Unethical behavior - Essay Example

Why Individuals Rationalize Unethical Behaviors (First Middle Initial of School Why misconduct is commonnowadays? Today, we have to discuss at least five reasons why individuals rationalize their unethical behaviors. There are several reasons why a number of individuals had deceived themselves from justifying an action to parallel with ethics. Some people believe that what they did do was apparently wrong; having said that, they had chosen to find for loopholes to justify the action otherwise.

Other individuals distorted the code of ethics intentionally. In like manner, some people had self-serving rationalizations of determining what is ethical or not. Above all, the Golden Rule and Ethical Education are suggested to solve these ethical fallacies.Why Individuals Rationalize Unethical BehaviorsIn order to preserve the ethical standard of the world at large, the discussion of the misconceptions and rationalizations is crucial to preserving the standard of ethics and social norms. Using Jack Marshall’s list of ethical fallacies, let’s discuss five common reasons as handpicked.

First, if there is a Golden Rule, there is a Golden Rationalization, as well. Apparently, it is the opposite of the former. This rationalization is not new. It began as early as the beginning of the civilization. It was believed that when the majority of the people performed a certain action – the judgment whether the action is right or wrong is determined through it. In other words, if everybody does it – you can therefore do it, as well. If the majority of the society had committed adultery, then it is implicitly all right for you to commit the same.

However, a person who used this reasoning is aware of his misconduct. Since everybody does it, he would argue that he should not be singled for condemnation, although he is conscious that adultery is illegal.Secondly, another common rationalization is called The Compliance Dodge. If a person had complied with the rules, it is obviously driven by the punishments enumerated therein. Put it another way, ethics is about the individual’s decision to do what is right. If a person has the genuine intention to do the right thing without any given sanction – it is therefore ethical.

That is to say that compliance with the rules is not the same with ethics. Individuals who were using this rationalization had been finding loopholes in a set of rules to justify unethical behaviors as right.Thirdly, The Slippery Slope is an insidious fallacy. Several people believed that if a misconduct or unethical behavior had brought no harm to anybody – it could not be considered a wrongdoing. Another key thing to remember, a person who used this reasoning often would disregard the ethical nature of an action because he had put emphasis only to the result.

Despite no direct harm to other parties, this would directly harm the actor. After series of unethical behaviors – he would be blinded with the false reasoning that would lessen his ability to determine what is right from wrong.In the fourth place, The King’s Pass is a dangerous mindset commonly used to excuse prominent personalities. Famous individuals and powerful public officials have had depended on this misconception of ethics. To give an illustration of this terrible mentality, a governor of the state who had done lots of assistance to his people eventually earned respect and trust.

Consequently, his ethical behaviors would not be noticed and given attention because he had earned a more lenient ethical standard from his followers and the public at large.Lastly, The King’s Pass could harm a lot of people through The Dissonance Drag. If a famous actor behaved badly in front of his die-hard fans – these could create dissonance. In other words, the big number of followers would follow the same misconduct and do similar unethical behaviors without noticing it. They were corrupted.

Influential personalities were potentially harmful on a large scale. All things considered, an individual must be aware of the effective solutions not to impair his ability to rationalize unethical behaviors for the benefits of oneself and the society in general. According to USC Levan Institute, one should place himself to the position of a person who is likely to be harmed by an unethical behavior and remind himself of the Golden Rule. That is to say, a person must do pleasant things to others because he surely wants that pleasant things will be done to him, as well.

Lastly, to enhance the ability to approach problems – Ethical Education is vital. Good ethics will not transform an individual to a better person overnight, but it will eventually shape one’s mind to become more aware of the ethical problems with sophisticated moral reasoning.ReferencesJack Marshall (n.d.). Ethics Fallacies, Myths, Distortions and Rationalizations. Ethics Scoreboard. Retrieved from http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/rb_fallacies.htmlUSC Levan Institute (n.d.). Obstacles to good ethical decision making and behavior, and some things you can do to overcome them.

USCDornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Retrieved from http://dornsife.usc.edu/overcoming-obstacles-to-ethical-behavior/