MORAL EMOTIONS

Moral emotions are the feelings and intuitions that play a significant role in most ethical
decision-making and actions.
Emotions can be defined as psychological states that comprise thoughts and feelings,
physiological changes, expressive behaviors, and inclinations to act. The precise combination
of these elements varies from emotion to emotion, and emotions may or may not be
accompanied by overt behaviors. It plays a significant role in most of the ethical decisions
people make. Most people do not realize how much their moral choices. But experts think it is
impossible to make any essential moral judgments without emotions.
Inner-directed negative emotions like guilt, embarrassment, and shame often motivate
people to act ethically.
Outer-directed negative emotions, on the other hand, aim to discipline or punish. For
example, people often direct anger, disgust, or contempt at those who have acted unethically.
This discourages others from behaving the same way.
 MORAL EMOTIONS

Positive emotions like gratitude and admiration, which people may feel when they see others
acting with compassion or kindness, can prompt people to help others.
Psychologists have long explored the range of human emotions and their definitions. Eckman
(1999) identified six initial basic emotions:
 Anger
 Disgust
 Fear
 Happiness
 Sadness
 Surprise
 MORAL EMOTIONS

How are decisions affected by emotion?

Emotions are created when the brain interprets what is going on around us through our
memories, thoughts, and beliefs. This triggers how we feel and behave. This process
influences all our decisions in some way.
For example, if you feel happy, you might decide to walk home via a sunny park. But if a dog
had chased you as a child, that same sunny park might trigger feelings of fear, and you would
take the bus instead. There may be logical arguments to be made either way, but at the
moment, the decision is driven by your emotional state.
Different emotions affect decisions in different ways. If you feel sad, you might be more willing
to settle for things that aren't in your favor, such as not putting yourself forward for promotion
or remaining in an unhealthy relationship. But sadness can also make you more generous —
research shows that unhappy people are more likely to favor increasing benefits to welfare
recipients than angry people who lack empathy.
 MORAL EMOTIONS

Emotions can affect not just the nature of the decision but the speed at which you make it.
Anger can lead to impatience and rash decision-making. If you’re excited, you might make
quick decisions without considering the implications as you surf the wave of confidence and
optimism about the future. While if you feel afraid, your choices may be clouded by uncertainty
and caution, and it might take you longer to choose.
What this means is that your gut feeling plays a massive part in your decision-making
process, but at times may be steering you wrong — it might lead to poor judgment,
unconscious bias, and recklessness, or risk-aversion. But are there ever occasions when we
should pay attention to our gut instinct?
 MORAL EMOTIONS

Should we always ignore our intuition?

A visceral response to a situation could be a survival mechanism – the flash of fear felt by
early humans who came face to face with a dangerous animal motivated them to RUN NOW!
They would not have survived if they stopped to think.
Similarly, get a 'bad feeling' in the pit of your stomach because of a particular situation or
person. It could be your body's way of telling you it senses danger, based on your past
experiences and beliefs. Of course, this reaction might be completely unfounded, but it might
also serve to protect you from danger or prevent you from repeating past mistakes. This
points to one of the significant advantages of automatic decision-making it’s quick. If you are
in a life-or-death situation, you do not want to waste time working through the pros and cons.
This is true at the other end of the spectrum too, when faced with a choice about something
completely insignificant. No one should spend hours considering the relative advantages of
tea over coffee!
 MORAL EMOTIONS

Decisions led by emotion can also be more compassionate, mainly if they affect other people.
We see this at play in stories of people putting their own lives at risk to save someone else or
when we choose how to break difficult news to a friend.

So sometimes, paying attention to our emotions can be a good thing. If you have regular
mindfulness or journaling practice, you probably know yourself well and enjoy a high level of
self-awareness. You might be better off listening to your intuition when it comes to considering
whether a romantic partner is right for you or whether you should change careers. Being in
emotional balance and knowing yourself at this deeper level means you can trust your
instincts.
 MORAL EMOTIONS

How can emotional intelligence help us make better decisions?

Both emotion and logic have a role to play in helping us make positive decisions. If we
understand where our feelings come from and start to notice how they affect our thinking and
behavior, we can practice managing our responses and learn to make better choices. You can
find out more about how to develop your emotional awareness in our guide to emotional
intelligence. You’ll soon feel confident in knowing when to listen to your emotions and when to
tune them out.
 FEELINGS vs. EMOTIONS

Feelings versus Emotions

Many people use the terms “feeling” and “emotion” as synonyms, but they are not
interchangeable. While they have similar elements, there is a marked difference between
feelings and emotions.
 FEELINGS vs. EMOTIONS

Feelings - Both emotional experiences and physical sensations — such as hunger or pain —
bring about feelings, according to Psychology Today. Feelings are a conscious experience,
although not every conscious experience, such as seeing or believing, is a feeling, as
explained in the article.

