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Tijdschrift Voor Psychiatrie 2021Moral courage is the courage to do what you morally believe to be right, despite the presence of danger. Courage is certainly important in critical situations where... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Moral courage is the courage to do what you morally believe to be right, despite the presence of danger. Courage is certainly important in critical situations where moral values are at stake. Reflection is not enough, you have to act wisely. Moral courage bridges the gap between thinking and doing. This article first characterizes moral courage and then provides tools that can help psychiatrists to show moral courage.
AIM
To provide tools that can help psychiatrists in their professional practice to show moral courage.
METHOD
Characterizing moral courage on the basis of a case study and literature review.
RESULTS
Psychiatrists can learn courage by preparing for the dangers inherent in the job, by thinking about situations in advance, and going through and practicing possible scenarios and consequences. They can also discuss the subject in peer-to-peer meetings.
CONCLUSION
Courage is certainly important in critical situations where moral values are at stake. Reflection is then not enough, and one must act wisely. Moral courage bridges the gap between thinking and doing. Professionals are assisted in this when (professional) organizations invest in a safe and stimulating context.
Topics: Courage; Ethics, Nursing; Humans; Learning; Morals; Psychiatry
PubMed: 34757608
DOI: No ID Found -
Advances in Child Development and... 2020Children report that many natural kinds, social groups, and psychological characteristics arise from an innate, internal "essence" that is rooted in biology and remains... (Review)
Review
Children report that many natural kinds, social groups, and psychological characteristics arise from an innate, internal "essence" that is rooted in biology and remains stable over time. These perceptions persist into adulthood, albeit often in weakened form. This chapter argues that in addition to the domains previously examined in the essentialism literature, children-and to some extent adults-also view moral characteristics in essentialist terms. This form of essentialism has important social consequences, including in the area of prosocial behavior and in the legal domain. The body of evidence reviewed here suggests that children's and adults' moral judgments depend not just on what people do but also on perceptions of who those people are, i.e., whether they are people of good or bad moral character.
Topics: Child; Child Development; Humans; Morals; Social Behavior; Social Cognition
PubMed: 32564793
DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2020.05.006 -
Journal of Medical Ethics Jun 2024The field of medical ethics, such as the discipline of ethics in general, has traditionally focused on moral dilemmas and quandaries at the expense of 'everyday' moral...
The field of medical ethics, such as the discipline of ethics in general, has traditionally focused on moral dilemmas and quandaries at the expense of 'everyday' moral issues. The methodologies, norms and principles of the field reflect this. Although the principle of double effect works well in adjudicating the provision of life-shortening medications to relieve pain, it fails to guide the vast majority of mundane moral decisions that providers make daily.This article contends that exemplarist medical ethics provides action guidance on everyday medical ethical issues. Further, it offers an ethical methodology that is not tethered to a comprehensive doctrine of the good.The paper develops an account of, and draws on Zagzebski's exemplarist moral theory. It then describes how medical providers can morally deliberate by appealing to exemplars. I contend there are three modes of exemplarist action guidance: dialogue, emulation and substituted judgement. It demonstrates how each of these modes guides moral deliberation regarding quotidian medical ethical issues. The article then turns to a moral exemplar of medical practice, Dr. Jim O'Connell, who Tracy Kidder profiles in his 2023 book, Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O'Connell's Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People. The advantages and challenges of this approach are delineated before a brief conclusion.
Topics: Humans; Ethics, Medical; Ethical Theory; Morals; Ethical Analysis
PubMed: 37640535
DOI: 10.1136/jme-2023-109150 -
Journal of Medical Ethics Jan 2020Fetal pain has long been a contentious issue, in large part because fetal pain is often cited as a reason to restrict access to termination of pregnancy or abortion. We...
Fetal pain has long been a contentious issue, in large part because fetal pain is often cited as a reason to restrict access to termination of pregnancy or abortion. We have divergent views regarding the morality of abortion, but have come together to address the evidence for fetal pain. Most reports on the possibility of fetal pain have focused on developmental neuroscience. Reports often suggest that the cortex and intact thalamocortical tracts are necessary for pain experience. Given that the cortex only becomes functional and the tracts only develop after 24 weeks, many reports rule out fetal pain until the final trimester. Here, more recent evidence calling into question the necessity of the cortex for pain and demonstrating functional thalamic connectivity into the subplate is used to argue that the neuroscience cannot definitively rule out fetal pain before 24 weeks. We consider the possibility that the mere experience of pain, without the capacity for self reflection, is morally significant. We believe that fetal pain does not have to be equivalent to a mature adult human experience to matter morally, and so fetal pain might be considered as part of a humane approach to abortion.
Topics: Abortion, Induced; Adult; Brain; Consciousness; Dissent and Disputes; Ethics, Medical; Female; Fetal Development; Fetus; Gestational Age; Humans; Morals; Neurosciences; Pain; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Trimesters
PubMed: 31937669
DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2019-105701 -
Scientific Reports May 2023The study of moral judgement and decision making examines the way predictions made by moral and ethical theories fare in real world settings. Such investigations are...
The study of moral judgement and decision making examines the way predictions made by moral and ethical theories fare in real world settings. Such investigations are carried out using a variety of approaches and methods, such as experiments, modeling, and observational and field studies, in a variety of populations. The current Collection on moral judgments and decision making includes works that represent this variety, while focusing on some common themes, including group morality and the role of affect in moral judgment. The Collection also includes a significant number of studies that made theoretically driven predictions and failed to find support for them. We highlight the importance of such null-results papers, especially in fields that are traditionally governed by theoretical frameworks.
