Definition
Behavioral ethics is the social scientific study of ethical and unethical behavior. The field occupies a space distinct from normative or legal approaches to ethics, which explore how individuals should behave, and instead aims to understand through empirical study how individuals actually do behave in ethical contexts and why.
Euphemisms are the substitution of words or phrases that evoke negative psychological effects. Euphemisms operate by making harmful conduct less so, thereby reducing personal responsibility for it. Euphemisms are often described as a process of moral disengagement, but a more accurate description from a behavioral ethics standpoint is that they are an aid to rationalization. Rationalizations, the psychological mechanism by which individuals internally verbalize justifications for future unethical or illegal acts so as to keep their...
Notes
- 1.
Id. at 153. See also, Anand et al. (2005) (discussing how employees perpetrating corrupt acts engage in “rationalizing tactics” and identifying six tactics); Heath (2008) (suggesting that bureaucratic organizations “might constitute peculiarly criminogenic environments” and discussing how that fosters rationalizations); Prentice (2015), at 69–74 (identifying rationalizations and discussing how organizations can help thwart them); Haugh (2015) (analyzing rationalizations’ role in white collar crime and how it is fostered by overcriminalization).
- 2.
Cressey, supra note [1965], at 15. See also, Todd Haugh, The Criminalization of Compliance, 92 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1215 (2017).
- 3.
Cressey, supra note [1965], at 15.
- 4.
Cressey, supra note [1965], at 15.
- 5.
Cressey, supra note [1965], at 15.
References
Anand V, Ashforth BE, Joshi M (2005) Business as usual: the acceptance and perpetuation of corruption in organizations. Acad Manage perspect 19:9, 10–17
Bandura A (1999) Moral disengagement in the perception of inhumanities. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 3:193, 195
Bazerman MH, Gino F (2012) Behavioral ethics: toward a deeper understanding of moral judgment and dishonesty. Ann Rev Law Soc Sci 8:85, 90
Cressey DR (1965) The respectable criminal. Criminologica 3:13, 14–15
Cressey DR (1973) Other people’s money: a study in the social psychology of embezzlement. Patterson Smith, Montclair, p 94–95
Dana J, Lowenstein G, Weber R (2012) Ethical immunity: how people violate their own moral standards without feeling they are doing so. In: De Cremer D, Tenbrunsel AE (eds) Behavioral business ethics. Routledge, New York, p 202
Fyke J, Lucas K (2014) J Bus Ethics 122:551 [7]
Haugh T (2015) Overcriminalization’s new harm paradigm. Vand Law Rev 68:1191, 1214–1223
Haugh T (2017) The criminalization of compliance, 92 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1215
Heath J (2008) Business ethics and moral motivation: a criminological perspective. J Bus Ethics 83:595, 602–611
Jackall R (1988) Moral mazes: the world of corporate managers. Int J Polit Cult Soc 1:598, 609
la Cour A, Kromann J (2011) Euphemism and hypocrisy in corporate philanthropy. Bus Ethics Eur Rev 20:267–269
McGlone MS, Beck G, Pfiester A (2006) Contamination and camouflage in euphemisms. Commun Monogr 73:261, 263
Moore C et al (2012) Why employees do bad things: moral disengagement and unethical behavior. Pers Psychol 65:1
Munoz CP (2011) Noun-noun euphemisms in the language of the global financial crisis. Atlantis 33:137, 138. (internal quotation and citation omitted)
Prentice R (2015) Behavioral ethics: can it help lawyers (and others) to be their best selves? Notre Dame J Law Ethics Public Policy 29:35–86
Tenbrunsel AE, Messick D (2004) Ethical fading: the role of self-deception in unethical behavior. Soc Justice Res 17:223, 226
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG (outside the USA)
About this entry
Cite this entry
Haugh, T. (2018). Behavioral Ethics and Euphemisms. In: Poff, D., Michalos, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_198-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_198-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences