What’s right and wrong varies from place to place, but most of us have a feeling of what is right and what is wrong. This is important when you are going to live in a society together with others, and it is also important for your self respect.
Conscience is the word for this feeling for right or wrong. What is creating this conscience? Is it a fear for the authorities? Is the conscience congenital, does it come from God or is it shaped by the society around us?
Psychologists believe that the conscience is shaped by the role models we get from our parents and other adults that we meet when we grow up. First and foremost we are influenced by what grown-ups do and not by the rules they give.
Psychologists warn against bringing up children in a way that is too authoritarian. Children need safety, love and good role models, not punishment and exclusion from their families. A safe and good childhood with much love and respect gives the best chances for the child to become a healthy individual with respect both for others and for himself/herself.
Sometimes we see examples of human conscience that does not go along with the laws in a country. They strongly feel that the right thing to do is to do something else than what is seen as right in the environment they live in.
- Ibtihal Zakout
Posted on April 23, 2010
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