In undergrad I did a formal Philosophy / Sociology study, where we were looking at human motivations. The research indicated that prestige is the number 1 driver of human motivation. Gaining prestige "trumps" ethics. Nobody likes to hear that.

▲

derbOac an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I think this is one reason it is important to cast unethical behavior in terms of lack of competency — that someone has to break the rules to get ahead because they're not competent enough to do things fairly or ethically.

Empathy, while important in my opinion personally, often doesn't matter to certain people. So you have to decrease the prestige associated with unethical behavior, above and beyond it being unethical per se.

▲

neutronicus 19 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

In my opinion you've drawn exactly the wrong conclusion.

Raising the stakes just increases the pressure to cheat (and not get caught).

▲

DFHippie 35 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

This. I think so much of the fascism and corruption afoot in the world comes from people who believe they deserve things they are incompetent to get. Their sense of entitlement is in conflict with their competence and unrestrained by concern for others. To soothe their ego wound they project their faults onto the person who has what they want. "It isn't my failure; it's your trickery!" Now instead of shame and impotence they feel righteous anger.

▲

bsenftner 24 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I think you are correct. I've spent extended time in uber wealth circles, and this describes the offspring mindset of the generations after wealth acquisition. Their incompetence matches their entitlement, and then they walk into nepotism.

▲

macintux 28 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't know that it's necessarily incompetence. The idea of "overproduction of elites" pops up frequently:

https://www.niskanencenter.org/are-we-overproducing-elites-a...

You may be supremely competent but unlucky enough to be born at the wrong time, to the wrong family, competing with the wrong people, to rise to the level that you feel you deserve.

	▲	bsenftner 22 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I look at this re-occurring overproduction of elites concept, and feel like it has good points but seems to be welded like a weapon, soon followed by statements like "you're just unlucky, get over it."

▲

sigwinch 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No, but I don’t think ethics is #2. Someone intrinsically motivated might be technically competent, autonomous and self-confident about his/her goals. I might skip your meetings about ethics; I might be too busy.

▲

fellowniusmonk 43 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Did that ever replicate?

Is prestige the number one motivator only statistically?

In other words is it the number one motivator for 31% percent of the college students that were tested and lets say empathy was at 29%?

Misanthropy and bald self interest gets overplayed I think. Often times because it allows bad actors to normalize and justify their own misanthropy.

Presenting this kind of unbacked, unqualified anecdotal data is great for "edgy truthtellers" but also deeply poisoning the well.