Decision making
We often talk about doing the 'right' thing. But there are different sets of criteria to measure what is right. In addition, deep down some of us don't want to do the right thing at all, instead hoping for wealth, friends or status - sometimes even repressing our moral compass in order to achieve these things. Whatever your motives, this page aims to help you better understand your decision-making rationale by evaluating common actions according to standard frameworks. It might tell you that your actions aren't as moral as you'd like them to be, or it might give you some ideas of other things you can do to improve yourself.
Here are the definitions of each of the criteria columns:
Ethical (ET): If everyone did this action all the time, would it make the world better? Do you think someone who does this action has high morals?
Makes friends (MF): Does doing this action cause people to like you more?
Practical benefit (PB): Is there a clear benefit to you (e.g. money, free stuff, being accepted for a job) from doing this action?
Enjoyable (EN): Would you enjoy performing this action consistently? Note that enjoyment is subjective so feel free to overwrite my verdict if my generalisation doesn't apply to you.
Easy to do (ES): Assuming you want to do this action, is it an easy change to make in your habits? Note that the tick or cross in this column shouldn't be interpreted as 'good' or 'bad' like the other columns. But if you the action is good according to the other criteria, then a tick in this column says it's extra-good to do it because it's an easy habit to implement.
Actually, I think this table is a good idea for a decision-making-process. Next time you have an action you're not sure whether or not to do, take the action and compare it against a set of criteria that you feel you value (not necessarily the ones I've used here). Even if your set of criteria isn't ethical or anything, it doesn't matter. In the end you will feel like you've come up with a better decision compared to if you'd just your instinctive drives (e.g. do stuff for greatest personal benefit) make the decision for you.
Oh and a disclaimer: The ticks and crosses I've put in are mine and mine only. If you disagree with something, that's normal. If you disagree and think you are objectively correct, please email me at jasonltang@gmail.com and persuade me about why you are right. Also, there are some blank rows down the bottom, so if you have any extra actions you would like me to add in, I would love to hear it!
ET - Ethical | MF - Makes friends | PB - Personal Benefit | EN - Enjoyable | ES - Easy to do| ACTION | ET | MF | PB | EN | ES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smiling at people | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Helping your friend do his/her assignment | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ||
| Helping someone cheat on their assignment | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | |
| Giving money to homeless people | ✗ | ✓ | |||
| Studying hard for tests | ✓ | ✗ | |||
| Playing computer games | ✗ | ✓ | |||
| Flattering people to get something | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Giving compliments to people for no reason | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ||
| During conversation, deliberately mentioning good things about yourself | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Learning more about human psychology with respect to social interaction | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ||
| Listening to music | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Telling others about faults you think they have | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | |
| Lying to make yourself seem more impressive | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Lying to avoid upsetting someone about something that's your fault | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ||
| Lying to avoid upsetting someone about something that's not your fault | ✗ | ||||
| Arguing with someone when you're 100% sure you're right | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ||
| Teaching someone something that they want to learn | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Dancing in private | ✓ | ||||
| Wearing makeup/hair gel | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Jaywalking | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Complaining about friend B to friend A without A's knowledge | ✗ | ✓ | |||
| Killing a human being | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | |
| Talking to a random stranger on the train without seeing them ever again | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Talking to random people whom you will see again (e.g. if they are in one of your classes) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Talking to a boy/girl just because he/she's cute | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Working for a low salary | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ||
| Working for a high salary | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Getting a part-time job as a student | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | |
| Suing someone who has done you a personal wrong | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ||
| Learning a new card/board game | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Joining a sports club | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Joining the gym | ✓ | ||||
(Image taken from http://thedesigncritic.org/?p=5015)
P.S. Note that 'Is the action legal' is not a criterion. I understand laws to be a reflection of what society considers wrong and right (which itself is arbitrary), and so I think it's silly to reason "This is a law, therefore it's unethical to do this" or whatever. We need to use our own common sense criteria before referring to a system that someone else has invented for us.