,” looks at a number of examples where arguably good people are faced with challenging ethical situations and take perhaps a less-than-ethical stance in reaction thereto. For this activity you are to select 3 of the examples and discuss whether you agree or disagree with the outcome or conclusion. In your discussion I want you to make the most compelling arguments you can to convince and persuade me that your point of view is the correct one. Is there anything in your value system that leads you to your point of view?

Explanation / Answer

Question 1

Some of the examples include escalating commitment, induction mechanism, and problematic punishments. In an escalating commitment issue, most big robbers start as small thieves. Their actions become a slippery slope that leads them to greater misconduct as they feel there is no way out (Street, 2006). This is evident in gamblers who start getting profits when they take risks, but when their bets become big losses, they still take larger risks to make up for their losses.

For the induction mechanism, people slide the slippery slope of misconduct when they compare their current behaviour and their conduct in the past which make them stop viewing their conduct as bad (Tyron, 2008). When misconduct becomes routine, extremely unethical behaviour becomes a reality. For example, using social media at work may be unethical. However, as the staff uses social media while at work, the conduct can become a routine hence the unethical becomes a possibility.

Economic punishments to unethical behaviour are problematic as they have an adverse effect (Garland, 2012). When a particular behaviour is cast in these terms, the moral connotation is lost and is viewed from an economic perspective. For example, when fines are given for traffic violations, people view the behaviour in an economic perspective about the probability of getting arrested or fined.

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