Economic affluent and advanced human morale - Essay Example

Economic affluent and advanced human moraleThe issue of economic growth and human morale has become the contentious issue for a couple of years among many psychologists (Friedman, 2006). Environmental sustainability advocates and economists joined the bandwagon in the early 21 century to attempt to unravel the correlation that exists between economic affluent and advanced human morale. Research indicates that economic growth in developed nations has not demonstrated improved human morale (Myers, 2007).

For instance, Richard Easterlin argues that "Americans love what their grandparents of a half-century ago seldom knew: air conditioning, the Internet, MP3 players, and bigger houses, but yet they are no happier” (Myers, 2007). Conversely, Gallup surveys carried out since 1994 in Ditto China, where, where there has been an increase in homes with telephones and big color TVs, illustrates that there is diminished life satisfaction (Myers, 2007). For this reason, it is undoubtedly evident that affluent economic growth does not lead to advanced human morale.

Human beings help one another because they feel they have a responsibility to care for the need. This feeling can be attributed to a supernatural being who is God who demands that we help those who are in need. However, from a social psychological perspective, human beings help others for many reasons. For instance, the reciprocity theory argues that humans help one another because they feel or want to be helped sometime in future. In addition, the social responsibility norm theory indicates that people help others because they feel they have a personal responsibility to help others or because of cost-benefit relationship according to the social exchange theory (Fehr & Fischbacher, 2003).

Some of the ongoing events in the world that are relevant to social psychology include racial profiling such as the ongoing profiling of people from the Muslim community in western nations human relationships, aversive accidents, prisoners’ dilemma, gender violence, cognitive dissonance, the bystander effect, corporate social responsibility, cult indoctrination, employee resistance to change in an organization, among many other events. ReferencesFehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2003). The nature of human altruism.

Nature, 425(6960), 785-791.Friedman, B. M. (2006). The moral consequences of economic growth. Society, 43(2), 15-22.Myers, D. (2011). Psychology of happiness. Retrieved from http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Psychology_of_happiness