NEUROECONOMICS

Ethics, Morals, Integrity, and Values Entertwine

by Alex Hutchins

Ethics, a moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.  It can be divided into 3 basic areas:

• a theoretical meaning
• a practical meaning
• application

Ethics versus Morals

While these two words may seem similar, there is a very real difference.  Morals are beliefs based upon observations and/or teachings regarding how people conduct themselves when interacting with others; whereas, ethics refers to a set of principles that supports their moral beliefs.

Ethics versus Integrity

Integrity is an internal set of principles that guides our ethical or moral behavior and that is a choice that each of us have to make.

So, what can we conclude thus far?

It is one’s integrity or choice that one makes to follow moral behavior that is also ethical, assuming that there could be moral behavior that is unethical.  How so?

Well, if moral behavior is based upon what is observed or taught, then what is observed or taught in the United States could be different that what is observed or taught in other parts of the world.  Actually, what is observed or taught in the United States could also be different in different parts of the country (north versus south or east versus west); in fact, in the same parts of the US, moral behavior could be different based upon religious and/ or family values.

Values are those “things” that are important to someone by which they are known.  When values are employed by the individual, they assist that individual in making judgments, assessing probable outcomes, contemplating actions, or in choosing possible alternatives.

So, what can we conclude now?

Ethics supports our moral behavior that our integrity allows us to choose, intuitively knowing that our values help focus our integrity.  Now, even more so do we see (or should see) that our environment ultimately and directly influences that behavior and choice.

Neurons

Exploration into the criteria on which we base our decisions concerning the utilization of resources and the processes by which we compare new information with outcomes of past decisions incorporates elements of economics and psychology.  When these realms of human behavior are combined with neuroscience, there emerges a curious branch of research, known as neuroeconomics.

Psychologists have explored the human behaviors and thought processes underlying decision making for decades. Recently, economists began to apply statistical methods and mathematical approaches such as game theory to predict and model the decision-making tendencies of consumers in the 1960s and ’70s. However, the neuroscience of decision making—that is, understanding how the neurons within the human brain function to assemble information and progress toward a decision—is in its infancy.

But boy, can you imagine what will happen when neuroeconomics grows up?

Various regions in the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of the brain, have been associated with decision making. A region called the anterior cingulate cortex, which as its name suggests is located in the frontal portion of the cortex, plays a role in making optimal decisions. This region communicates with other areas, including a part known as the orbitofrontal cortex. Effective communication between regions of the brain enables all the information concerning novel inputs, memories from previous decisions, and cost-benefit assessments to be processed and evaluated and eventually compiled into a decision.

The decisions we make affect ourselves and our families and impact local, national, and global economies. Our perceptions of risk and reward also affect the health of the natural environment, an issue that is deeply entangled with personal responsibility and individual decision.

Is the force with you?

It is no longer a matter of understanding how moral, ethics, integrity, and values interact to form choices and make decisions, but now our brain is involved in that process as well. 

So, whose responsibility is it for the huge amount of influence we have on each other?