Emotions - According to Psychology, it “can only ever be felt…through the emotional

experiences it gives rise to, even though it might be discovered through its associated
thoughts, beliefs, desires, and actions.” Emotions are not conscious but instead manifest in
the unconscious mind. These emotions can be brought to the surface of the conscious state
through extended psychotherapy.
 FEELINGS vs. EMOTIONS

1. A fundamental difference between feelings and emotions is that feelings are experienced
consciously, while emotions manifest subconsciously. Some people may spend years, or even
a lifetime, not understanding the depths of their emotions.

2. Emotions evoked by suffering, such as sympathy and empathy, often lead people to act
ethically toward others. Indeed, empathy is the central moral emotion that most commonly
motivates pro-social activity such as altruism, cooperation, and generosity.

So, while we may believe that our moral decisions are influenced most by our philosophy or
religious values, in truth, our emotions play a significant role in our ethical decision-making.
 SEVEN-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

One way of ensuring the rationality and impartiality of moral decisions is to follow the seven-
step ethical reasoning model. These steps can serve as a guide in making choices of moral
import.
 SEVEN-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

1. STOP AND THINK – Before making any decisions, it is best to consider the situation itself,
our place in it, and other surrounding factors that merit consideration, such as the people
involved and the potential effects of it your decisions on them. This consists of a step back
from the situation to ensure that you do not act out of impulse.

2. CLARIFY GOALS – It is also necessary to clarify your short-term and long-term aims. One
often decides based on what they want to accomplish. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment,
short-term wants eclipse long-term- goals. Thus, you must determine if you are willing to
sacrifice more necessary life goals to achieve your short-term goals. If you, for example, are
seeking retribution for harm caused by another person, you have to think about the long-term
consequence of revenge on your character in the long run.
 SEVEN-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

3. DETERMINE FACTS – Make sure you gather enough information before you make a
choice. Verified facts support an intelligent choice. You must first make sure that what you
know is enough to merit action. Without verifying facts, you may regret your choice in the
future once various aspects of the situation come to light. Never choose based on hearsay.
Make sure your sources are credible and have integrity.

• Consider the reliability and credibility of the people providing the facts.
• Consider the basis of the supposed facts. If the person giving you the information says they
heard or saw something, evaluate that person's honesty, accuracy, and memory.
 SEVEN-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

4. DEVELOP OPTIONS – Once you are clear about your goals and facts, try to develop
alternative options to exhaust all possible courses of action. Most of the time, the pressure of
a situation may make you feel you have fewer options than you think. Clear your mind and try
to think of other creative ways of clarifying your motives and implementing your actions with
the least ethical compromise.

5. CONSIDER CONSEQUENCES – Filter your choices and separate the ethical from the
unethical decisions bearing in mind both your motives and potential consequences of your
action. Think of long-term consequences and act following the principles of justice and
fairness. Consequences are historical realities that bear upon the lives of others. A decision
turns something in your mind into reality. Make sure you do not regret the decision you have
conferred reality upon.
 SEVEN-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

6. CHOOSE – Make a decision. If the choice is hard to make, try consulting others who may
have knowledge or experience of your situation. Find people with virtuous character and
compare your reasoning with your moral analysis. Once you make up your mind, summon the
will to do the right thing, even if it is complex and seemingly counter-intuitive. Make a decision.
If the choice is not immediately apparent, try:

• Talking to people whose judgment you respect.

• Think of a strong character that you know or know of and ask yourself what they would do in
your situation.
• If everyone found out about your decision, would you be proud and comfortable
• Follow the Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated and keep your
promises.
 SEVEN-STEP MORAL REASONING MODEL

7. MONITOR AND MODIFY – Monitor what happens after your decision and have enough
humility to modify your action or behavior as necessary. Pride may get in the way of admitting
that you might not have thought out a decision well enough. As you become more aware of
the consequences of your actions, especially on the lives of others, summon the strength and
determination to make changes to rectify any shortcomings. Do not hesitate to revise your
decisions considering new developments in the situation.
MORAL DECISION

Decision-making is the ability to produce a reasonable and defensible answer to an ethical

question or case. One’s must know how to morally good in decision making. In discerning the
facts, the decision-maker must be impartial to specific issues. One should be able to consider
that every moral decision is equally important to others. In this regard, no conclusions should
be given more favor than the others.
ROLE OF REASON AND EMOTION IN MORAL DECISION MAKING

1. Feelings influence your decision. Decisions are ruled to some degree by emotions. For
instance, being over-optimistic or over-pessimistic. Mixed emotions are present in this state
and sometimes result in clouded thinking and can lead to poor decision-making.

2. I'm not convinced that only reason can be applied in making decisions. Feelings should be
ignored because there are always emotions in making a decision and that reason and feelings
are not separate and insulated compartments of human consciousness. Although emotions
can be a product of selfishness and cultural affiliation and can create biases, they cannot be
avoided in making decisions. For instance, if your family and friends are cheerful, it can boost
you up when you feel negative; it helps you make positive decisions.

