Saturday, January 29, 2022

Rate yourself ethically

 Are people as ethical, or less ethical than they think they are?

If people were to rate themselves on a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is least ethical and 10 is most ethical, wouldn't most people put themselves in the top 25%? But most of us can't be in the top 25%.

5 comments:

Starhopper said...

Percentages are meaningless in this context. Imagine a population of 100 persons where everyone was equally ethical all the time. They would then all be in the top 25 percent (as well as simultaneously being in the bottom 25%).

Kevin said...

Are people as ethical, or less ethical than they think they are?

Out of curiosity, was there a study that prompted this question?

Starhopper said...

It does sound similar to those polls where people are asked whether they consider themselves to be upper, middle, or lower class, and nearly everyone responds, "middle class", regardless of income.

One Brow said...

I was reading a book on how to lecture effectively, and recall it mentioned that 90% of teachers consider themselves to be average or above average at lecturing. That was eye-opening.

Starhopper said...

And let's not forget Lake Woebegone, "where all the children are above average."