Psychological Approach To Psychology

2.5 Explain the Concepts from the Psychological, Sociological and Philosophical Approach.

2.5.1 Psychological Approach Gender differences incline to play a vital role in the decision making of solving ethical issues. It is usually important that the gender differences concepts being comprehended from the psychological approach. Human beings not only know how to create behavior but also learn to classify, evaluate and judge the behavior of other person and themselves. According to Tang (1988) psychology is the study of the humans’ mind and how they respond to circumstances. From the psychological approach, an individual’s brain and heart which contribute to rational (logic) and emotion (mood) are always affecting their ethical decision making.

Men and women develop different interests, practices and decisions because of these different values and behaviors based on gender. Therefore, men and women respond differently to the same set of occupational rewards and costs. Men will seek competitive success and are more likely to break rules because they view achieve- mint as competition. Women are more concerned with doing tasks well and promoting harmonious work relationships. Therefore, women are more likely to adhere to rules and be less tolerant of those individuals who break the rules. The gender socialization approach argues that men and women bring different values and traits to the workplace. These different values and traits based on gender cause men and women to develop different work- related interests, decisions, and practices. Therefore, men and women respond differently to the same set of occupational rewards and

(2009) finds that individuals who are more likely to respond in a socially desirable fashion (i.e., less honesty in reporting) are more likely to disapprove of bribery. Similarly, Bernardi and Adamaitis (2006) find that participants who are more (less) prone to social desirability report a lower (higher) level of cheating. Finally, Randall and Fernandes (1991) find that social desirability is positively related to self reported ethical behavior. Taken together, this research indicates that individuals who respond in a more socially desirable manner are more likely to over-report ethical behavior.

Several prior studies find that females are more susceptible to the social desirability bias than males (Bernardi, 2006; Bernardi and Guptill, 2008; Schoderbek and Deshpande, 1996). Further, women are more likely to be influenced by societal norms to create a favorable impression (Chung and Monroe,2003), which, in turn, leads to a greater propensity for females to respond in a socially desirable manner.

A second socialization-based perspective proposes that society imposes different role expectations on men and women, and these expectations cause sex differences in unethical behaviors. People behave consistently with the stereotype attached to their social roles (Eagly, 1987). Because women are stereotyped as more communal and less selfish than men (Eagly & Wood, 1991), role expectations may explain why women would want to behave less unethically than men (McCabe et al.,