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Current Opinion in Psychology Jun 2024Successful leaders often use humor to motivate, inspire, and lead. Yet, recent research suggests that the use of humor is risky for leaders. Our review suggests that... (Review)
Review
Successful leaders often use humor to motivate, inspire, and lead. Yet, recent research suggests that the use of humor is risky for leaders. Our review suggests that humor must be morally offensive to some people for it to be perceived as funny. This inherent tension between humor and morality implies that the use of humor can sometimes act as a signal of acceptable moral standards in organizations, where a leader's use of humor carries significant risks because of the norm-violating message it sends to subordinates, or it can even be dangerous in extreme cases. We conclude the paper by offering future research directions on the study of workplace humor.
Topics: Humans; Morals; Wit and Humor as Topic; Leadership; Organizations
PubMed: 38330867
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101799 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jun 2020Most vaccines protect both the vaccinated individual and the society by reducing the transmission of infectious diseases. In order to eliminate infectious diseases,...
Most vaccines protect both the vaccinated individual and the society by reducing the transmission of infectious diseases. In order to eliminate infectious diseases, individuals need to consider social welfare beyond mere self-interest-regardless of ethnic, religious, or national group borders. It has therefore been proposed that vaccination poses a social contract in which individuals are morally obliged to get vaccinated. However, little is known about whether individuals indeed act upon this social contract. If so, vaccinated individuals should reciprocate by being more generous to a vaccinated other. On the contrary, if the other doesn't vaccinate and violates the social contract, generosity should decline. Three preregistered experiments investigated how a person's own vaccination behavior, others' vaccination behavior, and others' group membership influenced a person's generosity toward respective others. The experiments consistently showed that especially compliant (i.e., vaccinated) individuals showed less generosity toward nonvaccinated individuals. This effect was independent of the others' group membership, suggesting an unconditional moral principle. An internal metaanalysis ( = 1,032) confirmed the overall social contract effect. In a fourth experiment ( = 1,212), this pattern was especially pronounced among vaccinated individuals who perceived vaccination as a moral obligation. It is concluded that vaccination is a social contract in which cooperation is the morally right choice. Individuals act upon the social contract, and more so the stronger they perceive it as a moral obligation. Emphasizing the social contract could be a promising intervention to increase vaccine uptake, prevent free riding, and, eventually, support the elimination of infectious diseases.
Topics: Cooperative Behavior; Humans; Morals; Vaccination
PubMed: 32541033
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1919666117 -
BMC Health Services Research Dec 2022Job morale is thought to be particularly low in Kazakhstan, adversely affecting job motivation, job satisfaction and burnout rates. Previous research suggests that high...
BACKGROUND
Job morale is thought to be particularly low in Kazakhstan, adversely affecting job motivation, job satisfaction and burnout rates. Previous research suggests that high job morale has a better effect on patient outcomes and care quality. We, therefore, conducted a qualitative study to explore experiences underpinning positive and negative job morale, and to generate potential strategies for improving job morale of physicians and dentists working in public healthcare settings in Kazakhstan prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS
Three focus groups containing 23 participants and 30 individual interviews were conducted, evidencing respondents' explanations of what affects job morale, and possible strategies to improve it. Data was synthesised using a thematic analysis.
RESULTS
The themes about what influences job morale were: being unfairly rewarded for work; feeling vulnerable and undervalued; poor working styles and practices; and high internal value-based motivation. Various strategies were identified by participants to improve job morale, and these included: ensuring adequate and equitable financial income; improving the current malpractice system; eliminating poor working styles and practices; and creating a shared responsibility for health.
CONCLUSIONS
The current study has found that despite prevailing threats, job morale amongst physicians and dentists working in public healthcare settings in Astana have been prevented from becoming negative by their strong sense of calling to medicine and the satisfaction of helping patients recover. Emphasising this rather traditional understanding of the role of physicians and dentists may be a way to improve job morale throughout training and practice.
