EXPLORING SITUATIONAL ETHICS AND BEHAVIOR DYNAMICS: THE SENSITIVITIES OF MORAL COMPASS – CHAPTER -02

***Continued from Chapter 01 (Covered previously: What is Situational Ethics, The Meaning & Context of Agape, The Three Views Of Situational Ethics)

Link to Chapter 01:

EXPLORING SITUATIONAL ETHICS AND BEHAVIOR DYNAMICS: THE SENSITIVITIES OF MORAL COMPASS – CHAPTER -01

The Four Working Principles of Situationism

Principle 1. Pragmatism

The situationalist follows a strategy, which is pragmatic. “Pragmatism” is a well worked-out philosophical position adopted by the likes of John Dewey (1859–1952), Charles Peirce (1839–1914) and William James (1842–1910). Fletcher does not want his theory associated with these views and rejects all the implications of this type of “Pragmatism”.

What makes his view pragmatic is very simple. It is just his attraction to moral views, which do not try to work out what to do in the abstract, but rather explores how moral views might play out in each real life situations.

Principle 2: Relativism

Even with his rejection of Antinomianism and his acceptance of one supreme principle of morality, Fletcher, surprisingly, still calls himself a relativist. It is just an appeal for people to stop trying to “lay down the law” for all people in all contexts. If situations vary then consequences vary and what we ought to do will change accordingly. This is a very simple, unsophisticated idea and just means that what is right or wrong is related to the situation we are in.

Principle 3: Positivism

His use of “positivism” is not the philosophical idea with the same name but rather is where any moral or value judgment in ethics, like a theologian’s faith propositions, is a decision — not a conclusion. It is a choice, not a result reached by force of logic or reasoning, rather it is a decision we take.

Principle 4: Personalism

Love is something that is experienced by people. So Personalism is the view that if we are to maximize love we need to consider the person in a situation — the “who” of a situation.

Conscience as a Verb not a Noun

“Conscience” plays a role in working out what to do. Conscience is not the name of an internal faculty nor is it a sort of internal “moral compass”.

Fletcher refers to conscience as a verb. Imagine we have heard some bullies laughing because they have sent our friend some offensive texts and we are trying to decide whether or not to check his phone to delete the texts before he does. The old “noun” view of conscience would get us to think about this in the abstract, perhaps reason about it.

Instead, we need to be in the situation, and experience the situation, we need to be doing (hence “verb”) the experiencing. Maybe, we might conclude that it is right to go into our friend’s phone, maybe we will not but whatever happens the outcome could not have been known beforehand. What our conscience would have us do is revealed when we live in the world and not through armchair reflection.

The Six Propositions of Situation Ethics

1: Only one ‘thing’ is intrinsically good; namely, love, nothing else at all

There is one thing which is intrinsically good, that is good irrespective of context, namely love. If love is what is good, then an action is right or wrong in as far as it brings about the most amount of love.

Agapeic Calculus is a moral framework rooted in the pursuit of maximizing neighbor welfare for the greatest number of individuals within a community. Unlike conventional notions of love centered on emotional attachment or desire, this concept emphasizes the broader notion of concern for the well-being of others. In this context, “welfare” encompasses not only material prosperity but also factors such as health, happiness, and overall quality of life. By prioritizing the collective welfare of the community over individual interests, Agapeic Calculus seeks to foster a society characterized by compassion, empathy, and a commitment to the common good. In essence, it advocates for a calculus of altruism and ethical decision-making that aims to uplift and support as many neighbors as possible, thereby cultivating a more just and harmonious social order.

2: The ruling norm of decision is love, nothing else

Given our modern context and how people typically talk of “love” it is probably unhelpful to even call it “love”. For instance, we will all recall the following news item. In February 1993, Mrs Johnson’s son, Laramiun Byrd, 20, was shot in the head by 16-year-old Oshea Israel after an argument at a party in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mrs Johnson subsequently forgave her son’s killer and after he had served a 17-year sentence for the crime, asked him to move in next door to her. She was not condoning his actions, nor will she ever forget the horror of those actions, but she does love her son’s killer. That love is agápē.

Reference:

Mary Johnson and Oshea Israel

3: Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else

Practically all moral problems we encounter can be boiled down to an apparent tension between “justice” on the one hand and “love” on the other. Consider a recent story:

This could be expressed as a supposed tension between “love” of family and doing the right thing — “justice”. Imagine we are trying to decide what is the best way to distribute food given to a charity, or how a triage nurse might work in a war zone. In these cases we might put the problem like this. We want to distribute fairly, but how should we do this? To act justly or fairly is precisely to act in love. “Love is justice, justice is love”.

4: Love wills the neighbor’s good when we like him or not

Agápē is in the business of loving the unlovable. So related to our enemies. Love does not ask us to lose or abandon our sense of good and evil, or even of superior and inferior; it simply insists that however we rate them, and whether we like them nor not, they are our neighbors and are to be loved.

5: Only the ends justify the means, nothing else

Any action we take, if considered as an action independent of its consequences, is literally “meaningless and pointless”. An action, such as telling the truth, only acquires its status as a means by virtue of an end beyond itself.

6: Love’s decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively

Ethical decisions exist in a grey area most of the time. No decision can be taken before considering the situation. Consider the example of a woman in Arizona who learned that she might “bear a defective baby because she had taken thalidomide”. What should she do? The loving decision was not one given by the law, which stated that all abortions are wrong. However, she travelled to Sweden where she had an abortion. Even if the embryo had not been defective according to Fletcher her actions were “brave and responsible and right” because she was acting in light of the particulars of the situation to bring about the most love.

The Criticism of Situational Ethics

John Robinson, an Anglican Bishop of Woolwich and Trinity College started as a firm supporter of situational ethics referring to the responsibility it gave the individual in deciding the morality of their actions. However, he later withdrew his support for the theory recognizing that people could not take this sort of responsibility, remarking that “It will all descend into moral chaos.”

The central focus on agape as the moral guide for behavior allows to claim that an action might be right in one context, but wrong in a different context — depending on the level of agape brought about. Despite how popular the theory was it is not philosophically sophisticated, and we soon run into problems in trying to understand it.

Another problem with teleological or consequential theories is that they are based on the future consequences, and the future is quite hard to predict in some cases. For example, it may be easy to predict that if we harm someone, then it will make them and those around them sad and/or angry. However, when considering more tricky situations such as an abortion, it is impossible to tell how the child’s life and its mother’s will turn out either way.

Specifically Christian forms of situational ethics of placing love above all particular principles or rules were proposed in the first half of the twentieth century by liberal theologians Rudolf Bultmann, John A. T. Robinson, along with Joseph Fletcher. These theologians point specifically to agape, or unconditional love, as the highest end. Other theologians who advocated situational ethics include Josef Fuchs, Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, and Paul Tillich.  Tillich, for example, declared, “Love is the ultimate law.”

Content Curated by: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

EXPLORING SITUATIONAL ETHICS AND BEHAVIOR DYNAMICS: THE SENSITIVITIES OF MORAL COMPASS – CHAPTER -01

Situational ethics, or situation ethics, is a teleological and consequential theory of ethics concerned with the outcome of an action as opposed to an action being intrinsically wrong as in deontological theories. The theory was principally developed in the 1960s by the Christian Episcopal priest Joseph Fletcher. He argued that sometimes moral principles could be cast aside in certain situations if love is best being served. He believed that there are no absolute laws other than the law of love, and that all the other laws were secondary. This means that all the other laws may be broken if other courses of action would result in more love. Thus, in the case of situational ethics, the ends can justify the means.

Joseph Fletcher (1905–1991), in his time, developed what he called an ethical non-system. His publication was questioned amongst the public because it legitimized the general post-war dissatisfaction with authority. The English term “situation ethics” was taken from the German Situationsethik. It is unclear who first coined the term either in German or in its English variant.

