Which term refers to the beliefs that guide our thinking and actions?

Ethics and values are important in every aspect of life, when we have to make a choice between two things, wherein ethics determine what is right, values determine what is important.

In the world of intense competition, every business entity work on certain principles and beliefs which are nothing but the values. Likewise, ethics is implemented in the organisation to ensure the protection of the interest of stakeholders like customers, suppliers, employees, society and government. Read the following article to know the important differences between ethics and values.

Content: Ethics Vs Values

Comparison Chart

Basis for ComparisonEthicsValuesMeaningEthics refers to the guidelines for conduct, that address question about morality.Value is defined as the principles and ideals, that helps them in making judgement of what is more important.What are they?System of moral principles.Stimuli for thinking.ConsistencyUniformDiffers from person to personTellsWhat is morally correct or incorrect, in the given situation.What we want to do or achieve.DeterminesExtent of rightness or wrongness of our options.Level of importance.What it does?ConstrainsMotivates

Definition of Ethics

By the term ‘ethics’ we mean a branch of moral philosophy – a sense of rightness or wrongness of actions, motives and the results of these actions. In short, it is a discipline that identifies good or evil, just or unjust, fair or unfair practices, about moral duty. It is well-based standards that a person should do, concerning rights, obligations, fairness, benefits to society and so on. The standard puts a reasonable obligation to stop crime like stealing, assault, rape, murder, fraud and so on.

The system addresses the questions of the human morality, such as What should be a standard way for people to live? Or What are the appropriate actions in the given situations? What should be an ideal human conduct? etc. Under Ethics there are four important subject areas of study:

  • Meta-ethics: Ethical philosophy that analyses the meaning and scope of moral values.
  • Descriptive ethics: The branch of ethics that deals with psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc.
  • Normative Ethics: The study of the moral course of action through practical means.
  • Applied ethics: This branch tells us how we can achieve moral outcomes, in a particular circumstance.

Definition of Values

Values refer to the important and enduring beliefs or principles, based on which an individual makes judgements in life. It is at the centre of our lives which act as a standard of behaviour. They severely affect the emotional state of mind of an individual. They can be personal values, cultural values or corporate values.

Values are forces that cause an individual to behave in a particular manner. It sets our priorities in life, i.e. what we consider in the first place. It is a reason behind the choices we make. It reflects what is more important for us. So, if we are true to our values and make our choices accordingly, then the way we live to express our core values. Moreover, if you understand an individual’s values, you can easily identify what is important for them.

Key Differences Between Ethics and Values

The fundamental differences between ethics and value are described in the given below points:

  1. Ethics refers to the guidelines for conduct, that address question about morality. Value is defined as the principles and ideals, which helps them in making the judgement of what is more important.
  2. Ethics is a system of moral principles. In contrast to values, which is the stimuli of our thinking.
  3. Values strongly influence the emotional state of mind. Therefore it acts as a motivator. On the other hand, ethics compels to follow a particular course of action.
  4. Ethics are consistent, whereas values are different for different persons, i.e. what is important for one person, may not be important for another person.
  5. Values tell us what we want to do or achieve in our life, whereas ethics helps us in deciding what is morally correct or incorrect, in the given situation.
  6. Ethics determines, to what extent our options are right or wrong. As opposed to values, which defines our priorities for life.

Conclusion

While ethics are consistently applied over the period, and remains same for all the human beings. Values have an individualistic approach, i.e. it varies from person to person but remains stable, relatively unchanging, but they can be changed over time due to a significant emotional event.

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By Bettina J. Casad

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confirmation bias, the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs. This biased approach to decision making is largely unintentional and often results in ignoring inconsistent information. Existing beliefs can include one’s expectations in a given situation and predictions about a particular outcome. People are especially likely to process information to support their own beliefs when the issue is highly important or self-relevant.

Background and history

Confirmation bias is one example of how humans sometimes process information in an illogical, biased manner. Many factors of which people are unaware can influence information processing. Philosophers note that humans have difficulty processing information in a rational, unbiased manner once they have developed an opinion about the issue. Humans are better able to rationally process information, giving equal weight to multiple viewpoints, if they are emotionally distant from the issue (although a low level of confirmation bias can still occur when an individual has no vested interests).