3. The reason is the capacity to knowingly make sense of things, create and verify facts, and
apply logic and beliefs based on new or existing information. At the same time, Will is the
mind's ability that selects, at the moment of decision, the strongest desire from among the
various wants and enables a person to act consciously.
There is always a way to determine what is right from what is not correct, distinguish what is
just from what is unjust, what ought to be done and what should not be done, and what is
ethical from what is unethical. In the corporate world, the appropriateness of one's action can
be decided with the organization's vision-mission and its core values. What is right is judged
based on the members' code, creed, and professed conduct in religion. In legal matters, we
can know the truth based on what the law and jurisprudence say. In culture, what is right is
convicted based on the good custom, beliefs, and practices those members of the said culture
claim as acceptable. These claims are debatable since everything in philosophy can be
questioned, but our relative nearness to what is right becomes closer. We must remember,
ethics is not just in words or just academics. It also includes our thoughts and how we
translate into action what we think and speak.
 Fe elin g s as I n stin ctiv e a n d Train ed
Response to Moral Dilemmas

Feelings are important. It is evidence of our being human. We feel sad upon learning that there are about
50-200 species of plant, insect, bird, and mammal becoming extinct every day or for 350-1,400 in a week,
or 1,500-6,000 in a month and 18,000-73,000 in a year. We feel happy when modern medicine can
separate conjoined twins and allow them to have separate lives to live. We are amazed to know that the
longest name of a city is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin MahintharaYuthaya Mahadilok
Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman, and we this city
through its shortened name as Bangkok, Thailand.
 Fe elin g s as I n stin ctiv e a n d Train ed
Response to Moral Dilemmas

We wonder if humans can create a machine that can convert all human garbage into something useful. If
inconvenient upon knowing the number of animal species getting extinct every day, if we do not react to
the news of conjoined twins being separated if we have no amazement over the beautiful inventions and
human creations, our humanity is questionable.

Emotion results in feeling, and this human ability to feel excellent. Texture gives color to our life. It comes
as a natural reaction to our encounter with ourselves, others, and anything around us. When we receive
high grades due to our hard work, we feel elated, and we rejoice. When our rates are low because we
take for granted our academics, we feel down and regret our shortcomings.
 Fe elin g s as I n stin ctiv e a n d Train ed
Response to Moral Dilemmas

In the same manner, we became happy to know that the human race is gaining acceptance of respecting
the rights of women and minorities. Recently, Saudi Arabia allowed women to drive while Egypt came up
with laws giving equal rights about inheritance to men and women. In Jordan and Lebanon, laws that set
free rapists who marry their victims were repealed. Gender equality is now gaining support worldwide and,
this is a good development that tells us to keep hoping for a brighter future. Our emotions lead to all kinds
of feelings, to our humanity. We cannot imagine what life is like if we do not have feelings at all. It is
beyond question that emotion is an essential aspect of our human critical previous discussions, we
mentioned that reason is the basis of decision-making. This means that there is a certain logic in
analyzing life situations. In logical interpretation, we avoid fallacies or errors in thinking, wishful actions,
invalid claims, and misjudgment in determining appropriate measures. In rational thought, priority is right
judgment and proper steps and not based on mere intuitive knowledge and theoretical or assumptive
analysis. In short, a conclusion is achieved by analyzing premises that are logically coherent and valid.
 Fe elin g s as I n stin ctiv e a n d Train ed
Response to Moral Dilemmas

We should focus instead on what emotion and reason can do to us in our everyday living. We might as
well see how emotionally most motivated together in real life. We might as well focus on the impacts of
emotion and reason in our everyday encounters with our fellow human beings together with the ethical
decisions we make when confronted with true-to-life concerns.

Again, experience tells us that feeling leads to thinking, thinking will further push us to reflect deeper on
what to do and what not to do. This also triggers what we feel, and this feeling can us make further to
think. Even without deep philosophical insights and debates, it is clear that emotion and thinking are
interconnected.
 Fe elin g s as I n stin ctiv e a n d Train ed
Response to Moral Dilemmas

Experience shows that emotion relates to thinking. Those who insist that the two are entirely different and
independent may be corrected we do not contradict them. We maintain that there is a connection between
the two. Our day-to-day experiences tell us that our feeling will usually trigger us to think what we believe
will usually impact we feel.

Our emotion comes in terms of what we feel serves as a triggering device to make us think. When we
learn, for example, that our sickly brother is bullied in school, we react and feel bad about it. We may
experience anger and shed tears as we pity our brother. This natural reaction will push us to think. It will
trigger our minds to think about what must be done. We may think of confronting the bullies themselves.
We may also think of reporting it to the school authorities or letting it go since we do not want further
trouble.