At the time it was written, it seemed to make some radical claims such as that it is not wrong to have extramarital sex, to be homosexual, or to have an abortion. All that said, Fletcher’s work is not widely discussed nor respected in philosophical circles. Fletcher called this ethical “non-system” Situationism.  

A few instances from the epic- The Ramayana- illustrate this. The Bible also has a few illustrations.

Because of its consequentialism, situational ethics is often confused with utilitarianism, because utilitarianism’s aim is the greatest good for the greatest number, although situational ethics focuses more on creating the greatest amount of love and it also has different origins. Having said that, however, situational ethics can also be classed under the ethical theory genre of ‘proportionalism’, which says that ‘it is never right to go against a principle unless there is a proportionate reason which would justify it’. Through situational ethics, Fletcher attempted to find a ‘middle road’ between legalistic and antinomian ethics.

The Meaning & Context of Agape

Our world has many definitions of love, but we most commonly think about love in a romantic sense. What if true love meant more than romance? What if there was a deeper, fuller expression of love?

The concept of agape has been widely examined within its Christian context. It has also been considered in the contexts of other religions, religious ethics, and science. For instance, in the New Testament, agape refers to the covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term necessarily extends to the love of one’s fellow human beings. Some contemporary writers have sought to extend the use of agape into non-religious contexts.

The Three Views Of Situational Ethics

Situational ethics relies on one principle—what best serves love. According to Fletcher, love is unconditional and unsentimental. Situational ethics is based on the golden rule “love your neighbor as yourself” and altruism, which is putting others before yourself and showing agape (a greek interpretation of love – discussed shortly) towards everyone. It agrees on reason being the instrument of moral judgments, but disagrees that the good is to be disconcerted from the nature of things. All moral decisions depend on what the most loving thing to do is.

Fletcher says there are two unattractive views in ethics: “Legalism” and “Antinomianism”, and one attractive view, which sits in between them: “Situationism”.

Legalism: Someone who is following the system of Legalism is someone who “blindly” observes moral rules without being sensitive to the situation. For example, we ought to tell the truth in all situations, even if this means that, say, millions of people die. In 2002 the religious police of Saudi Arabia refused to let a group of girls escape from a burning building because they were wearing “inappropriate” clothing, which was against the will of God. Fifteen girls died.

Reference:

‘Saudi Police “Stopped” Fire Rescue’, BBC News (15 March 2002), freely available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1874471.stm

Antinomianism: The other extreme is Antinomianism (“anti” meaning against; “nominalism” meaning law). This is the view that says that an agent can do whatever he or she wants in a situation. An “existential” view – because it is one that says that people are always free to choose what they want. Any supposed laws and rules limiting the actions of people are simply a way of trying to comfort them because they are scared of absolute freedom.

Antinomianism means the moral agent is erratic and random, is unpredictable, and any decisions taken are ad hoc. There are no laws nor guiding principles, just agents and their conscience and the institutions in which they find themselves.

Situationism: The Middle Ethics. We might think that Legalism and Antinomianism exhaust the possibilities. If we reject moral laws then are not we forced into lawless moral anarchy?

Fletcher says that there is a moral law, and hence he rejects Antinomianism. But there is only one moral law, so he rejects Legalism. His one moral law is that we ought to always act so as to bring about the most love for the most people (“Agápē Calculus”). Fletcher’s Situationism is then a teleological theory- directed at the consequences that will determine whether an action is right or wrong. Of course, any teleological theory will ask us to look at the details of the situation. What makes his view different is the centrality of “love”, or as he calls it agápē.

There can be moral principles but that these differ from laws. Principles are generalizations which are context-sensitive and which derive from the one law regarding maximizing love. For example, we might have a moral principle that we ought not to murder. This is a principle because we might think in that in general murder is wrong because it does not bring about the most love. However, it is not a law because, murder is not wrong in all situations.

For example, a situation might arise where the child of a terrorist would have to be murdered in order to get information to stop a nuclear attack. From the universal law we can only derive principles, not other universal laws.

***To be continued in Chapter 02 (Four Working Principles of Situationism, Conscience as a Verb not a Noun, Six Propositions of Situation Ethics, The Criticism of Situational Ethics, How it falls short)

EXPLORING SITUATIONAL ETHICS AND BEHAVIOR DYNAMICS: THE SENSITIVITIES OF MORAL COMPASS – CHAPTER -02

Content Curated by: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE: UNRAVELING ITS DYNAMICS AND IMPACT ON SOCIETY

– CHAPTER 02

***Continued from Chapter 01 (Covered previously: Intelligence & its meaning, Emotional & Social Intelligence, Social Intelligence at the Workplace, Social Intelligence & Nurturing Behaviours )

Link to Chapter 01:

SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE: UNRAVELING ITS DYNAMICS AND IMPACT ON SOCIETY

Attributes that Aid in Building Social Intelligence

[01]:- The Proto-conversation: There is so much going on behind our words. As we speak, our brains are taking in micro-expressions, voice intonations, gestures and pheromones. People who have high SI have a greater awareness of their proto-conversations. This may be viewed under two aspects:

[02]:- Our Social Triggers: Let’s start with our social awareness. People and places trigger different emotions and this affects our ability to connect. Think about a time when we felt excited and energized by an interaction. Now think of a time when we felt drained and defeated after an interaction. The theory on how our brain processes social interactions is:

Why are these important? The Low Road guides our gut feelings and instincts. For example, if people didn’t come to our birthday parties as a child, we might feel a pang of anxiety when thinking about our own birthday as an adult–even if we have plenty of friends who would attend. Our High Road tells that we are a grown up and things have changed, but our Low Road still gives a bit of social anxiety. These may be referred to as social triggers. We will benefit by being aware of our unconscious social triggers to help make relationship decisions. Knowing our Low Road social triggers helps our High Road function. We can explore ours with the aid of a few questions-

[03]:- Our Secure Base: Whether we are a cheerful extrovert or a quiet introvert, everyone needs space and a place to recharge. A “secure base” is a place, ritual or activity that helps us process emotions and occurrences. A secure base is helpful for two main reasons. First, it gives us a place to recharge before interactions so we don’t get burnt out. Second, it helps us process and learn from each social encounter. After a business pitch, coffee meeting, party, or date do we set aside time to reflect and review what went right and wrong? Some questions we can explore during these post-mortems may be:

Possible secure base examples, on where we can do our post-mortem, may include in the car while driving home, journaling before bed, business workbook for ideas, brainstorming with a partner, or re-hashing with a friend.

[04]:- Broken Bonds: One of the biggest pitfalls in social intelligence is a lack of empathy. These may be referred to as Broken Bonds. It happens when one person treats another like an object as opposed to a human being. Imagine having just lost a family member. We get a phone call from a friend offering condolences. Immediately we sense the obligation of the caller. They are distracted, we can hear the typing of keys in the background. Their wishes are cold, memorized, and insincere. The call makes us feel worse not better. This interaction makes us feel like an ‘it’ –a to do list item, a ‘should,’ an obligation.

Don’t interact because we feel that we ‘should.’ Say no to obligations if you can. Interact with empathy or don’t interact at all.

[05]:- Adopt to Adapt: Our Low Road automatically mirrors the people around us. This is how empathy works. Our brain copies the people around us so we feel as they feel. This in turn helps us understand them, where they are coming from and even be better at predicting their reactions. Many paths of the low road run through mirror neurons. The neurons activate in a person based on something that is experienced by another person in the same way is experienced by the person himself. Whether pain (or pleasure) is anticipated or seen in another, the same neuron is activated.

