Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

Province of Laguna
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
Level I Institutionally Accredited

Name: TORIO, JEM LOURDES V.

Yr & Section: BS PSYCHOLOGY 2A
REFLECTION PAPER
For this reflection paper, we tackled the act. The act that involves feelings and moral-
decision making. According to our lecture, feelings is also known as state of consciousness
that is resulting from emotions, sentiments, or desires. An example given is when people buy
products in hopes that the product will make them feel in a certain way; happy, excited, and
beautiful. Other examples of feelings are anger, happiness, joy, stress, and excitement and I
would like to elaborate these feelings. According to American association, anger is an emotion
characterized by antagonism toward someone or something you feel has deliberately done
you wrong. Anger can be a good thing because it gives you a way to express your negative
feelings. Everyone gets angry and it’s normal. However, anger can sometimes be positive but
is can also be harmful. we must be in control of our anger and not let anger be the ones to
take control of us. Excessive anger not only makes you vulnerable to harm, but it also
negatively impacts those around you. It might make you say things you didn't mean to; it
might traumatize you or the people around you, or it might even cause other people to lose
faith in you just because you did or something out of anger. That’s why people often say, do
not make decisions when you’re angry. Next is happiness and joy which is an emotion in which
one experiences feelings ranging from contentment and satisfaction to bliss and intense
pleasure. Probably every person wishes they could experience this feeling forever because
when one is in a good state, they want don’t want it to end. Another example of feelings is
the stress which is very timely and often experienced by people. Stress is a process whereby
an individual perceives and responds to overwhelming or threatening events. Personally,
stress may be beneficial to us, but not in excess. Stress may be beneficial to us because it is
our body’s initial response to specific difficulties, challenges, problems, and stressors. There’s
even a good kind of stress called eustress and the bad kind of stress is called distress. Moral-
decision making is a choice based on a person’s ethics, manners, character, and what they
believe is proper behavior. And these decisions do not only affect your well-being but also
others. We also talked about the two types of morality and the five approaches on moral-
decision making. The first type of morality is the Absolute morality and it is based on the idea
that there is a right choice for every moral dilemma. A given example to us is one of the ten
commandments “thou shall not kill”, a person who believes in absolute morality even in wars.
And the explanation in this is, you believe you shall not kill even if your role is to protect
yourself, your mates, and the country. The person or a movie went to my mind is the hacksaw
ridge, a true-life story of a soldier named Doss. He is a soldier who won the Congressional
Medal of Honor despite refusing to bear arms during WWII on religious grounds . Doss was
drafted and ostracized by fellow soldiers for his pacifist stance but went on to earn respect
and adoration for his bravery, selflessness and compassion after he risked his life without
firing a shot to save 75 men in the Battle of Okinawa. And I would highly recommend this
story to watch. The second type is Relative morality, this recognizes that different situations
may call for different actions that might not always adhere to a person’s original vales. Using
the same example “thou shall not kill” is when a person sticks on his beliefs but the decisions
he makes depends on the situation. Next are the approaches and the first is the utilitarian
approach. It addresses a decision by determining what is the most beneficial or causes the
least amount of harm. An example given in this approach is Robin Hood who grew up in the
elite class but one day, he stoles from the rich and give it to the poor and down-trodden
peasants. He knew that stealing was wrong, but he still did it since he thought it was the only
ethical thing to do to support the underprivileged and oppose those who didn't bat an eye to
assist. Ethical action in this is one that causes the most amount of good for the largest amount
of people. Second is the rights approach. The idea that every human being has the right to
make decisions freely and should not be coerced is implied by the word "the rights," which
supports this idea. The vote-buying scandal from the previous election is the example that
comes to mind and it’s actually not just last election, but every single election for years in this
country. Let’s say, you have the right to take the money or not, but they took away your right
to vote for the candidate you truly want. Third is the fairness or justice approach. This
approach tells you to treat everyone the same unless there’s morally justifiable reason not
to. An example given to us was the favoritism or discrimination of teachers in elementary
school. And I would say I experienced this myself when I was in elementary. I believe that the
reason my classmate is one of my teacher’s favorite student is because she consistently gives
presents to them. She has been bullying me for a long time, causing trauma up until this day.
When I chose to fight back, she reported me to the teacher. Our teacher spoke to me and told
me not to repeat what I had done. It further damaged me. She spoke to me without even
asking me why I did that, and she didn't even consider what my classmate did to encourage
me to respond defensively. And since then, I told myself I would never open up to my teacher
who couldn’t even look in a wider picture. Since then, I had this thought, just because they’re
adults doesn’t mean they are always right and understanding. The fourth approach is
common good approach which is about taking an action that will be good for ourselves and
the community. The last approach is the virtue approach. There’s a question in this approach,
“which course of action develops moral virtues?” this question is said to reflect what kind of
person you should be and what it will do to your character. Commitment, consciousness, and
competency was also discussed as part of making moral or ethical decisions. And on the last
part of the discussion, we had the effective decisions and the key to making effective decisions
is to think about choices in terms of their ability to accomplish our most important goals and
understanding the difference between immediate, short-term, and longer-range goals.
Effective decision-making is also influenced by our level of focus and effort. it involves more
than just "making something work" but it also involves careful consideration and planning.