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Ethics and Morality

Essential Reads Chosen by the editors

Are Infants Moral?

By Arthur Dobrin, DSW on February 22, 2012 in Am I Right?

Advances in morality have come by extending the circle of compassion wider and wider. Read More

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Risks of Obesity: Financial Cost/Benefit Analysis

By Pattie Thomas, Ph.D. on February 22, 2012 in I Take Up Space

Cost/benefit analyses are estimates, not scientific studies. “Studies have shown" are magic words conferring truth on any words that end the sentence. Objections to cost risks of obesity can be raised both on data quality grounds and on ethical grounds. At the heart of most moral panics lies profit-motives and prejudice, but not much science. Read More

Are Infants Moral?

By Arthur Dobrin, DSW on February 22, 2012 in Am I Right?

Advances in morality have come by extending the circle of compassion wider and wider. Read More

Lions and Tigers and Bears ... As Pets? Oh No!

By Jessica Pierce, Ph.D. on February 22, 2012 in All Dogs Go to Heaven

Last night I watched the documentary movie The Elephant in the Living Room (check out the movie website). It is a stunning look inside one of the more bizarre and troubling subcultures in America: multi-billion dollar exotic animal industry. Read More

What’s on Oscar’s Mind?

By Dana Klisanin, Ph.D. on February 21, 2012 in Digital Altruism

What do this year's Oscar nominated Feature films tell us about ourselves? About our individual and collective fears? Our collective psyche? Read More

Chomsky Supports Occupy Wall Street

By Elizabeth Wagele on February 21, 2012 in The Career Within You

Noam Chomsky (born in 1928) is a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and political activist. As the "father of modern linguistics" and a major figure of analytic philosophy, he influenced the fields of computer science, mathematics, and psychology. Read More

Principle Number Five: Love Your Enemy

By Izzy Kalman on February 20, 2012 in A Psychological Solution to Bullying

The purpose of school anti-bullying policies and campaigns is to promote the development of morality in children. Unfortunately, they tend to promote hatred. To reverse this trend, we need to be teaching "Love your enemy." Read More

Living With Snakes

By Pat Shipman, Ph.D. on February 19, 2012 in The Animal Connection

Why are some people afraid of snakes and others not? Read More

Ten Random Questions About Psychology

By Shawn T. Smith, Psy.D. on February 19, 2012 in Ironshrink

A reader sent in ten questions ranging from sexual fantasies to borderline personality disorder. This is my attempt at ten coherent answers. Read More

Finding Meaning in Doing

By Arthur Dobrin, DSW on February 18, 2012 in Am I Right?

When others are unhappy, it is difficult for us to flourish. Read More

A Dangerous Film?

By David Van Nuys, Ph.D. on February 18, 2012 in The Happiness Dispatch

Clearly, my title is a thinly veiled reference to David Cronenberg's recently-released movie, "A Dangerous Method." Read More

Are Therapists Really Nonjudgmental?

By F. Diane Barth, LCSW on February 18, 2012 in Off the Couch

Is it okay for a therapist to reject a client on religious or moral grounds? Read More

Man in the Mirror

By Gay Bradshaw on February 17, 2012 in Bear in Mind

We may have grown accustomed to, if not sanguine about, the landslide of today's devastating truths. Drowning polar bears, birds falling from the sky, and blistering out-of-season temperatures are hard to shrug off, but humanity plugs along obsessing on celebrities' crises and Wall Street's temperamental cycles. Read More

The Loving Story—A Valentine from HBO

By Jefferson Fish, Ph.D. on February 17, 2012 in Looking in the Cultural Mirror

On Valentine’s Day, HBO presented the documentary The Loving Story. The film tells about an interracial couple in Virginia in 1958 jailed for violating the state’s anti-miscegenation law. Their case eventually led to the Supreme Court’s 1967 unanimous decision in Loving v. Virginia declaring laws against intermarriage unconstitutional. Read More

7 Vows of Compassion for World Leaders

By Judith Orloff, M.D. on February 16, 2012 in Emotional Freedom

Politicians shouldn't be allowed to act so hatefully anymore. They should get beyond their egos to see there is a greater meaning and purpose to leadership than grandiosity or power. Read why political candidates need to be sent to compassion school. Read More

10 Principles for Teaching Ethics (and Lots of Other Stuff)

By Mitchell M. Handelsman, PhD on February 16, 2012 in The Ethical Professor

Here are ten of my guiding principles that I shared with the students in our graduate course: "Ethics and Professional Issues in Psychology." Read More

When Should You Euthanize a Pet?

By Jessica Pierce, Ph.D. on February 16, 2012 in All Dogs Go to Heaven

It has always struck me as odd to choose the moment of your animal's death, to make an appointment to have them killed. Yet this is exactly what we often do if and when we decide that euthanasia is appropriate. For my Vizsla Ody, the appointment was at 6:30 on November 29, 2010. Read More

Don't Be Seduced! Six Crucial Warning Signs

By Caroline J. Simon, Ph.D. on February 16, 2012 in Bringing Sex Into Focus

Flirtation issues an invitation and leaves its acceptance up to the other person. Seduction sets out to get a “yes” whether or not sex compromises the autonomy of the seduced. Read More

Why Poor Children Are Falling Behind

By Arthur Dobrin, DSW on February 15, 2012 in Am I Right?

It is too easy for those who are successful to blame those who aren't for their own failures. Read More

The Lovings: A Story about Race, Family and Civil Rights

By Mark Banschick, M.D. on February 14, 2012 in The Intelligent Divorce

It's easy to celebrate the seductive side of love—passion, romance, closeness. These are all wonderful things, but the power of love is often overlooked or addressed superficially. Love is about family and commitment, and it can bring people together despite the greatest of pressues to do otherwise. Read More

2 Virtues Enhance Falling in Love Forever

By Rita Watson on February 14, 2012 in With Love and Gratitude

Keep in mind that whether dating online or offline, research shows that women and even men like romance. If you are still looking for love, start by loving yourself and writing a note to yourself about the qualities that you wish to see enhanced and those that you wish to attract and share with another. Read More

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