For many years, churches, schools, and other institutions have worked to foster morally upright individuals, but neuro- and social science studies are showing we are failing to address some of the underlying influences that may cause us to make poor moral decisions and be OK with them. Studies on brain development, animal behavior, and social phenomena are helping unpack some of these underlying influences on individual moral decisions.
Every society seems to have strong social systems in place geared toward encouraging socially acceptable moral behavior. Apparent universal systems include “shunning,” (i.e., banishment and expulsion) and varying degrees of punishment (i.e., jail sentences and restrictions), but scientists of various fields seek to address why, in spite of these systems, we consistently fail to adhere to what we know to be acceptable behavior. Sometimes, as with clinical insanity, we can’t help it, but what about the rest of the time?
A study published last year in NeuroImage may have helped provide some answers through brain studies that specified the regions of the brain in which moral decisions seem to be processed. Other social studies demonstrated that subtle, socially acceptable forms of prejudice account for many of the thought patterns that eventually lead to crime or lapses in moral judgment and that “we face our biggest challenges, not when we’re called on to behave ourselves within (the) family, community, or workplace, but when we have to apply the same moral care to people outside our tribe.” Apparently, the notion of the “other” causes an allowance for behaviors that would, if enacted on those more like us, would be out of the question.
A psychologist and author who works with delinquent adolescents at a residential treatment center in Yonkers, New York, illustrates this phenomenon noting that residents who learned that three of the boys had mugged an elderly woman were outraged because they identified with the woman as someone who could be their grandmother; the same residents would have been OK with the mugging if the victim been someone of a different ethnic or social background than themselves.
The line between insiders and outsiders is evident within religions, gangs, and even wars driven by a heightened sense of nationalism in which other people are dehumanized and considered expendable. The question remains about how to foster moral people while these underlying and acceptable norms exist.
Do you address the issue of predjudice with your students? How do you address the issue? Do you see the teachings of Jesus or other biblical passages as having anything to say about this issue? How might one encourage acceptance of others when social norms encourage the opposite?