One explanation for why humans are susceptible to confirmation bias is that it is an efficient way to process information. Humans are bombarded with information in the social world and cannot possibly take the time to carefully process each piece of information to form an unbiased conclusion. Human decision making and information processing is often biased because people are limited to interpreting information from their own viewpoint. People need to process information quickly to protect themselves from harm. It is adaptive to rely on instinctive, automatic reflexes that keep humans out of harm’s way.

Another reason people show confirmation bias is to protect their self-esteem. People like to feel good about themselves, and discovering that a belief that they highly value is incorrect makes people feel bad about themselves. Therefore, people will seek information that supports their existing beliefs. Another motive is accuracy. People want to feel that they are intelligent, and information that suggests one holds an inaccurate belief or made a poor decision suggests one is lacking intelligence.

Evidence

Confirmation bias is strong and widespread, occurring in several contexts. In the context of decision making, once an individual makes a decision, he or she will look for information that supports it. Information that conflicts with the decision may cause discomfort and is therefore ignored or given little consideration. People give special treatment to information that supports their personal beliefs. In studies examining the my-side bias, people were able to generate and remember more reasons supporting their side of a controversial issue than the opposing side. Only when a researcher directly asked people to generate arguments against their own beliefs were they able to do so. It is not that people are incapable of generating arguments that are counter to their beliefs but, rather, people are not motivated to do so.

Confirmation bias also surfaces in people’s tendency to look for positive instances. When seeking information to support their hypotheses or expectations, people tend to look for positive evidence that confirms that a hypothesis is true rather than information that would prove the view is false if it is false.

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Confirmation bias also operates in impression formation. If people are told what to expect from a person they are about to meet, such as that the person is warm, friendly, and outgoing, people will look for information that supports their expectations. When interacting with people whom perceivers think have certain personalities, the perceivers will ask questions of those people that are biased toward supporting the perceivers’ beliefs. For example, if Maria expects her roommate to be friendly and outgoing, Maria may ask her if she likes to go to parties rather than if she often studies in the library.

Importance

Confirmation bias is important because it may lead people to hold strongly to false beliefs or to give more weight to information that supports their beliefs than is warranted by the evidence. People may be overconfident in their beliefs because they have accumulated evidence to support them, when in reality much evidence refuting their beliefs was overlooked or ignored, evidence which, if considered, would lead to less confidence in one’s beliefs. These factors may lead to risky decision making and lead people to overlook warning signs and other important information.

Implications

Confirmation bias has important implications in the real world, including in medicine, law, and interpersonal relationships. Research has shown that medical doctors are just as likely to have confirmation biases as everyone else. Doctors often have a preliminary hunch regarding the diagnosis of a medical condition early in the treatment process. This hunch can interfere with considering information that may indicate an alternative diagnosis is more likely. Another related outcome is how patients react to diagnoses. Patients are more likely to agree with a diagnosis that supports their preferred outcome than a diagnosis that goes against their preferred outcome. Both of these examples demonstrate that confirmation bias has implications for individuals’ health and well-being. In the context of law, judges and jurors sometimes form an opinion about a defendant’s guilt or innocence before all of the evidence is known. Once an opinion is formed, new information obtained during a trial is likely to be processed according to the confirmation bias, which may lead to unjust verdicts. In interpersonal relations, confirmation bias can be problematic because it may lead to forming inaccurate and biased impressions of others. This may result in miscommunication and conflict in intergroup settings. In addition, by treating someone according to expectations, that person may unintentionally change his or her behavior to conform to the expectations, thereby providing further support for the perceiver’s confirmation bias.

Are beliefs that guide our thinking and behavior?

Values are a person's core beliefs about what they consider most important. Usually, values guide behavior. They are highly relevant to establishing our individuality and helping explain our actions.

What is the term for the beliefs values behavior?

Culture. The term for beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that together make up the way of life for a group of people.

What is the term used to describe a set of ideas beliefs and ideals that form our worldview and provide a basis for action?

An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied primarily to economic, political, or religious theories and policies, in a ...

What is the term for beliefs values behavior and material objects that make up the way of life for a group of people?

Culture is defined as the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and even material objects passed from one generation to the next.