Sometimes our High Road gets in the way. For example, if our partner is angry at something we try to stay calm. Then we try to calm them down. Usually this makes it worse. The upset person feels that we ‘don’t really understand’ or we ‘don’t get them.’ Why? Because we are fighting our instinct to mirror their upset. Sometimes we may just let ourselves adopt their emotions. Put ourselves exactly where they are. This might give us a new glimpse into their perspective and helps them see that we are on the same page as them.

[06]:- Beware the Dark Triad: This is the narcissistic personality, the Machiavellian personality and the psychopath or antisocial personality in people.

For example, if we were to ask the three, “who has the darkest personality?” The Narcissist would say “me”, the Psychopath would say, “I don’t care” and the Machiavellian would say “it’s whoever I want it to be”.

People scoring high on the 3 traits are more likely to commit crimes, and create severe social problems in society, families, and organizations.

[07]:- Mind-blind: This is the inability to sense what is happening in the mind of someone else. The key to mindsight is compassion.

In short, self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection – or compassionate action. We are wired for altruism. We are inherently good. However, sometimes we forget how good it makes us feel to be good.

[08]:- A People Prescription: The most striking finding on relationships and physical health is that socially integrated people, those who are married, have close family and friends, belong to social and religious groups, and participate widely in these networks, recover more quickly from disease and live longer. Roughly eighteen studies show a strong connection between social connectivity and mortality. One prescription for a long, healthy happy life can be positive relationships. Our partner, our friends, our colleagues our kids, they support our soul as well as our immune system. Investing in our relationships is worth the effort.

Social Intelligence Profile (SIP)

Social intelligence is measurable. It includes identifying important interaction skills and then assessing their behavior. Human interactions take place in specific contexts. SI is about someone being able to distinguish these situations and contexts from each other and react to them differently and behave accordingly. The different observable behaviors are the indicators of SI. This results in a Social Intelligence Profile (SIP). An SIP analyses social intelligence through different perspectives, with each observing the social interaction from a certain perspective.

A person filling out the Social Intelligence Profile for self-evaluation will answer a range of questions that relate to the different behaviors. Each category has five scores, varying from little to a lot. The higher the scores, the higher the level of Social Intelligence. It should be noted that social intelligence only applies if there is an even distribution across the five basic skill categories. If one category is missing or if the score is particularly low, it is a good idea to focus on this area and practice with it.

Fostering Social Intelligence

It is a cliché to say that ‘we humans are social animals’, and yet we know that there can never be a statement more important than this one for deriving maximum happiness, success and significance out of one’s life. While some people may seem to develop social intelligence without really trying, others have to work to develop it. These tactics can help build social intelligence:

Pay close attention to what (and who) is around us. Socially intelligent people are observant and pay attention to subtle social cues from those around them. If someone in our life has strong people skills, watch how they interact with others. Keep track of how we are feeling. Awareness is an integral part of social intelligence. A good way to start is by being aware of our own physiological cues to our emotional state like heartbeat, respiration, perspiration etc. It will help gauge our internal dynamics and will help offset reactions and manage impulse.

Work on increasing our emotional intelligence. Although similar to social intelligence, emotional intelligence is more about how we control our own emotions and how we empathize with others. It requires recognizing when we are experiencing an emotion—which will help recognize that emotion in others—and regulating them appropriately. An emotionally intelligent person can recognize and control negative feelings, such as frustration or anger, when in a social setting.

Respect cultural differences. Also, seek out cultural differences so we can understand them. Although most people learn people skills from their family, friends and the community surrounding them, a socially intelligent person understands that others might have different responses and customs based on their upbringing.

Practice active listening.  Taking time to think about what someone else is saying before we respond, and, listening to the inflections in what others say, will give us clues to what they really mean.

Appreciate the important people in our life. Socially intelligent people have deep relationships with people who are meaningful to them. Pay attention to the emotions of our spouse and children, friends, co-workers, and other peers. If we ignore the closest people in our life, we will miss the cues on how to connect with them.

Approach interpersonal interactions with receptiveness. Whenever we have an opportunity for interpersonal interactions – a meeting, a discussion, a one-on-one, a conversation – try to get into it without preconceived notions. People are not events, they are processes. And it is only our mind’s typecasting that stops us from looking at them anew.

Make an effort to put ourselves in other person’s shoes. While dealing with someone, try to actively imagine other person’s intervening aspects like situations, constraints, preferences, complexes, priorities, or aspirations. And do it so that we can know where he or she is coming from and not to conclude how he or she is.

Reading invisible interconnections in a social apparatus. Some people call it politics and some others name it diplomacy, but the fact remains that every place, organization, institution, event or occasion has an invisible hierarchy and power-dynamics to it. Everyone is connected to everyone else in a unique way. It is important to understand these subtle interconnections at play. This helps in managing our responses wisely.

Learn to interpret people’s non-verbal behavior. Emotions call shots in most situations. And the fact is that nonverbal behavior – gestures, postures and expressions – is the most trustworthy representation of one’s emotions. Thus, to develop social intelligence, it is crucial to learn the skill of interpreting non-verbal behavior.

People who are socially intelligent display core traits that help them communicate and connect with others.

Social intelligence is a critical skill for success and well-being in today’s interconnected world. By understanding the key concepts and skills of social intelligence, and by practicing and developing these skills in our lives, we can improve our relationships, enhance our job performance, and experience greater levels of well-being and life satisfaction. Whether we are interacting with colleagues, friends, or family members, developing our social intelligence can help us navigate social situations with greater ease and effectiveness.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE: UNRAVELING ITS DYNAMICS AND IMPACT ON SOCIETY

– CHAPTER 01

Social intelligence is the ability to understand and navigate social situations effectively. It involves the ability to read and interpret social cues, manage emotions, communicate effectively, and build and maintain relationships. Social intelligence has been linked to a range of positive outcomes, including improved job performance, better health outcomes, and more satisfying relationships.

Intelligence

According to Psychology Today, intelligence is “…a construct that includes problem solving abilities, spatial manipulation and language acquisition.” Intelligence measured by IQ tests isn’t the be all and end all. Regardless of the number of languages that we learn to speak, the amount of information we memorize, and even how well we can complete math problems, intelligence inevitably is a more complex measure. 

There are three types of intelligence, two of which are unmeasurable in IQ tests, and are pivotal for success in leadership levels in business, and even in innovation. Of these, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Social Intelligence (SQ) are unmeasurable. Lets see what each of these mean and their impact. People that have higher EQ and SQ tend to go farther in life than those with high IQ but low EQ and SQ. Most schools capitalize in improving IQ level while EQ and SQ are played down. A man of high IQ can end up being employed by a man of high EQ and SQ even though he has an average IQ. The EQ represents our character; the SQ represents our fame. EQ and SQ make one manage better than the other.

Now there is a forth one: The Adversity Quotient (AQ). This makes people go through a rough patch in life and come out without losing their centers. The AQ determines who will give up in face of troubles, who will abandon their family or who will consider suicide.

Emotional Intelligence

In contrast to SQ, Psychology Today Journal describes emotional intelligence as “…the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.” Emotional intelligence contains three competencies:

When EQ and IQ come together, they form ESI, or Emotional and Social Intelligence. ESI competencies are those linked to self-awareness, self-management and relationship management, which enable people to understand and manage their own and others’ emotions in social interactions. ESI competencies, rather than IQ and technical ones, are responsible for the gap between the performance of those leaders that are great from those just deemed average. Fortunately, while IQ often gets set in stone early on in life, ESI competencies can be learned and improved over time.

Both skillsets are critical for embracing innovation. Social intelligence is more about the future. Social intelligence came about so that people could survive, and it’s about figuring out the best way for us to get along, and come out of a situation with a favorable outcome. Even if we have the qualifications on paper, a lack of social intelligence could lead to strained or ruined relationships, as well as lost opportunities.

