SYNOPSIS: Insights 70 Days Ethics Plan – Day – 13

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July 14, 2018

1. “The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and
not upon our circumstances.” Analyse.

Answer:-

Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind and how we live those
experiences rather than on outward circumstances. Happiness is the state that all human
beings would like to find themselves in.

If we go through life believing that happiness depends on our circumstances, the situations we
go through, on having more money, better kids, a good job, a stable relationship, etc., we
will constantly be searching for what we are missing, without realizing that happiness has
nothing to do with all that.

Happiness is a matter of realizing that it doesn’t depend on what we have, but on what
we are. This means learning to love ourselves, accept ourselves, and to live with ourselves.
These are the key to uncovering the happiness that dwells within us, no matter what situation
we are faced with.

Our attitude towards life changes when we become aware that personal satisfaction is not as
fickle as we thought it to be. It doesn’t constantly depend on what is happening around us. The
endless search for happiness outside ourselves makes us more distant from ourselves
and from the happiness inherent in our nature.

90% of long-term happiness is predicted not by the external world, but by the way your brain
processes the world. We hope for things because we think we’ll feel better in the having of it,
whether it be material, or a relationship, or warmer weather. And yet, when that goal or desire
is reached, we are once again looking for the next desire; when we reach the goal, we move
the goal post. But these desires live in our “external world” where happiness is temporary.

It is essential to realize that happiness has more to do with the psychological than the
physical. It requires an elevated state of consciousness, an encounter with oneself, an
awakening to what is truly important.

We can obtain it if we learn to listen to ourselves, to fulfill our true needs, distancing ourselves
from all that enslaves us and surrounds us in a cycle of permanent, unsatisfying desire. As
Buddha Gautama says: “There is pleasure and there is bliss. Forgo the first to possess the
second.”

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 2. What kind of attitude does ordinary citizens expect from civil servants in India?
How can such attitude be cultivated by civil servants? Examine.

Answer:-

An attitude is a learned tendency to evaluate people, issues, events and objects in a particular
way and determines our behaviour and action towards them. Attitude affects our relationship
with surrounding and our quality of work. It becomes our identity.

Civil servants are the face of any government. Their attitude towards the citizenry becomes a
reflection of the state. The civil servants are the backbone of our country and are expected to
be partners who work and carry out the policies of the government

The following attitudes are expected from civil servants:-

a)To uphold constitutional values like empathy and compassion towards weak, respect for
women, protection of environment.

b)Practice civil service values like

Objectivity – A secretary who has negative attitude towards reservation if asked to prepare a
report on the same must be able to do it objectively.

Responsive – Civil servants are accused of showing resistance to power sharing and
decentralization. They must change their attitude to respond to aspirations of people.

Transparency, integrity, impartiality etc are also expected for efficiency in administration.

c)Professionalism :- Recently government had to introduce biometric to bring punctuality in

public servants. Punctuality should rather be their attitude and come from within. Professional
attitude will avert such cases and help maintain public trust in higher institutions.

As has been said by Winston Churchill, Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Government must proactively work on attitude change of civil servants.

How can such attitude be cultivated:-

Second ARC recommends setting up code of ethics for all departments of the
government. It’ll have broad principles that all participants have to follow.
Integrity testing is done to establish honesty. If young recruit’s first posting is made under
honest officer, then he’s more like to remain honest for the rest of his life because of
mentoring by a good role model.
People need to be aware of the avenues to keep civil servants transparent through
grievance redressal mechanisms, Right to information act etc.
Civil servants with right attitude and performance need to be rewarded and also need to
be set as an example for others.
A good work culture where corruption is disregarded need to be encouraged in public
offices.
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 3. Define/Explain:

a) Attitude:–

Attitude is a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies

towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols. It is a psychological tendency
that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or
disfavour.

Attitude determines How people arrive at correct judgment, how they’ll perform a given task.
For instance if an officer has negative attitude towards minorities, he may delay passing their
scholarship files.

b) Aptitude

Aptitude is considered as natural capability for doing a particular work or solving a particular
problem or facing a particular problem or facing a particular situation. Also to be very specific
one requires a different skill for law and order, for investigation of a case or for working in an
intelligence agency. It determines whether Person will develop the skills to perform a particular
task.

Examples of aptitude are quantitative aptitude, verbal aptitude, reasoning aptitude, finger
dexterity ,visual memory etc.

c) Functions of attitude:-

Attitudes serve particular functions for persons. The attitude aids to develop a self-concept of
an individual. It helps in guiding our actions towards people, ideas, objects etc. Attitude can
serve knowledge function. It can also serve ego-defensive function. The functions of the
attitude are:-

Knowledge: Attitudes provide meaning (knowledge) for life. The knowledge function
denotes to individual need for a world which is consistent and relatively stable. This
permits people to predict what is likely to happen, and so gives sense of control.
Attitudes can benefit people organize and structure their experience. Knowing a person’s
attitude helps to predict their behaviour. For example, knowing that a person is religious
we can predict they will go to Church.
Self / Ego-expressive: The attitudes expressed by people help communicate who they
are and may make them feel good because they have asserted their identity. Self-
expression of attitudes can be non-verbal also. Therefore, attitudes are part of identify of
an individual, and help to be aware through the expression of feelings, beliefs and
values.
Adaptive: If a person exhibits socially acceptable attitudes, other people will reward
them with approval and social acceptance. Attitudes are to do with being a part of a
social group and the adaptive functions helps us fit in with a social group. People seek
out others who share their attitudes, and develop similar attitudes to those they like.
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 The ego-defensive function is described as holding attitudes that protect self-esteem
of an individual or that justify actions that make them feel guilty. Positive attitudes
towards ourselves, have a protective function in helping us reserve our self-image.

d) Structure of attitude:-

Every attitude has three components that are represented in what is called the ABC model of
attitudes: A for affective, B for behavioural, and C for cognitive. Although every attitude has
these three components, any particular attitude can be based on one component more than
another. This multicomponent model is the most significant model of attitude.

Cognitive component: The cognitive component of attitudes denotes to the beliefs, thoughts,
and attributes that people would associate with an object. Many times a person’s attitude might
be based on the negative and positive attributes they associate with an object.

Affective component: The affective component of attitudes is related to feelings or emotions

of people linked to an attitude object. Affective responses influence attitudes in a number of
ways. For example, many people are afraid /scared of spiders. So this negative affective
response is likely to cause you to have a negative attitude towards spiders.

Behavioural component: The behavioural components of attitudes are associated with past
behaviours or experiences regarding an attitude object. The idea is that people might infer their
attitudes from their previous actions.

Three-component model of attitude structure states that beliefs, feelings and behaviours form
three distinct types of psychological information are strongly tied to attitudes:

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