What sounds more plausible to you?
A) Engaging in good behavior leads to a cycle of engaging in more good behavior.
B) Engaging in good behavior leads to making excuses for bad behavior.
If you said B, well, you may have just read this article. In Save a Plastic Bag, Help Destroy the World Jeff Wise looks at the consequences of making virtuous decisions according to a 2006 study by Uzma Khan and Ravi Dhar. Khan and Dhar conducted a series of studies in which college undergrads were asked to imagine themselves engaging in a virtuous activity. When later compared to the control group, who engaged in activities such as word puzzles, the undergrads who imagined themselves doing great things were the ones that convinced themselves to spend extra money on luxuries rather than necessities. Khan and Dhar attribute this to the virtuous folks having greater self esteem, due to all of their good deeds, that is able to take the criticism from spending their money “unwisely”.
I read this article two days ago and the ideas Wise presents have been tossed back and forth in my thoughts ever since. My first reaction was to evaluate my own behaviors. When I do something nice for someone do I later make excuses for less-than-optimal decisions? This may be true but I wonder if it is also because I am “riding the high” of doing good deeds. And when you are feeling good, you seek to continue that feeling. Does making a less-than-optimal purchasing decision produce the same positive feelings as engaging in virtuous behavior? How do you think this applies to your own life? Do you have additional theories of your own? Post them here in the comments!
Oh, and please do not let the fear of finally breaking down to purchase that new book, or pair of shoes, or dress, steer you clear of doing good deeds today!
Hey Jen! I haven’t really noticed whether or not good deeds cause potential bad deeds/decisions but I have noticed that with exercising and eating right its easy to say, well, I exercised today, so I can take the next couple of days off or – well I had that huge salad for lunch so dinner can be a free for all. I’ve had to check myself with that in the past, for sure. I’ll be on the lookout for whether or not that effects my decisions regarding larger issues. :)
Emily – I identify with the “Oh, I have done so well with exercising/eating today that I can have this extra something.” It is almost as though you are giving yourself a reward for good behavior. And I think this is absolutely what the article I linked to is trying to say. The reward for good deeds approach. I will be very interested in hearing if you spot this coming up in other areas of your life or if you develop any of your own theories!
I vote strongly for option A. As cliché as this might sound, it makes me think of the commercial on TV, where one good “deed” leads to another – and I feel that on some level this basic directive defines how I relate to other people, and the world in general. Find things better than you have found them. Be a net “good” contributor. I know these are cute-sy but they are part of how I see things in the world – not as a series of excuses, but a series of tiny donations of good.
Not that I follow these all the time (meaning, I am not perfect at all!) but I do strive towards them.
Jason – Your credo is not cute-sy at all. In fact, it is one of the plethora of reasons that I married you. I love that you, on a daily basis, think about leaving the world a little bit better than you found it. However, I think that the article brought up a very separate point that says that people who contribute through good deeds may want to be aware that there is a sort of reward system set up in our minds that can, in some ways, counteract the idea of virtuous activities in the first place if not lead to issues in one’s life that may make performing these good deeds less likely in the future. A very interesting theory…
Aw. Schmanks!