In contrast, emotional intelligence is more about the present, and more closely related to emotions and feelings. By reading someone’s face, we can tell whether that person is happy, incredibly nervous before going into a job interview, or shy because that person happens to be in his/ her own corner in the middle of a party.

Social Intelligence

Psychology Today Journal states that social intelligence develops from experience with people and learning from success and failures in social settings. Some key elements of social intelligence may be-

In 2003, the American psychologist Karl Albrecht defined Social Intelligence (SI) as the characteristic of employees and supervisors to be able to interact well with others and achieve full cooperation. It is about interpersonal skills and the behavior people display toward each other. This behavior can have a ‘toxic’ effect and a ‘nurturing’ effect.

First, it is about the sensitivity to and insight into the needs and interests of others; this is called a social radar. Being aware of certain situations and knowing how to act are part of that.

To a certain extent, Social Intelligence is also focused on self-assessment and reflection and becoming aware of one’s own observations and response patterns. With that, Social Intelligence, offers the opportunity to effectively deal with complex social relations and/ or environments and negotiate. Most importantly, they take care of the impression of themselves they exude on other people. This requires a delicate balance between managing and controlling the image you portray to others and being reasonably “authentic” and letting others see the true self. 

The Social Intelligence Philosophy

True intelligence is about both book smarts and street smarts. Social Intelligence (SI) is the ability to successfully build relationships and navigate social environments. Our society puts a huge emphasis on book smarts and IQ, but our relationships effect a much bigger part of our lives.

Strong relationships improve our immune system and help combat disease. Loneliness and weak relationships are one of the major sources of stress, health problems and depression. Our relationships affect every area of our lives–from colleagues to spouses to friends to kids.

We are wired to connect. We have specific structures in our brain built to optimize relationships. A spindle cell is the fastest acting neuron in our brain that guides our social decisions. Human brains contain more of these spindle cells than any other species.

Mirror neurons help us predict the behavior of people around us by subconsciously mimicking their movements. This helps us feel as they feel, move as they move.

Social Intelligence (and Emotional Intelligence) at the Workplace

One of the greatest advantages of developing social and emotional intelligence in the workplace is the ability to read between the lines. To know when someone is content, upset, challenged, or emotionally healthy allows us to find the best ways to engage and work with them. When peers feel that their feelings are being understood and taken into account, they can communicate more openly. This can be invaluable for learning where the work environment needs to improve, and where others feel satisfied.

In the workplace, most people don’t want to upset the applecart. But just because our associate accepted a task doesn’t necessarily mean they have any passion for it, or even that they are the ideal person for the job. By learning how to read the emotional and social cues of the team members, we can establish their strengths, where they could stand to improve, and how well they synergize with the rest of the team.

Utilizing Social and Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Social Intelligence & Nurturing Behaviour

Toxic behavior leads to people feeling angry, frustrated, guilty or other negative and inadequate emotions. Nurturing behavior on the other hand, makes people feel appreciated, respected, competent and motivated. That is the foundation of Social Intelligence. The more someone is subjected to a continuing pattern of toxic behavior, the lower his level of Social Intelligence will be and the less able he will be to connect people to each other and influence them effectively. A continuing pattern of nurturing behavior will lead to a higher degree of effective interaction with others.

Six Dimensions: Compare these dimensions to the six sides of a dice; each side plays an equal part and is therefore proportional to the other sides. Each side represents a dimension and together all six make up the total competency that is necessary for social intelligence:

Indicators of Social Intelligence

While we want to be able to engage with people in a mutually comfortable way, we should not have to sacrifice genuine expression in favor of a polite nod or gracious smile. The two are not mutually exclusive. People who are socially intelligent function in such a way that they can communicate with others and leave them feeling at ease without sacrificing who they are and what they want to say. Some core traits may be:

***To be continued in Chapter 02 (Attributes, Building Social Intelligence, Social Intelligence Profile, Fostering Social Intelligence,  )

Link to Chapter – 02:

SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE: UNRAVELING ITS DYNAMICS AND IMPACT ON SOCIETY

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION: UNRAVELING THE NUANCES

These two words have a special significant in the context of education and development, and although many people tend to use these terms interchangeably, there is a distinct difference between the two. Assessments and evaluations are two essential components in the process of teaching and learning. Although teaching, learning, and assessment have been there since forever, people still have dozens of misconceptions regarding them. An assessment is the process of investigating what and how participants are learning/ working, while evaluating involves making a judgment about the quality of participants’ learning/ work.

Assessment is a systematic process of collecting information from diverse sources about something or someone to gauge the skills, knowledge, and usage, whereas the meaning of evaluation is concerned about making a judgment about quality, skills, or importance or something or someone. The basic difference between assessment and evaluation lies in the orientation, i.e. while the assessment is process oriented, evaluation is product oriented.

Understanding the differences between assessment and evaluation is crucial for educators, researchers, and professionals involved in various assessment processes.

A Situation Narrative

Mrs Jayanthi Sharma (generic name) eagerly anticipated the upcoming parent-teacher conferences of the day. She had studied hard as a Childhood Education major and had worked diligently in her first year as a 3^rd Std teacher at ABCD School (generic school).  Jayanthi had planned interdisciplinary lessons, employed inquiry-based learning centers, and met regularly with individual students to ensure that they had mastered the skills as determined by the state standards.

Each student had a portfolio filled with dated representations of their work. Jayanthi understood the importance of specific and timely feedback and had painstakingly provided detailed written feedback on each work sample. She meticulously arranged the portfolios along with anecdotal notes and looked forward to sharing the accomplishments of the students with their family members. As last-minute jitters began to set in, Jayanthi realized that she had no grades for any of the students.

Jayanthi quickly realized she was not as prepared as she had anticipated.

What is Assessment

The word “assess” is derived from the Medieval Latin word “assessee” whose meaning is “fix a tax upon.” Assessment helps the educators to investigate what participants are learning and how well they are learning it, especially in relation to the expected learning outcomes of a lesson. The word assessment often is used to assess skills, abilities, aptitude, performance, and competence.

Thus, it helps the assessor to understand how the assesse understands the lesson, and to determine what changes need to be made to the teaching process. Thus it focuses on learning as well as teaching and can be termed as an interactive process. The purpose of conducting an assessment is to provide constructive feedback so that the assesse (the assessed person) can improve. Assessment is a continuous interactive process where two parties are involved.

What is Evaluation 

The meaning of the word “evaluate” is to make a judgment about something or someone to learn about their abilities or skills or qualities. The word evaluate is derived from the Latin word “valere” whose meaning is to “too strong, be of value, be well, or be worth.”

Evaluation focuses on what has been learned by the participants. The evaluation process is used to make a judgment about the quality of participants’ learning/work. It usually involves assignment of grades/ ranks. Evaluation activities such as examples, papers, etc. are considered to be a formal way to assess the expected outcomes of a course. The evaluation may not only judge knowledge but may also include other components such as attendance, participation in activities, discussions, etc.

The evaluation process may be conducted to compare the skills and qualities of two or more individuals. The person being evaluated must fulfill the criteria set by the evaluator. Unlike assessment, the result of does not provide constructive feedback, but it passes the judgment.

Differences between Assessment & Evaluation

Characteristics of Assessment & Evaluation

One of the most important characteristics of an assessment is it is an ongoing process. This means at various points in the learning process, the instructor uses different tools to measure the individual’s abilities and level of knowledge. Also, assessments are collaborative, consistent, reliable, and tailored to a specific context. 

A good evaluation process is valid, reliable, and practical. Validity means that the evaluation must measure the subject using well-defined criteria that are tailored to the subject. Reliability means that the process must be consistent while practicality suggests that every evaluation should be realistic and achievable within its context of usage.  

