The Moral Self, Moral Injury, And Moral Emotions

Moral development is how an individual differentiates from right and wrong actions. This can be influenced in many ways and by many people such as an individual’s own personal experience, looking at another’s perspective, through parents, peers, society, cultural values, or moral stories, to name a few. Lawrence Kohlberg developed six stages that reflect the growth through moral development. The levels and stages describe the ideas of right and wrong can change as one grows. However, Kohlberg mentioned that because of the differences in cognitive functioning, not every individual will progress through the changes within his stages and levels (Crain, 2011, pg. 168). Kohlberg’s main curiosity went beyond the answers of ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ He

The way the human mind operates is a mystery to all. Through thinking that the mind is something that can be comprehended humans have created the art of psychology and psychiatry, where the inner machinations of one’s mind are turned into nothing more than phrases and terms. Between every person there lies a sense of morality, no matter who. The sense of morality is not the same though, as children we learn to feel pain and suffering as others do, and to put the shoes of others on. In the end, it seems, that almost all people brought up well as children, turn out to be the people considered to have a strong sense of morality and can feel what pains some must endure. Though the way being brought up does not define a

What is morality? Where does our sense of morality come from and why is it important for us to know? The cognitive scientist, psychologist, linguist, and scholar, Steven Pinker discusses this in his essay, “The Moral Instinct”. In this essay, Pinker claims that our morality sense is innate, it constantly changes, and it is universal among each culture. Pinker also explains that moral sense shapes our judgement as it is something that we value and seek in other people. The science of the moral sense is important since it shows how morality impacts our actions and it explains why we act in certain ways.

The diagnosis of PTSD and those suffering from it have earned public compassion and understanding. Moral injury is not officially recognized by the Defense Department. But it is moral injury, not PTSD, which is progressively being acknowledged as the signature wound of this generation of veterans. Moral injury leaves a bruise on the soul, similar to grief or sorrow, with lasting impact on the veterans and their families. Moral injury raises unpleasant questions about what happens in war and the dreary experiences that many veterans are reluctant to talk about. It is not fear, but exposure, that causes moral injury. Any experience or set of experiences can provoke mild or intense grief, shame and guilt. The symptoms are similar to PTSD: depression and anxiety, difficulty paying attention, an unwillingness to trust anyone except fellow combat veterans, however the morally injured feel sorrow and regret as well. Moral injury wounds are caused by the conflict of the ethical beliefs they carried to war and the dangerous realities of conflict. Many have found peace and acceptance: I did what I had to do, and I did it well and honorably. However, others struggle to reconcile with themselves who proudly enlisted just years before. Either way, they manage mostly out of sight and on their

In the texts, “The Morally Injured” by Tyler Boundreau and “Ambush” by Tim O’Brien, The authors describe war as a curse by it affects the soldiers with negative feelings of guilt. For example, in “The Morally Injured”, the soldiers return home with a disorder called “moral injury” that caused most of the soldiers to have symptoms of guiltiness, the disorder was caused by the events that occured in war. The author writes about his guilty feelings, which he describes as symptoms of “moral injury”, “The term “moral injury” has recently came aflot, and it applies to exactly the kind of guilt I’m talking about… “moral injury” is meant to displace the more severe sense of guilt,...”(3). Furthermore, the author is a

Levi, Bar‐Haim, Kreiss and Fruchter (2016) provide effective psychotherapy approaches for treating combat veterans with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, which they show their efficacy with a great deal of support. The research is more comprehensive than most studies as it provides an assessment of the psychiatric status at baseline, post-treatment and 8–12 months follow-up using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, the PTSD Questionnaire, the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale and the Psychotherapy Outcome Assessment and Monitoring System-Trauma Version assessment questionnaire. However, the researchers did not conduct randomized controlled trials to determine treatment efficacy. Litz et al., (2009) added to the research on the treatment of PTSD by stimulating a critical examination of moral injury. The study makes use of the available literature and offers a working conceptual framework and a set of intervention strategies designed to repair moral injury, which is a strength also evident in Peterson et al. (2011).

In the article “Healing a Sense of Mortality” it talks about the moral injury many soldiers felt that were in the Vietnam war. Like how many mistaken Tim O'Brien's story, about him killing a man, is his PTSD; it’s actually moral injury. In the article it states. “Identifying moral injury can be tricky for two reasons: First, it’s easily mistaken for PTSD, which shares many of the same symptoms. And second, because veterans may feel too ashamed to talk about their moral infractions, therapists might not even know to look for the signs of moral injury at all…” this connects back to the story because, by killing another individual, this went against Tim O’Brien’s morals and beliefs. The article also states, “In order to heal from shame, guilt,

After war, day in and day out, countless soldiers experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which leads to moral injury through depression and anxiety. Just because the war is over doesn’t mean that the memories just go away. Depression eventually sinks in and can cause great pain. After the depression sinks in the moral injury comes along which plays a major role in PTSD. Soldiers struggle with reintegrating into society, flashbacks, as well as moral injury.