Topics: Negative Results; Judgment; Morals; Decision Making
PubMed: 37169894
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-34899-x -
Current Opinion in Psychology Dec 2022We review the evidence linking gender to dishonesty and conclude that men are often more dishonest than women, especially in competitive settings where lies advance... (Review)
Review
We review the evidence linking gender to dishonesty and conclude that men are often more dishonest than women, especially in competitive settings where lies advance self-interest. However, gender differences in dishonesty are often small and mutable across situations. We propose that attending to self-regulatory constructs such as moral identity might help researchers move beyond the evolutionary-cultural debates over the origin of gender differences toward identifying factors that promote honesty from both genders.
Topics: Humans; Male; Female; Deception; Morals
PubMed: 36116425
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101461 -
Personality and Social Psychology... Aug 2023The idea of "purity" transformed moral psychology. Here, we provide the first systematic review of this concept. Although often discussed as one construct, we reveal ~9... (Review)
Review
ACADEMIC ABSTRACT
The idea of "purity" transformed moral psychology. Here, we provide the first systematic review of this concept. Although often discussed as one construct, we reveal ~9 understandings of purity, ranging from respecting God to not eating gross things. This striking heterogeneity arises because purity-unlike other moral constructs-is not understood by what it but what it : obvious interpersonal harm. This poses many problems for moral psychology and explains why purity lacks convergent and divergent validity and why purity is confounded with politics, religion, weirdness, and perceived harm. Because purity is not a coherent construct, it cannot be a distinct basis of moral judgment or specially tied to disgust. Rather than a specific moral domain, purity is best understood as a loose set of themes in moral rhetoric. These themes are scaffolded on cultural understandings of harm-the broad, pluralistic harm outlined by the Theory of Dyadic Morality.
PUBLIC ABSTRACT
People are fascinated by morality-how do people make moral judgments and why do liberals and conservatives seem to frequently disagree? "Purity" is one moral concept often discussed when talking about morality-it has been suggested to capture moral differences across politics and to demonstrate the evolutionary roots of morality, especially the role of disgust in moral judgment. However, despite the many books and articles that mention purity, there is no systematic analysis of purity. Here, we review all existing academic articles focused on purity in morality. We find that purity is an especially messy concept that lacks scientific validity. Because it is so poorly defined and inconsistently measured, it should not be invoked to explain our moral minds or political differences.
Topics: Humans; Morals; Judgment; Disgust; Politics; Religion
PubMed: 36314693
DOI: 10.1177/10888683221124741 -
Fertility and Sterility Feb 2022
Topics: Humans; Infertility; Morale; Specialization
PubMed: 34980432
DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2021.11.036 -
BMC Public Health Jul 2020The job morale of healthcare staff is widely seen as an important factor for the quality of care. Yet, there are different understandings of what constitutes job morale,... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The job morale of healthcare staff is widely seen as an important factor for the quality of care. Yet, there are different understandings of what constitutes job morale, which hinders systematic research and comparisons. We therefore conducted a scoping review of how the concept of job morale has developed over time and how it is used in healthcare research.
METHODS
A scoping review was conducted to identify relevant literature. Data were gathered on study design and context, objectives, definitions of morale, outcome measures and key findings. Data was synthesised using a descriptive analytical framework.
RESULTS
Ninety-three unique studies met eligibility criteria for the present review. The literature outlines four main periods of the evolution of the concept of job morale: The First World War and the interwar years; Second World War; Aftermath of the Second World War; and Contemporary period. The concept of job morale originated in a military context and was later applied to and specified in the healthcare literature. The concept has been applied to individuals and groups. The understandings used in healthcare vary, but overlap. Methods for assessing job morale in healthcare include quantitative scales, indirect measurements of consequences and predictors of morale, and qualitative approaches. Existing studies have mainly focused on the job morale of general practitioners, nurses and mental health professionals in high-income countries.
CONCLUSIONS
Although the understandings of job morale in healthcare are heterogeneous and inconsistent, the concept appears to have been useful over longer periods of time and in different contexts. Which precise understanding of job morale is useful, depends on the given research purpose, and studies should make explicit which exact understanding they apply. Systematic research on job morale is required to facilitate measures to improve and maintain high levels of morale across different professional groups, including professionals in low- and middle-income countries.
Topics: Concept Formation; Delivery of Health Care; Female; Health Personnel; Health Services Research; Humans; Job Satisfaction; Male; Morale
PubMed: 32711485
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-020-09256-6 -
Trends in Cognitive Sciences Oct 2023Contemplative practices are a staple of modern life and have historically been intertwined with morality. However, do these practices in fact improve our morality? The... (Review)
Review
Contemplative practices are a staple of modern life and have historically been intertwined with morality. However, do these practices in fact improve our morality? The answer remains unclear because the science of contemplative practices has focused on unidimensional aspects of morality, which do not align with the type of interdependent moral functioning these practices aspire to cultivate. Here, we appeal to a multifactor construct, which allows the assessment of outcomes from a contemplative intervention across multiple dimensions of moral cognition and behavior. This offers an open-minded and empirically rigorous investigation into the impact of contemplative practices on moral actions. Using this framework, we gain insight into the effect of mindfulness meditation on morality, which we show does indeed have positive influences, but also some negative influences, distributed across our moral functioning.
Topics: Humans; Meditation; Morals
PubMed: 37574378
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.07.005