Carrington, J Paper 1 Fall 2015

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Critical Analysis 1: Does one’s conscience truly arise from social relationships? Jacqueline Carrington NCR 504-41 October 4, 2015 1

Critical Analysis 1 In today’s society, children typically get the basis of their understanding of right and wrong from their parents. Or do they? Adam Smith proposed centuries ago “standards of right and wrong were not given in some absolute way. Instead they were developed through experience, primarily social experiences. (Schellenberg, 1996) As prologue to social process theories, Smith’s theory suggests that our knowledge acquired through adolescence from our parents or adult figures is not what guides us on the path of morality. It is what we see in others and feel that is morally right and wrong from these interactions. In this paper, we will discuss whether or not one’s conscience truly arises from social relationships? Some of the first words that a child will hear are ‘No’ and ‘Don’t do that’. It is a natural way of life that parents try and teach their children the right and wrong ways to do things. There are certain ideas and values that are imbedded into us from day one that our parents believe. As we grow older, these ideas and values may not necessarily all stick around, but typically your core beliefs never leave. But if we take into account Smith’s logic, it would mean that our interactions with strangers actually formulate our values and beliefs. But the question is whether this theory is logical. Through the social learning theory, we are introduced the workings and theories of Sigmund Freud. Freud believed that we mode ourselves after the ‘model’ we grow up with: our parents. (Schellenberg, 1996) This concept is not too far off my own beliefs. We learn the rights and wrongs of life generally from our parents, and as we progress in age, we learn more about them in school. I will agree that we do learn a lot of things through growing in age and maturity, which allows us to decipher what we deem as right and wrong. But the basics are taught to us from our parents. A lot of the basic dos and 1

Critical Analysis 1 don’ts are typically religious based, whether or not one’s family is religious. We know nothing more than the direction our parents show us, until we have the ability to formulate our own opinions, and follow through on actions associated with such. We will utilize personal life encounters to address where or how we acquire our sense or morality. Society tends to think that children have a sense of right and wrong by the age of 7. (Begley, 2000) If we believe this concept, then that would disconfirm the Smith’s theory. Interaction and experiences at that age are limited to that of family and school, not necessarily friends. It can then be concluded, based on this view that what Freud suggests is more accurate. Begley, et al. also states how the child is born with a sense of empathy, which is the reasoning behind most of the emotions that children show. (Begley, 2000) It is also the basis of right and wrong reasoning, according to Begley. “Children acquire the cognitive understanding of right and wrong by observing the behavior of the people most important to them, usually (and hopefully) their parents. (Begley, 2000) The ideas from this article coincide with my belief, as well as Freud’s that the sense of right and wrong is something that a child acquires from their parents during adolescence. I read an article titled “ Morality, Interpretation, and Perspective ” which was a study about children’s sense of morality. The article asked the children questions about times they had been wronged and wronged others. There was always a sense of empathy in their answers as to why they did what they did. (Unknown, 2005) But would we construe this as being learned from other 7 and 8 year olds? Or is this something that is taught from the models they are looking up to? Again, it would point to the learning of right and wrong from those that these children look up to, and not from learning 1

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Critical Analysis 1 experiences. The children understood that their behavior was not nice, and tried to reason that they only did it to get the other kid to do what they wanted. (Unknown, 2005) We have to look at the issue from both sides, because if one great philosopher believed it, more are guaranteed to feel that way. Although it seems that the majority of people would agree with Freud’s interpretation, analyzing this from personal experience might help to see another outlook. Thinking of conflict, one may be more prone to feeling disrespected based off of things that they saw were not acceptable with parents, or a bigger brother or sister. You don’t typically come across a person who doesn’t like something based on the fact that their friends don’t like it, with the exception of high school teens. In trying to see the other person’s point of view in a conflict, do we generally look at it from their standpoint? No until after we have time to think and look back on the issue. The point I am trying to make is that we stick with what we feel is right, and go with that. If there is a compromise of the conflict, then the other point of view is then listened to and understood. This concept again, disconfirms Smith’s theory. We deal with forms of conflict out of the womb. Who are we interacting with to learn through experience? Generally, it is our parents, or those who are raising us. I am sure that you have heard a baby say ‘no’ or a toddler say ‘that’s bad’. Where is that learned? There friends in daycare? Or is it from their parents and other authority figures that they look up to? Let’s look at it from the adult aspect of things. When I have any type of conflict that makes me think about right or wrong, my first thought is typically what my mom would think or do. This is in life in general, but definitely with my friends and issues that arise between us. I am not concerned with others would do that are my 1