Topics: Humans; Pandemics; COVID-19; Morale; Job Satisfaction; Burnout, Professional
PubMed: 36496368
DOI: 10.1186/s12913-022-08919-x -
The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB Aug 2020The distinction between germline and somatic gene editing is fundamental to the ethics of human gene editing. Multiple conferences of scientists, ethicists, and...
The distinction between germline and somatic gene editing is fundamental to the ethics of human gene editing. Multiple conferences of scientists, ethicists, and policymakers, and multiple professional bodies, have called for moratoria on germline gene editing, and editing of human germline cells is considered to be an ethical "red line" that either never should be crossed, or should only be crossed with great caution and care. However, as research on germline gene editing has progressed, it has become clear that not all germline interventions are alike, and that these differences make a significant moral difference, when it comes to ethical questions about research, regulation, clinical application, and medical justification. In this paper, I argue that, rather than lumping all germline interventions together, we should distinguish between , , and genes, and I assess the consequences of this move for the ethics of gene editing.
Topics: Ethics, Clinical; Ethics, Research; Gene Editing; Genetic Therapy; Germ Cells; Humans; Morals; Policy
PubMed: 32757931
DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2020.1783024 -
Health Care Analysis : HCA : Journal of... Dec 2020'Harm reduction' programs are usually justified on the utilitarian grounds that they aim to reduce the net harms of a behavior. In this paper, I contend that (1) the...
'Harm reduction' programs are usually justified on the utilitarian grounds that they aim to reduce the net harms of a behavior. In this paper, I contend that (1) the historical genesis of harm reduction programs, and the crucial moral imperative that distinguishes these programs from other interventions and policies, are not utilitarian; (2) the practical implementation of harm reduction programs is not, and probably cannot be, utilitarian; and (3) the continued justification of harm reduction on utilitarian grounds is untenable and may itself cause harm. Promoting harm reduction programs as utilitarian in the public arena disregards their deeper prioritarian impulses. 'Harm reduction' is a misnomer, and the name should be abandoned sooner rather than later.
Topics: Ethical Theory; Harm Reduction; Humans; Morals; Philosophy; Social Justice
PubMed: 33151427
DOI: 10.1007/s10728-020-00413-x -
Developmental Medicine and Child... Sep 2019Autism is a polysemous concept. It is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder that is diagnosed based on an assessment of behaviour and dysfunction. Autism also refers... (Review)
Review
Autism is a polysemous concept. It is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder that is diagnosed based on an assessment of behaviour and dysfunction. Autism also refers to a specific way of information or sensorial processing. For those diagnosed with autism, it is a real and shared experience. In this paper, I sketch the moral work that biological conceptions of autism perform. They help to conceptualize the diagnosis and associated challenges as real and they remove some of the blame from the diagnosed person and/or their parents. But such approaches also risk neglecting the role of behaviour as a meaningful reaction to experiences. In thinking about the ethics of autism research, diagnosis of autism, and autism care, the recent findings of epigenetics and systems biology may help us overcome the dichotomy between biology and psyche, and point the way to a more nuanced and ethical view. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: The meaning of 'autism' has different layers and as such autism is a polysemous concept. The lived experience of autistic people matters in research.
Topics: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autistic Disorder; Ethics, Research; Humans; Morals
PubMed: 31209874
DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.14278 -
Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy Dec 2022Moralization is a social-psychological process through which morally neutral issues take on moral significance. Often linked to health and disease, moralization may...
Moralization is a social-psychological process through which morally neutral issues take on moral significance. Often linked to health and disease, moralization may sometimes lead to good outcomes; yet moralization is often detrimental to individuals and to society as a whole. It is therefore important to be able to identify when moralization is inappropriate. In this paper, we offer a systematic normative approach to the evaluation of moralization. We introduce and develop the concept of 'mismoralization', which is when moralization is metaethically unjustified. In order to identify mismoralization, we argue that one must engage in metaethical analysis of moralization processes while paying close attention to the relevant facts. We briefly discuss one historical example (tuberculosis) and two contemporary cases related to COVID-19 (infection and vaccination status) that we contend to have been mismoralized in public health. We propose a remedy of de-moralization that begins by identifying mismoralization and that proceeds by neutralizing inapt moral content. De-moralization calls for epistemic and moral humility. It should lead us to pull away from our tendency to moralize-as individuals and as social groups-whenever and wherever moralization is unjustified.