Illustrations of Assessment & Evaluation

Assessment & Evaluation In Industry 

To a large extent, both assessments and evaluations are used in similar industries. Like evaluations, assessments are very popular in educational research and human resources. They are used during employee engagement surveys to gather feedback from workers on how to improve the workplace. Different tools come in handy during assessments including concept maps, straw polls, surveys and questionnaires.

Evaluations are also used in the accounting/finance industries to determine the viability of a business. For example, before an investor gives money to an organization, they conduct a company evaluation to know if the business can provide returns on time. Common tools for evaluation include a rubric or some other standard grading criteria, focus groups, case studies, observation, and interviews. 

Assessment & Evaluation in Survey Research 

In survey research, assessments help the researcher to gather feedback on the quality of the systematic investigation. At the same time, assessments help to define and modify the research framework at different points in the process. Evaluations provide useful data for measuring the impact and success of the research. It helps you to determine how much progress has been made in the systematic investigation and if any changes need to be effected along the way. 

Assessment vs Evaluation in Education 

In educational contexts, assessments provide valuable information about a student’s knowledge, how much he has learned, the quality of this knowledge, and the different challenges faced during the learning process. Through assessments, teachers identify learning gaps and address them on time. 

Evaluation provides useful data for building the core of the educational curriculum and improving it from time to time. For the learners, it validates their knowledge and determines how they progress from one level to the next. Data from an evaluation is a great way to show how successful a program is. 

Benefits & Drawbacks of Assessment and Evaluation

Contrast Outline- Assessment & Evaluation

We measure distance, we assess learning, and we evaluate results in terms of some set of criteria. These three terms are certainly share some common attributes, but it is useful to think of them as separate but connected ideas and processes. Assessment and evaluation are integral processes used across diverse fields to measure performance, determine effectiveness, and guide decision-making. By understanding the key concepts, steps, and significance of assessment and evaluation, stakeholders can utilize these processes to improve outcomes, enhance quality, and drive progress. Assessment and evaluation are iterative processes, often involving multiple cycles of data collection, analysis, interpretation, and action. Continuous feedback and improvement are essential to maximize the value and effectiveness of these processes.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP: ROLE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN LEADERSHIP – Chapter 02

***Continued from Chapter 01 (Covered previously: Components of Authentic leadership, Characteristics Of Authentic Leaders, Significance of Authentic Leadership, Developing Authentic Leadership)

Link to Chapter 01:

AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP: ROLE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN LEADERSHIP – Chapter 01

Transactional vs Authentic Leadership – The Difference

Transactional leadership is also called Managerial Leadership. It works in a structured system where authority and the chain of command are clearly demarcated. The philosophy works on the principle of transaction, i.e., give and take of reward and punishment. The leader uses the carrot and stick transactional leadership approach to get work done from subordinates. If we consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Transactional Leaders can be said to address the lower-level needs of security and acceptance.

Transactional leaders aim to fulfil their subordinates’ needs of security and social belonging that are at the bottom of this pyramid. The higher-level needs of esteem and self-actualization remain unaddressed by such leaders. Transactional Leadership works within a set organizational culture, and does not attempt to change or transform the culture as Transformational Leadership does.

Managers following this transactional leadership model place a lot of value on profits and share value, and keep their eyes fixed on the bottom line. Monetary benefits matter a lot to managers of transactional leadership mentality, to the extent that these drive their actions and their relationships with subordinates.

Authentic Leadership follows ancient Greek philosophy focusing on developing prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude in a leader. Authentic leadership is based on the leader’s ethical and honest relationships with followers. Trust and openness are the hallmark of such leaders. As the name suggests, authentic leaders are genuine about their relationships and their transactions. Authentic leaders value personal relationships and ethical interactions over monetary authentic leadership benefits and profits. Naturally, workers trust such leaders and are enthusiastic about working for them. Team spirit and individual effectiveness flourish in such an atmosphere.

So, the principles of authentic leadership are basically those of openness, trust, and doing away with pretenses and deception. Authentic leadership does not involve play-acting, in which leaders exhibit a different personality in the workplace and a different one in their personal lives. Authentic leaders demonstrate these five qualities:

The authentic leader’s personal history, including life-events (trigger events), help in leadership formation. The moral development and values of authentic leaders are influenced by these personal histories and trigger events.

Transactional vs Authentic Leadership

Unearthing Our Authentic Leadership

How do we develop as an authentic leader? Discovering our authentic leadership requires us to test ourselves, our values, and our beliefs through real-world experiences. This is not an easy process as we are constantly buffeted by the demands of the external world, the model of success that others hold out for us, and our search to discover our truth. Because there is no map or direct path between where we are now and where we will go on our leadership journey, we need a compass to stay focused on our True North and get back on track when we are pulled off by external forces or are at risk of being derailed.

The compass is a dynamic tool that you can update and calibrate after every experience to ensure that each step we take on our leadership journey is consistent with how we want to lead our life. Because our circumstances, opportunities, and the world around us are always changing, we will never stop calibrating our compass.

When each part of our compass is well developed, we will be pointed toward our True North. The following fundamental questions can help in calibrating ourselves towards our true north:

Authentic Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

Self-awareness is the first element of Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, that psychologist Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, uses in describing the leader’s role. While intellectual intelligence, or IQ, has long been thought of as an essential characteristic for managers, EQ may be more important for authentic leaders. Too many leaders believe that by being the smartest person in the room, they can use their intellect to carry the day. As a result, they over-power less forceful voices that may have the vital ideas, insights, and answers they need to succeed.

1. Finding the Right Role. . . – >

Whether we are in a start-up, a turnaround situation, or a growth opportunity, the better we know ourself, the more likely we are to choose the right role for ourselves.

2. Increasing Self-Confidence. . . – >

When leaders know themselves well, they become comfortable in their own skin. Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen once felt insecure about working in the technology industry because he was not an engineer. When he recognized his strong business and product-marketing skills and his ability to learn about engineering, a switch flipped in Chizen’s mind. After that, he became increasingly self-confident: “I understood myself well enough to know what I didn’t know, but also knew enough to feel comfortable. That awareness helped me find real self-confidence.”

3. Being Consistent. . . – >  

By being aware of their actions and intentions, leaders act consistently in different situations and gain the trust of others. Former American Airlines CEO Don Carty reasoned, “You cannot motivate people unless you talk and walk in the same way. How can you expect an employee to be pleasant with a customer if you’re not pleasant with the employee?”

4. Connecting with Others. . . . – > 

Most leaders see the process of gaining self-awareness as crucial to their ability to build strong relationships. Those who are comfortable with themselves tend to be more open and transparent—which includes sharing their vulnerabilities.

5. Complementary Skills. . . . – > 

Leaders who know their strengths and weaknesses can fill their skill gaps with colleagues that complement them. Ned Barnholt, Agilent’s former CEO, said, “You understand your strengths and shortcomings and try to build a strong team around you. I didn’t grow up as an accountant so I surround myself with excellent financial people. That’s a lot better than trying to be somebody you’re not.”

The advice to “know yourself” is thousands of years old. But knowing ourselves at the deepest level is not easy, as we are complex human beings with many aspects to our character. We are constantly evolving, as we test ourselves in the world, are influenced by it, and adapt to our environment—all in an attempt to find our unique place.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP: ROLE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN LEADERSHIP – Chapter 01

Authenticity has been explored throughout history, from Greek philosophers to the work of Shakespeare (“To thy own self be true.” –Polonius, Hamlet). Authentic leadership has been explored sporadically as part of modern management science, but found its highest levels of acceptance since Bill George’s 2003 book, Authentic Leadership.

Authentic leaders put legitimacy, ethics and positive psychological capacities first. Authentic leadership emphasizes how a leader can gain legitimacy and build trust through developing honest relationship with followers. Authentic leadership is defined in the following way:

This approach to leadership focuses on the ethical dimensions of the relationship between follower and leader and describes those behaviours that result in a trusting relationship. Authentic leaders have a positive outlook on life and are truthful and open in their interactions with others. They build trust with their subordinates and generate enthusiasm for project which enables effective individual and team performance.