Critical Analysis 1 age, but what someone who I look up to, and who has probably experienced this same situation would do. Another avenue to try and see Smith’s point of view would be to look at conflict amongst different cultures. If we learn through social experiences, as Smith theorized, then different cultures would not be an issue. However, one of the main areas of conflict that we see is between those from different cultures. Why is this? It is because different cultures have different values and beliefs systems. When those values and belief systems clash, you get a conflict that neither side wants to compromise on. However, this is not always the case. According to the Handbook of Conflict Resolution, “you acquire a common culture through socialization by and with other human beings. In this process, what becomes your reality and common sense is selected from a wide array of alternatives in your social, cultural, and physical environment.” (p. 628) This thought seems to go hand and hand with that of Smith. While this particular statement was in reference to people of the same cultural, it has the same meaning as Smith’s theory. Because we cannot conclude whether or not Smith was referring to people of different cultures, it is only right to include all theories similar to his. By utilizing the cultural experiences angle, Smith’s theory makes a lot more sense. We are now, not taking away from authority figures, but including them through the teachings of our peers within the same community. Again to better understand this, we will use a personal life experience to better illustrate. Those that attend a specific type of church, with a common religion will look at certain things the same way religiously. They will generally have the same concept of what are right and wrong, and certain things that they 1

Critical Analysis 1 do to align with these religious beliefs. But these beliefs do not necessarily cross over to other religions. An example of this is my own religion, Baptist, versus Catholics. A very good friend of mine, who also happens to be my boss, attended my mother’s funeral. As we discussed the funeral, I found that she was totally engrossed into a lot of the differences between our services, versus a Catholic service. This led to us comparing certain things that our religions teach. We noticed a lot of things that one traditional Baptist might consider blasphemy that devote Catholics do, and vice versa. These are things that are taught in church, through religion, or even through parents who were taught that way. But in my opinion, religion is not something that is taught through social experience. I would consider this more in line with Freud’s theory about molding ourselves after a model, our parents. My reasoning is that our parents typically teach us, or expose us to, their religions. Without this exposure, we would not know anything about it until our teen years. In my opinion, I do not feel that Smith’s theory alone is sufficient. I feel that there needs to be more with it to have a valid foundation. The idea that as a culture we learn through social experience is one way to look at it. But even then, it seems that Freud’s theory that we manifest our sense of morality through our models we look up to as children seems more fitting. Our cultures differ, and our parents teach us our culture. No one has more knowledge power over a child than his or her parents. Children try to become their parents, through imitation and learning capabilities. I did not find too much to back Smith’s theory, and so I must say that I did not find it valid from any standpoint. 1

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Critical Analysis 1 1

Critical Analysis 1 References Begley, S., & Kalb, C. (2000). Learning Right from Wrong. Newsweek, 135 (11), 30-30. Deutsch, M., Coleman, P. T., & Marcus, E. C. (2007). Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (2nd Edition). Hoboken, NJ, USA: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com Schellenberg, J. A. (1996). Conflict Resolution: Theory, Research, and Practice . Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Unknown. (2005) I. MORALITY, INTERPRETATION, AND PERSPECTIVE. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development , 70 (3), 1-18. Doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5834.2005.00350.x 1

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