Topics: Humans; Public Health; COVID-19; Morals
PubMed: 36045179
DOI: 10.1007/s11019-022-10103-1 -
Scientific Reports Dec 2022We investigate the effect of moral suasion on charitable giving. Participants in an online experiment choose between two allocations, one of which includes a donation to...
We investigate the effect of moral suasion on charitable giving. Participants in an online experiment choose between two allocations, one of which includes a donation to a well-known charity organization. Before making this choice, they receive one of several messages potentially involving a moral argument from another participant. We find that the use of consequentialist and deontological arguments has a positive impact on the donation rate. Men respond strongly to consequentialist arguments, while women are less responsive to moral suasion altogether. Messages based on virtue ethics, ethical egoism, and a simple donation imperative are ineffective.
Topics: Male; Humans; Female; Morals; Ethical Theory; Virtues; Charities
PubMed: 36456617
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24944-6 -
L'Encephale Aug 2020Psychopathy is a construct characterized by symptoms of emotional detachment, a lack of empathy, guilt and remorse, irresponsibility and a propensity for impulsive... (Review)
Review
Psychopathy is a construct characterized by symptoms of emotional detachment, a lack of empathy, guilt and remorse, irresponsibility and a propensity for impulsive behavior. This article critically evaluates the contribution of structural and functional neuroimaging to the understanding of this personality disorder in North American forensic populations with psychopathic traits. Neuroimaging results are highly variable. They report numerous structural and functional abnormalities that are not limited to the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex but include the striatum, hippocampus, and uncinate fasciculus. These brain abnormalities underlie an attenuated emotion processing functioning (but not an absence) and aversion to negative and threats signals, reinforcement learning, representation of rewards and modulation of attention that have an impact in decision-making, caring for others, and moral judgment. It is important to note that the neuroanatomical, neurofunctional, and behavioral differences between individuals with high psychopathic traits and those with low traits are highly heterogeneous and of degree rather than of nature.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Brain Mapping; Emotions; Forensic Psychiatry; Forensic Sciences; Functional Neuroimaging; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Morals; Nerve Net; Neurosciences
PubMed: 32312566
DOI: 10.1016/j.encep.2020.02.007 -
Nature Jun 2023Anecdotal evidence indicates that people believe that morality is declining. In a series of studies using both archival and original data (n = 12,492,983), we show...
Anecdotal evidence indicates that people believe that morality is declining. In a series of studies using both archival and original data (n = 12,492,983), we show that people in at least 60 nations around the world believe that morality is declining, that they have believed this for at least 70 years and that they attribute this decline both to the decreasing morality of individuals as they age and to the decreasing morality of successive generations. Next, we show that people's reports of the morality of their contemporaries have not declined over time, suggesting that the perception of moral decline is an illusion. Finally, we show how a simple mechanism based on two well-established psychological phenomena (biased exposure to information and biased memory for information) can produce an illusion of moral decline, and we report studies that confirm two of its predictions about the circumstances under which the perception of moral decline is attenuated, eliminated or reversed (that is, when respondents are asked about the morality of people they know well or people who lived before the respondent was born). Together, our studies show that the perception of moral decline is pervasive, perdurable, unfounded and easily produced. This illusion has implications for research on the misallocation of scarce resources, the underuse of social support and social influence.
Topics: Humans; Illusions; Morals; Culture; Intergenerational Relations; Aging; Bias; Attentional Bias; Social Support; Peer Influence
PubMed: 37286595
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06137-x