It is proved that it is only an illusion that personal ethics are declining year by year
We often hear statements that idealize the past, such as “the old days were better”. However, studies by psychologists Adam Mastroianni and Daniel Gilbert have reported that personal ethics are relatively stable, not declining year by year.
The illusion of moral decline | Nature
Think morality is declining? That's an illusion, researchers say. - The Washington Post
The illusion of moral decline - by Adam Mastroianni
https://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-illusion-of-moral-decline
Mr. Mastroianni and Mr. Gilbert, who questioned the claim that 'personal ethics are declining year by year,' such as 'I used to be able to sleep with the front door open,' said polls including Gallup . From data collected by companies that conduct business and from newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal , about 22 years on 'whether people's ethics are changing year by year' and 'how people feel about changing ethics' over about 70 years. We analyzed 10,000 surveys.
“Do you think the moral values of this country as a whole are better or worse today?” or “Are people more honest than they were 20 years ago? Of the 177 surveys that asked questions such as, 84% of the surveys, the majority of the respondents answered that ethics are declining.
In addition, when we asked people in countries such as Japan, the United States, Canada, and India, which are shown in red, 'Is the decline in ethics a problem?' It's a matter of some importance,' he said. 'People around the world seem to really believe that ethics are declining,' Mastroianni said.
However, according to the analysis by Mr. Mastroianni et al., the percentage of people who answered that ``the sense of ethics is lower than in the past'' has hardly changed from before 1960 to the present day.
Furthermore, when asked about a long period of time, such as 'Have ethics declined compared to 50 years ago?' It turned out that there was a tendency to answer that 'ethical sense has declined.' The percentage of people complaining of a decline in ethical standards increases as the period of time increases from 10 years to 20 years.
A survey conducted on people in their 20s to 70s revealed that there was no age difference in the proportion of people who answered that their sense of ethics is lower now than in the past. In other words, it is not only the elderly who answer that their sense of ethics is declining, but young people as well.
In addition, it has been found that complaining of a decline in ethics is a common idea for people with all ideas, regardless of whether they are conservatives or liberals.
When Mastroianni analyzed 107 surveys of 4.4 million people, the question 'How would you rate the current ethical values of this country?' Approximately 70% of people answered that their sense of ethics is declining.
However, from 2006 to 2019, the percentage of people who consistently answered “yes” to the question “did you treat others with respect yesterday?” hovered around 90%.
From these analysis results, it can be seen that the response that ``ethics are declining'' is universal, and that ethics are not actually declining.
Mastroianni and others report that the reason why people always answer that ethics are declining is due to the media that disseminates a lot of biased information such as murder and fraud. Also, due to the bias called `` fading influence bias '' that `` bad memories are easier to forget than good memories '', when looking back on the past, bad memories disappear and only good memories remain, while newly entering information There is good information and bad information, so there is a tendency to think that 'the old days were better'.
``If you think that the ethics of the people around you are declining, you may become pessimistic and lower your own ethical standards,'' said Rian Young, a psychologist at Boston University. doing. ``The idea that ethics is declining may keep us from talking to strangers and relying on kindness from others,'' Mastroianni and colleagues said.
Related Posts:
in Note, Posted by log1r_ut