One of the Strangest Behaviors
When people absolve themselves of the duty to be ethical.
We’ve all seen it and maybe, to be truthful, been guilty of it ourselves at some point.
Behavior where a person or group grants permission in their mind to act in a way that is not ethically or otherwise socially acceptable.
There is a term for it: Moral disengagement.
“Social psychologist Albert Bandura describes it as a psychosocial mechanism that occurs at both the individual and social system levels. It involves people convincing themselves that ethical standards don't apply to them in a particular situation, allowing them to behave harmfully while still maintaining a positive self-regard.”
So what does that mean?
When there is some intrinsically, appealing motivation to do so, people do mental gymnastics, even if but briefly to twist reality and reasoning in their thinking, to free themselves of the emotional, psychological burden of moral behavior that they don’t want to exhibit, so they can give into the wrongful impulses and destructive appetites that they are craving so that they can act poorly, maybe shamefully and conveniently, still feel good about themselves.
Victor Mong recently wrote about to a small degree at Medium.
“One of the strangest behaviors you’ll find is people convincing themselves that ethical standards don’t apply to them in certain situations,” Mong wrote. “They rationalize and make excuses to justify behavior everyone knows is wrong.”
He went on to tell the story of a friend, someone we can assume had similar values as Mong, who took a job with an “unlicensed loan company as a loan recovery agent” and proceeded to distort his thinking and thus, let the predatory side of him out in the way he conducted himself:
“He’ll harass, defame and send mean and diabolical SMS and WhatsApp messages to people to repay their loans,” Mong wrote.
“Many loan defaulters in my home country have reportedly committed suicide because of the defamation they receive from agents. Any time I engaged him (about) their activities, he’d make excuses and justify it with, ‘We didn’t force them to take the loan,’ ‘I’m doing my job,’ or ‘That’s how it’s done everywhere in the world.’”
As disturbing as that is, it’s relatively common and also a relatively mild case in most circumstances, even if it is grossly unethical.
Think back instead to reported scandals: political, business, higher education, entertainment-or-sports related and personal behavior. Or scandals with people you know.
Oftentimes, these people weren’t forever rotten. At one point though, they decided moral disengagement, whether as a one-off behavior, periodic one or habitual, was the preferred choice.
If those people were normally upstanding individuals yet gave into some emotionally-driven, rationalized misbehavior that hurt others, then they created distorted reasoning and showed weakness in regulating their thinking, impulses and actions.
Remember too, what Bandura said, it’s not just individuals who can give into this act, it’s social systems. We see this commonly as well from authority and power.
“This is moral disengagement — a person detaches from their moral beliefs to reduce feelings of guilt or shame from their actions,” Mong wrote. “Moral disengagement gives you the ability to engage in harmful behavior without feeling bad about it.
“You actively convince yourself that what you’re doing is okay. Over time, it can damage your sense of integrity and affect how others see you. If people know you often make excuses for bad behavior, they may lose trust and respect for you.”
He offers a suggestion to consider in our thinking.
“You can catch yourself before you morally disengage by paying attention to how you justify unusual and questionable behaviors: Do you make excuses to avoid guilt? Do your actions align with your values,” he writes.
He reveals a sobering fact.
“It’s easy to find yourself detached without knowing it. So hold yourself accountable and seek out ethical role models,” Mong recommends. “Surround yourself with people who not only uphold strong moral standards but will call you out when you try to justify unethical actions.”
Mong pointed out something important when he wrote, “If people know you often make excuses for bad behavior, they may lose trust and respect for you.”
When we’re committing that behavior and on top of that, getting defensive or dismissive or denying or minimizing it, it’s going to negatively decrease trust, respect and reputation. That’s the figurative price tag we’re taking to checkout to pay.
Retrospectively, eventually, we’ll come to realize how reckless, stupid and self-destructive that is and was yet by that point, we will be paying the “interest” on that behavior in the form of consequences and punishments.
Set up safeguard today, not go conceal or protect ourselves from the moral disengagement but the thinking, impulses and cravings to be morally disengaged.
Set up risk analysis and risk management practices in your professional and personal life and the social systems in which you are participate.
Your future self will thank you and celebrate you.
Michael Toebe is a specialist for trust, risk, relationship, communications and reputation at Reputation Intelligence - Reputation Quality. He serves individuals and organizations by helping them further build, protect, restore and reconstruct reputation.
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