Many researchers and practitioners have advocated for organizations to embrace the concept of authentic leadership because it can lead to stronger relationships and a commitment to the vision of the organization. The authentic leadership approach advocates for ethical standards rather than a focus on profit.

Components of Authentic leadership

The research on authentic leadership suggests that there are four major components, which are:-

An authentic leader shows self-awareness through reflecting on their own strengths, weakness and values. An authentic leader truly knows themselves and values their gifts and recognizes their limitations. When authentic leaders demonstrate relational transparency, they openly share their own thoughts and beliefs yet do not overly display their emotions to followers; they maintain a good balance.

Moreover, authentic leaders are balanced in their approach because they solicit opinions from subordinates and welcome opposing viewpoints and consider the value of these viewpoints in a fair manner. Authentic leaders also display a strong moral code that they demonstrate in their relationships and decision-making; this ethical foundation resistant to external forces.

1. Authentic leaders are characterized by a high level of self-awareness…->

Faking ethical constraints is a sign of inauthenticity and authentic leaders need to be both truthful and ethical. Moreover, it is difficult to be self-aware, transparent, and balanced in processing information without the moral maturity associated with a positive personal value system. Authentic leaders show self-awareness through ensuring that their internal values reflect their behaviours and this process of self-regulation enables authentic leaders to withstand external pressure and influence.

2. Authentic leaders admit mistakes and share their successes…->

It is important to distinguish relational transparency from impression management. Authentic leaders do not engage in impression management strategies yet persist in aligning their core values with their intentions and behaviours within the firm. When a leader displays relational transparency they share both their strengths and weaknesses with others. They display authenticity through admitting when they make mistakes and sharing their successes with their subordinates.

3. Authentic leadership is connected with sharing feelings and motives…->

In displaying relational transparency, authentic leaders share their feelings and motives. Authentic leaders are connected with their values and morals and share these values openly with others. When authentic leaders show relational transparency, they communicate openly and are real in their relationships with others.

Without sharing sensitive information, authentic leaders are open and honest in a genuine way and choose to share appropriate information. This aspect of authentic leadership demonstrates high self-awareness because authentic leaders understand what drives them to do well and allows them to build strong and authentic relationships with their followers.

4. Authentic leaders have an internalized moral perspective…->

This internalized moral perspective results in ethical decision-making and behaviour. Moreover, authentic leaders balance information before making a decision and they based these decisions on their core set of values.

Authentic Leadership Programs

It also appears that organizations can implement authentic leadership programs to enable managers to become more authentic. The concept of authentic leadership is based on a mixture of individual differences and skills so is a multi-dimensional concept. These types of training and development programs can focus on allowing managers to become more self-aware so they are in tune with their values.

An Authentic Leadership Dossier describes the four key components of authentic leadership with a particular focus on development of self-awareness in order for managers to:

The dossier also suggests that organizations can develop authentic leadership interventions that allow managers to become more self-aware.

Significance of Authentic Leadership

This type of genuine leadership style promotes open communication within a team and has wide-reaching benefits within a department. Employee morale is increased when team members feel that their concerns can be voiced and addressed. And productivity is increased when team members work together under a strong leader. Authentic leadership also promotes a healthy company culture and in effect creates a positive brand voice in the marketplace.

Characteristics Of Authentic Leaders

In order to be a successful leader and encourage increased employee performance, an authentic leader must possess several characteristics, including:

Developing Authentic Leadership

An authentic leader must commit to ongoing development. The following are steps we can take to become a more authentic leader:

***To be continued in Chapter 02 (Transactional vs Authentic Leadership, Unearthing Our Authentic Leadership, Authentic Leadership and Emotional Intelligence)

Link to Chapter 02:

AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP: ROLE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN LEADERSHIP – Chapter 02

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

MORAL DILEMMAS: INTERTWINED BEHAVIOURS & WAYS TO NAVIGATE – CHAPTER – 02

***Continued from Chapter 01 (Covered previously: Meaning of Ethics/ Morals, Traditional Interpretations Of Ethics, Three Broad Types of Ethical Theory, Interpretation of Moral/ Ethical Dilemmas)

Link to Chapter 01:

MORAL DILEMMAS: INTERTWINED BEHAVIOURS & WAYS TO NAVIGATE – CHAPTER – 01

Moral Dilemma Questions

In a time when many question our national moral character, pondering what to do in various situations can be a positive exercise preparing an individual for worst-&-best-case. We will look at some examples of moral dilemma questions to aid in placing ourselves in the midst of them.

01. The Unfaithful Friend

You go out with your spouse for dinner at a new restaurant you have not frequented before. It is in a part of town you rarely visit. You are shocked to see your friend’s spouse having dinner with a very young, attractive person. From the way they are behaving, it is obvious they are more than friends. The couple finish their meal and leave without seeing you. They behave very affectionately on the way out the door.

02. An Office Theft
You are in charge of the petty cash at the office. However, a co-worker is responsible for making a weekly trip to the bank to make the business deposit and obtain petty cash for the following week. In a conversation with your mutual supervisor, you are asked if the increase in the petty cash amount was enough. You, however, have not seen any additional money. You realize your co-worker has been pocketing the additional money.

03. Midnight Death

You have worked years to be successful in your father’s business. You felt you were obligated to take over as he worked his whole life to build the business left to him by his father. However, the large businesses in town have seriously cut into profits and for several years you and your family have just managed to scrape by. Your father’s health has declined and he has been hospitalized. He has a substantial life insurance policy that expires at midnight. If he dies before midnight, you will inherit enough money to pursue a career you have always dreamed of and provide adequately for your family.

04. Get Rich

Your friend offers you an opportunity to make a great deal of money very quickly. He has arranged to set up an off-shore account for your profits. He will not tell you exactly how he is making this money, but you get the impression it is not exactly legal. He only wants an investment of Rs 50,000/- and promises you will have enough from your minimal investment that you will never need to work again.

05. Telling a Secret

Your friend tells you that they committed a crime. They explain that they are having trouble sleeping at night and feel you are the only one they can trust with their confession. A few days later, you read in the paper that someone has been arrested for your friend’s crime.

Moral Dilemma Scenarios

Here are some moral dilemma scenarios. Each scene is characterized by the need to make a difficult decision. As with all moral dilemmas, there is no right or wrong.

01. Sarcastic Friend
Your friend has a great sense of humour. However, sometimes his jokes involve making fun of others in inappropriate ways. He will point out a physical flaw or look for something odd or different about a person and make an unkind comment. You feel uncomfortable when your friend does this. Do you say something or just laugh along with him?

02. Hit and Run
Late one night you are driving home in a bad rainstorm. A drunk reels out in front of your car and you try to stop, but hit him. Nobody sees you. The guy looks and smells as if he is homeless. You check to see how badly he is hurt and realize he is dead. You have never even had a speeding ticket and are an upright, professional, with a family and are well-known and respected in your community. Do you make a report anonymously, confess your crime, or drive on home and forget about it, knowing no one is going to pursue the death of a homeless drunk?

03. Third Chance
Your teenager has had a rough few years. First came an arrest for shoplifting. The item was of little value, so it was only a misdemeanour. Then your teen was with some friends who were smoking pot and driving too fast. Your teen has promised they are turning over a new leaf and seem to be on the right track, doing better in school, coming home by curfew, and generally having a much better attitude. Now you get a call from the local police station saying your son was with a group of kids who broke into a liquor store and stole beer. Do you go to the station and see how you can get your teen out of this jam or let him accept whatever consequences befall him?

