1.

Ethics and Human Interface

Ethics:
 Ethics maybe defined as the systematic study of human actions
from the point of view of their righteousness or wrongfulness, as
means for attainment of ultimate happiness.
 It is the set of standards that society places on itself and which
help guide behaviour, choice and actions.
 It is not morality/religion/laws/culturally accepted norms

Ethics vs Morality

What are The rules of conduct recognized in Principles or habits with

they? respect to a particular class of human respect to right or wrong
actions or a particular group or culture. conduct. While morals also
prescribe dos and don'ts,
morality is ultimately a
personal compass of right
and wrong.

Where do they Social system - External Individual - Internal

come from?

Why we do it? Because society says it is the right thing Because we believe in
to do. something being right or
wrong.

Flexibility Ethics are dependent on others for Usually consistent, although

definition. They tend to be consistent can change if an individual’s
within a certain context, but can vary beliefs change.
between contexts.

The "Gray" A person strictly following Ethical A Moral Person although

Principles may not have any Morals at
all. Likewise, one could violate Ethical
Principles within a given system of rules
in order to maintain Moral integrity.
perhaps bound by a higher
covenant, may choose to
follow a code of ethics as it
would apply to a system.
"Make it fit"

Origin Greek word "ethos" meaning"character" Latin word "mos" meaning

"custom"

Acceptability Ethics are governed by professional and Morality transcends cultural

legal guidelines within a particular time norms
and place
 Branches of ethics:
 Descriptive Ethics: Lawrence Kohlberg; Value free approach
 Normative Ethics: involves arriving at moral standards that
regulate right and wrong conduct; prescriptive ethics; Aristotle
Virtue Ethics, Kant’s deontological ethics, Mill’s Consequentialism
and bhagwad gita’s Nishkam KarmaYoga; Golden Rule ( Do what
you want others to do to you )
 Meta Ethics: study of what ethical terms and theories actually
refers to; determine validity of theories advanced in normative
ethics
 Applied Ethics: analysis of specific, controversial moral issues as
abortion, euthanasia, animal rights.

Determinants and consequences of ethics in human action:

1. Individual Personality traits
2. Culture/country of Individual
3. Organisation/ industry

In Governance: dependent on social, economic, political, cultural, legal

judicial and historical contexts of country

Human Values- lessons from lives and teaching of great leaders, reforms and
administrators
Values: are individual principle or qualities that guide judgement and
behaviour of person or group, like an anchor to the ship
Intrinsic value (end in itself), Extrinsic Values(means to an end)
Basic Human Values: Truth, Love-Caring, Peace, Responsibility, Justice.

Lessons from lives of leaders:

Gandhi, Martin Luther Jr, Lincoln, Mandela, Havel etc.
 Love for Justice, Selflessness, Respect for humanity, dignity for all, Loving
and caring behaviour, Peace Loving(non-violence), Benevolence,
Compassion.
Lessons from lives of great administrators:
Verghese Kurien, MS Swaminanthan, Sam Pitroda, E. Sreedharan, VP
Menon
Integrity, Non-Discrimination, Discipline, Citizenly Duty, Social Equality,
Lawfulness, Ethical accountability, Loyalty, Courage, Solidarity, Respect.

Administrator vs Leader:

Role of family, society and educational institute in inculcating values

2. ATTITUDE:
Attitude refers to a psychological tendency that is expressed by
evaluating a particular object with some degree of favour or disfavour

Components of attitude
1. Cognitive: beliefs, thoughts and attribute we associate with an object
2. Affective: Feelings or emotions attached to an attitude object
3. Behavioural: tendency or predisposition to act in certain manner
Formation of Attitude:
1. Classical/ Pavlovian Conditioning
2. Instrumental Conditioning
3. Observational Learning
4. Genetic Factors

Explicit attitude vs Implicit attitude (unconscious cognition)

Structure of Attitude
Based on CAB implication, dynamic properties of attitude are
1. Attitude Strength
2. Attitude accessibility
3. Attitude ambivalence: conflicting attitude towards an object
Function of attitude
1. Utilitarian/Instrumental function
2. Knowledge function
3. Ego defensive function
4. Value Expressive function
5. Social identity function: purchase of flag on republic day

Influence of attitude on behaviour

Allport defines attitude as tendencies or pre-disposition to behave in a
certain way
1. True vs Expressed attitude
2. One instance vs aggregate
3. Level of attitude behaviour specificity
4. Self-awareness
5. Attitudinal strength
6. Attitudinal accessibility

Moral and Political Attitude:

 All humans hold moral attitude, it include judgements such as
‘Right’ or ‘wrong’ and ‘Blameworthy or praiseworthy’
 Political attitude are those directed towards political objects, such
as political candidates, political issues, parties and institution.

Social Influence
Social influence is a topic in social psychology that looks at how
individual thoughts, actions and feelings are influenced by social groups
Types of social influence: Normative influence (Asch Classic study) and
Informative influence
Six principles of social influence:
1. Reciprocity
2. Consistency
3. Social Proof
4. Liking
5. Authority
6. Scarcity

Persuasion:
Persuasion is an attempt to change a person’s attitude.
Constructs of persuasion:
1. The source of persuasion
2. The message
3. The audience
->Source Credibility and source likeability influence persuasion (Halo
effect)

Resisting Persuasion:
 Attitude inoculation
 Forewarned (Boomerang effect)
 Stockpile
 Defences against persuasion techniques