Morality is defined as a system or code that we humans use to differentiate between right and wrong. This system could be derived from a number of factors: religion, culture, and upbringing. It is difficult enough to determine what an individual's morals are, but going further to determine how we came to possess those morals is even more ambitious. Still, regardless of its difficulty, this subject consumes many philosophers and psychologists. One such moral psychologists, Jonathan Haidt, is theorizing the possibility of evolution causing ones morality. Haidt is a moral psychologist at the Universtiy of Virgina further believes that complex social structures such as religion and politics as well as our need for social structures affect

Following the booming success of the early twentieth century was met with an alarming rate of atrocities that took the lives any innocent people worldwide. The prompting of these casualties found its home in erosion of moral identity seen through the weakening of psychological tendencies that resulted in humane actions which composed one’s moral identity. The gradual erosion of moral identities lead to people being resocialized to adopt psychological tendencies to wage war against those who existed outside of their social group. However, the erosion of the moral identity can be counteracted through a moral breakthrough a person could possibly have once recognizing the inhumanity of their action or through the use of moral imagination on a societal

Furthermore, it is proven that morals have an emotional basis, as recent studies in neuroscience and psychology have shown. In Moral Obligations, Jesse J. Prinz draws on some of these studies, in which researchers would measure brain activity while asking subjects to participate in various activities such as deliberating on moral predicaments, deciding whether something is morally right or wrong, showing them morally significant pictures, etc (Greene et al. 2001; King et al. 2006; Moll et al. 2002). Most studies tend to demonstrate that areas in the brain associated with emotion are the most involved in making a moral judgment concluding that emotions are a fundamental part of moral judgment in general (Prinz 2007, 272). It has also been shown that we are less likely to make wrong moral judgments when our negative emotions are reduced. In one study, “watching a comedy routine dramatically reduces the judgment that it is wrong to kill one person in order to save five” (DeSteno and Valdesolo 2006). Because there is such a clear connection between moral judgments and the emotional state we make them in, it follows that studying cognitive science is the answer to questions about whether morals are response-dependent or are response-independent.

Humans are born ethical, however, without guidance on how to use and develop one’s conscience, the extent to how these morals are used is slim. People are aware of the difference between “right and wrong,” although, their conscience is not powerful enough to provoke appropriate and righteous doings. Without nurturing the conscience, moral principles, reasoning and judgement are abandoned and one is tempted to do wrong. Eventually, they have oppressed their conscience beneath sin and wrongdoings, developing into moral and ethical issues. In the short story “Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the reader can see that the narrator was strong-minded and raised with moral principles due to the remorse he expresses after murdering the old man. Nevertheless, not all humans express guilt after sinning. Guilt is formed when humans have not lived up to their values and morals, yet, if a person has not been raised with these factors properly, it affects the penitence they feel. When a person has not allowed their conscience to develop, they are left with weak morals, resulting in them indulging in sin without guilt or

In 2013, Jonathan Haidt published Righteous Mind with a chapter pertaining to how our bodies produce moral judgment using Chenbo Zhong and Katie Liljenquist’s study as an example. Zhong and Liljenquist’s study was published circa 2006; in their study they created four experiments testing the conjunction of physical cleanliness and moral purity. Haidt’s choice of study for his argument suggests that he is looking for ways to entice the reader with shocking facts rather than finding an argument that is more conclusive.

Particularly, I think the center of moral development is cognitive by nature, and even when I consider that emotions shouldn’t be given the main role in moral matters, I think it should be recognized that they are important because they help to distinguish moral features in specific contexts, motivate moral actions, stop immoral behaviors, and play a communicative role in revealing our moral concerns to ourselves and others. Both, Kant and Hume argue that human beings have an inner moral sense that produces pleasant feelings of approval towards benevolent actions and disapproval feelings towards vicious or perverted acts, these form the original source of moral judgments. Hume, in particular suggested that moral judgments are similar somehow, to aesthetic judgments, as arising from the feelings and not reason.

Moral Stress. Moral Stress. Moral distress according to Detienne et al. (2012) is referred to a commix of ethics and moral conflicts; paying close attention to moral distress as it relates to intensity and frequency. Moral distress has no formal definition, but encompasses perspectives, internal and external constraints, values, etc. that can impact workplace performance and outcomes. Detienne et al. (2012) assess the relationship between moral stress as a consequential soothsayer of employee fatigue, job performance and turnover all that impact an organizational effort.