04. Reward a Job Well Done
You understand the importance of team work in your job. You share ideas and responsibilities with your team members on a daily basis. In your weekly team meeting with your supervisor, one of your co-workers takes credit for a time and money saving change in operating procedures you devised. Your supervisor erroneously thinks your co-worker came up with the change and your co-worker does not correct the misinterpretation, but allows the boss to not only commend him, but offer a bonus. Do you go to your co-worker and demand he correct the situation, go to your supervisor and explain you should receive the commendation and reward, or keep quiet as you do not believe in ownership of ideas?

Moral Dilemma Questions

Moral dilemma questions might be characterized as “What if?” questions. It can be hard to take a close look at ourselves and ask, “Will I do the right thing when confronted with a difficult choice?” Frequently, it is the small decisions we make that truly define our moral character.

Approaches For Ethical Decision-Making

The more novel and difficult the ethical choice we face, the more we need to rely on discussion and dialogue with others about the dilemma. There are three broad frameworks to guide ethical decision making:

While each of the three frameworks is useful for making ethical decisions, none is perfect—otherwise the perfect theory would have driven the other imperfect theories from the field long ago. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of the frameworks will be helpful in deciding which is most useful in approach the particular situation with which we are presented.

In many situations, all three frameworks will result in the same—or at least very similar—conclusions about what to do, although they will typically give different reasons for reaching those conclusions. However, because they focus on different ethical features, the conclusions reached through one framework will occasionally differ from the conclusions reached through one (or both) of the others.

The Importance of Studying Moral/ Ethical Dilemmas

The exploration needs to dig deeper, taking into consideration not only how to make difficult decisions, but how the decisions reflect the underlying values that are important to us. The practice will not only foster better ethical decision-making, but exercises that require assessments of ethical dilemmas can improve reasoning and critical thinking skills—valuable assets in many contexts.

Ethical training develops important “soft skills” like respect, empathy and compassion. Exploring conflicts from different points of view—and striving to understand the value behind an opinion—also makes us more empathetic to others. Identifying the principles that comprise the foundation of our beliefs as well as those that guide others allows us to hone social and emotional competencies like self-awareness and social awareness.

A Framework for Making Moral/ Ethical Decisions

Decisions about right and wrong permeate everyday life. Ethics should concern all levels of life: acting properly as individuals, creating responsible organizations and governments, and making our society as a whole more ethical. One Framework that can be applied in daily instances may be:

Making moral/ ethical decisions requires sensitivity to the ethical implications of problems and situations.  It also requires practice. Having a framework for ethical decision making is essential for individuals and organizations.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

MORAL DILEMMAS: INTERTWINED BEHAVIOURS & WAYS TO NAVIGATE – CHAPTER – 01

Morality is defined as the principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour (Oxford Dictionary). Effective ethics instruction is about more than distributing a list of moral guidelines; it requires educating learners on how to navigate their own moral decision-making. Learners learn to search for and evaluate their assumptions, to excavate the reasons behind those assumptions, to examine without prejudice another’s opinion and to make a thoughtful decision with confidence.

What Is Ethics:

Ethics provides a set of standards for behaviour that helps us decide how we ought to act in a range of situations. In a sense, ethics is all about making choices, and about providing reasons why we should make these choices.

Ethics is sometimes conflated or confused with other ways of making choices, including religion, law or morality. Many religions promote ethical decision-making but do not always address the full range of ethical choices that we face. Religions may also advocate or prohibit certain behaviours which may not be considered the proper domain of ethics. Many people use the terms morality and ethics interchangeably. Others reserve morality for the state of virtue while seeing ethics as a code that enables morality. Another way to think about the relationship between ethics and morality is to see ethics as providing a rational basis for morality, that is, ethics provides good reasons for why something is moral.

Traditional Interpretations Of Ethics:

There are numerous ways to think about right and wrong actions or good and bad character.  The field of ethics is traditionally divided into three areas:

Three Broad Types of Ethical Theory:

Ethical theories are often broadly divided into three types. Each of these three broad categories contains varieties of approaches to ethics, some of which share characteristics across the categories.

Consequentialist Theories

The Utilitarian Approach: Utilitarianism is one of the most common approaches to making ethical decisions, especially decisions with consequences that concern large groups of people, in part because it instructs us to weigh the different amounts of good and bad that will be produced by our action. This conforms to our feeling that some good and some bad will necessarily be the result of our action and that the best action will be that which provides the most good or does the least harm, or produces the greatest balance of good over harm.

The Egoistic Approach: One variation of the utilitarian approach is known as ethical egoism, or the ethics of self- interest. In this approach, an individual often uses utilitarian calculation to produce the greatest amount of good for him or herself. The Russian-American philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982), who, in the book The Virtue of Selfishness (1964), argues that self-interest is a prerequisite to self-respect and to respect for others.

The Common Good Approach: The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) argued that the best society should be guided by the general will of the people which would then produce what is best for the people as a whole. This approach to ethics underscores the networked aspects of society and emphasizes respect and compassion for others, especially those who are more vulnerable.

Non Consequentialist Theories

The Duty-Based Approach: The ethical action is one taken from duty, that is, it is done precisely because it is our obligation to perform the action. Ethical obligations are the same for all rational creatures (they are universal), and knowledge of what these obligations entail is arrived at by discovering rules of behaviour that are not contradicted by reason.

The Rights Approach: This approach stipulates that the best ethical action is that which protects the ethical rights of those who are affected by the action. It emphasizes the belief that all humans have a right to dignity. The list of ethical rights is debated; many now argue that animals and other non-humans such as robots also have rights.

The Fairness or Justice Approach: The American philosopher John Rawls argued that just ethical principles are those that would be chosen by free and rational people in an initial situation of equality. This is considered fair or just because it provides a procedure for what counts as a fair action, and does not concern itself with the consequences of those actions. Fairness of starting point is the principle for what is considered just.

The Divine Command Approach: As its name suggests, this approach sees what is right as the same as what the Devine Beings command, and ethical standards are the creation of their will. Because Devine Beings are seen as omnipotent and possessed of free will, they could change what is now considered ethical, and they are not bound by any standard of right or wrong short of logical contradiction.

Agent Centred Theories

The Virtue Approach: One long-standing ethical principle argues that ethical actions should be consistent with ideal human virtues. Because virtue ethics is concerned with the entirety of a person’s life, it takes the process of education and training seriously, and emphasizes the importance of role models to our understanding of how to engage in ethical deliberation.

The Feminist Approach: This approach emphasizes the importance of the experiences of women and other marginalized groups to ethical deliberation. The principle of care as a legitimately primary ethical concern, often in opposition to the seemingly cold and impersonal justice approach. Like virtue ethics, feminist ethics concerned with the totality of human life and how this life comes to influence the way we make ethical decisions.

Interpretation of Moral/ Ethical Dilemmas

In philosophy, ethical dilemmas, also called ethical paradoxes or moral dilemmas, are situations in which an agent stands under two (or more) conflicting moral requirements, none of which overrides the other. A closely related definition characterizes ethical dilemmas as situations in which every available choice is wrong. The term is also used in a wider sense in everyday language to refer to ethical conflicts that may be resolvable, to psychologically difficult choices or to other types of difficult ethical problems.

The crucial features of a moral dilemma are these: the agent can do each of the actions; but the agent cannot do both (or all) of the actions. What is common to the cases in a moral dilemma (or ethical dilemma) is conflict. The agent thus seems condemned to moral failure; no matter what he/she does, he/she will do something wrong (or fail to do something that he/she ought to do).

