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Imagine yourself on a diet.
Day one, you manage to avoid sugar. Day two, you avoid it again. Day three, you feel since you've been good for the past two days, you "deserve" a treat. And so, you buy a candy bar. After gobbling it down, you feel a little guilty. You go to the gym. You exercise hard for 45 minutes.
Now buoyed by the intense workout, you order a large double cheese combination. You wolf it back. Guilt and shame follow. In response, you yell at your kids. They didn't deserve it, but so what. Unfortunately, still feeling bad, you try to compensate by saying nice things to your spouse. He or she feels good, but you still feel a little bad. You decide to call your mother and wish her a happy day.
It works; she's happy. You feel better. You go to sleep early. You wake up early, without even needing the snooze button. You make your lunch, you meditate, and you're out the door. Joyfully, you arrive early to work. Life is good; you congratulate yourself for being so productive and positive. In your jubilance, you celebrate by buying yourself a latte and three chocolate donuts. Thus, the cycle starts again. Diet terminated!
The phenomenon I've just described refers to what experts call behavioral spillover. Behavioral spillover, roughly, is the behavioral ripple effect that follows from any action we take in the direction of an intentional pursuit.
Above, the person is intentionally attempting to lose weight. What results after the initial two days of avoiding sugar are ripple effects. Some are bad, some are good; all are attempts to right an internal imbalance created by the first action. This internal balancing occurs in a kind of moral bank account.
On one side of the account are moral credits. On the other side are moral debts. By doing something good, we increase credits. Doing something bad, we decrease credits. Do too much bad, and our debts grow; which typically results in actions designed to cleanse our debts and hopefully replenish our credits.
These internal and external phenomena are very real. Certainly you've experienced a moral license to behave a little naughty after doing something good? No doubt, you've also attempted to cleanse an excess of naughty with extra good. I do it darned near every day.
The trouble is, these phenomena occur mostly unconsciously, which means they occur without much consideration. As well, the ripples are not necessarily relative to the initial action. Consider another scenario: You're the manager at a large corporation. For years, you've been doing all the right things. Your company is very proud of your efforts.
Recently, however, the company's goals have generated a situation where the easiest way for you to accomplish things requires an unethical choice. Somewhat unconsciously, you reason the good you've done for the company will outweigh any bad consequences.
So, you choose. Sadly, the consequences are much worse than expected. Many people are harmed, along with the environment. Obviously, despite all your past good work, you feel bad. Later that night, the imbalance subtly prompts you to buy your daughter something nice. Now she's happy, and you feel cleansed. But has balance really been restored?
Here's what we can take away from this: we all have a moral accounting system. Our doing the right thing or the wrong thing results in an imbalance that we will automatically seek to correct. The process of righting creates spillover. The spillover can have unimagined and unintended consequences. So, to avoid this, we need to become aware of the process, and learn to stay the repeat the good.
The idea that we "deserve" or are "justified" to engage in a little naughty after being nice must be trashed; it is the remnant of our childish past, and results in unpredictability and self-sabotage.
Michael Jones is a professor of communication at a small university in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. He can be reached at sevenethics@yahoo.com.
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