When one of the conflicting requirements overrides the other, we have a conflict but not a genuine moral dilemma. So, in order to have a genuine moral dilemma it must also be true that neither of the conflicting requirements is overridden. What makes these questions dilemmas is an individual’s definition of right and wrong or good and bad. scenarios. Some ways in which such ethical dilemmas may be addressed are:

***To be continued in Chapter 02 (Moral Dilemma Questions & Common Situations, Approaches For Ethical Decision-Making, Importance of Understanding Moral Dilemmas, Framework for Making Moral/ Ethical Decisions)

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

ZANSHIN: LEARNING THE ART OF CONCENTRATION AND FOCUS

A Story:

In the 1920s, a German professor named Eugen Herrigel moved to Japan to teach philosophy at a university in a city called Sendai, near Tokyo. To deepen his understanding of Japanese culture, Herrigel began training in Kyudo, the Japanese martial art of archery. He was taught by a legendary archer named Awa Kenzo. Kenzo was convinced that beginners should master the fundamentals of archery before attempting to shoot at a real target, and he took this method to the extreme. For the first four years of his training, Herrigel was only allowed to shoot at a roll of straw just seven feet away. When Herrigel complained of the incredibly slow pace, his teacher replied:

When he was finally permitted to shoot at more distant targets, Herrigel’s performance was dismal. The arrows flew off course and he became more discouraged with each wayward shot. During a particularly humbling session, Herrigel stated that his problem must be poor aim. Kenzo, however, looked at his student and replied that it was not whether one aimed, but how one approached the task that determined the outcome.

Frustrated with this reply, Herrigel blurted out, “Then you ought to be able to hit it blindfolded.” Kenzo paused for a moment and then said, “Come to see me this evening.”

Archery in the Dark

After night had fallen, the two men returned to the courtyard where the practice hall was located. Kenzo walked to his usual shooting location, now with the target hidden in the dark. The archery master proceeded through his normal routine, settled into his firing stance, drew the bow string tight, and released the first arrow into the darkness.

Recalling the event later, Herrigel wrote, “I knew from the sound that it had hit the target.” Immediately, Kenzo drew a second arrow and again fired into the night. Herrigel jumped up and ran across the courtyard to inspect the target. Kenzo had hit a double bullseye without being able to see the target. In his book, Zen in the Art of Archery, he wrote:

Everything Is Aiming

Great archery masters often teach that “everything is aiming.” Where we place our feet, how we hold the bow, the way we breathe during the release of the arrow—it all determines the end result. In the case of Awa Kenzo, the master archer was so mindful of the process that led to an accurate shot that he was able to replicate the exact series of internal movements even without seeing the external target. This complete awareness of the body and mind in relation to the goal is known as Zanshin.

In practice, though, zanshin has an even deeper meaning. Zanshin is choosing to live our life intentionally and acting with purpose rather than mindlessly falling victim to whatever comes your way.

Commitment to Process

The battle does not end when we win. The battle only ends when we get lazy, when we lose our sense of commitment, and when we stop paying attention. This is zanshin as well: the act of living with alertness regardless of whether the goal has already been achieved. We can carry this philosophy into many areas of life. Some examples are:

The enemy of improvement is neither failure nor success. The enemy of improvement is boredom, fatigue, and lack of concentration. The enemy of improvement is a lack of commitment to the process because the process is everything.

Zanshin in Everyday Life

We live in a world obsessed with results. Like Herrigel, we have a tendency to put so much emphasis on whether or not the arrow hits the target. If, however, we put that intensity and focus and sincerity into the process—where we place our feet, how we hold the bow, how we breathe during the release of the arrow—then hitting the bullseye is simply a side effect.

The point is not to worry about hitting the target. The point is to fall in love with the boredom of doing the work and embrace each piece of the process. The point is to take that moment of Zanshin, that moment of complete awareness and focus, and carry it with you everywhere in life. It is not the target that matters. It is not the finish line that matters. It is the way we approach the goal that matters. Everything is aiming. Zanshin.

People Vs Process- A Perspective

When we take two factors into account—the people and the process—what percentage weight would we attribute to the people and what percentage to the process or the system for the success or failure of a project or anything we do? The question obviously assumes that the process is created by people in the first place.

One view is to attribute the process a staggering 93% and only 7% to people. This is because, once the process or system is set up, it seeks only the result. The process points out what was not done or what went wrong or right. It gives accurate reporting and points out fault lines where we can go back and fix missteps or errors. Unlike the process, people can be carried away by emotions, moods, relationships, self-interest and so many other factors and distractions.

Success, however, depends on single mindedness, having a specific goal and then the determination to figure out how to do it, how to assemble the necessary ingredients and then just do it. This practice and principle has been there since the dawn of the human civilization.

Some More Examples:

Instance 01- Dronacharya & Arjun:

In Mahabharata, we know the great teacher Dronacharya, who teaches and trains Pandavas and Kauravas during their childhood. Once when some of his students accuse Dronacharya of always favoring Arjuna, the great teacher calls all his students and gives them a simple test. He places a wooden bird on a branch of a tree and students have to shoot the eye of the wooden bird in the tree. He calls each student one by one, and before letting them release the arrow, he asks them what do they see. Some say they see wooden bird, some tree, some branches, some sky, some leaves and so on. Dronacharya then asks all of them all to lay down their bow and arrow. In the end, he calls Arjuna, whose confident reply was: “I only see the eye of the bird.” While all other students were distracted, Arjuna had set his eyes on his goal, the eye of the bird. He did not see anything else.

Instance 02- Arjun & Krishna:

During the peak of Mahabharata war after Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu is killed because Jayadratha had stopped the powerful Pandava warriors to enter the battle maze, Arjuna blames Jayadratha to be the cause for his son’s death. In a burst of anger and outrage, Arjuna takes a vow to either kill Jayadratha before the sunset next day or kill himself by jumping in a pyre if he fails.

When Krishna, the charioteer of Arjuna, hears Arjuna’s vow, he scolds Arjuna and says: “Now, your one eye will be on the sun and one on Jayadratha”, (Arjuna’s attention and focus will now be divided). Eventually, Arjuna kills Jayadratha but only with the help of Krishna as he sends his Sudarshana Chakra to mask the Sun and create an illusion of sunset.

Instance 03 – Karna & Parashuman

When Karna gets extremely frustrated and is not able to pass his final test before Sage Parashuram agrees to accept him as his student, Parashuman asks Karna to focus. He tells Karna: “The most difficult obstacles in the centre of full concentration (attention) are: anger, turbulence (of the mind) and pain (hurt). Make your anger, your turbulence and your pain as your weapon and use them.”

Instance 04 – Dronacharya

Once during his class, Dornacharya asks his students: “What if you are in the battlefield and all the weapons are destroyed during the fight, how will you continue and win the war?” When no answers emerged, Dornacharya answers his own question: “When your heart is pure and the goal is well-founded (atal), then anything in the nature can become your weapon.”

Instance 05- Robin Sharma – The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

In this story, a young boy travels far from his home to study under a great teacher.

Building Concentration – Iterations

Learning to concentrate is similar to doing repetitions with weights. In order to build strong muscles, we lift the weights up and down over and over. Each time we do it, we get a tiny bit stronger, and over a long period of time we get a lot stronger. Eventually we can lift a very large weight. One iteration (round) of this is not going to do very much, but several iterations will make muscles very strong. Repetition is the key.

The same thing goes for concentration. The mind wanders, but we bring it back to the object of focus. The effort of bringing it back is analogous to the effort of lifting a weight. Each time we bring the mind back to the object of focus, our concentration gets a tiny bit stronger, and over a long period it gets a lot more powerful. Eventually our concentration is extremely focused and unwavering.

People feel scattered and distracted, and imagine that they should have concentration power from the get-go. But that is like imagining that we can be an Olympic weightlifter with no practice. Concentration takes practice, but it is worth it. Weightlifting doesn’t just make us strong for lifting weights, it makes the body strong for everything we do the rest of the day. Concentration practice, too, strengthens the ability to focus for everything we do in  life. It effectively increases our intelligence, because we can bring more of our mental powers (i.e. attention and working memory) to each task.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa