Ethics intersects so many aspects of societal well-being and is considered critical to the success of a nation. When a society is plagued with blatant ethical violations, it can lead to oppression and dehumanization for communities within that nation. While ethical decision is often understood in retrospect, researchers in Nigeria have begun to study its correlates as it affects their citizens and their society more generally.
Researchers used three scales that independently assessed ethical decision making, compassion for others, and social dominance orientation, which is a measure that assesses egalitarian attitudes and beliefs. The study recruited nearly 300 participants to complete surveys. Results from the study highlighted that compassion for others is related to ethical decision making. Furthermore, the study found a significant relationship between those participants who self-reported more egalitarian views and ethical decision making. Kindness, common humanity, and separation were found to predict ethical decision making, whereas mindfulness, indifference, and disengagement did not predict ethical decision making. Finally, the study noted that there was no effect of gender, or that men and women had similar results in their decision making process.
The authors suggest that these findings underscore the importance of teaching Nigerian citizens the value of community and care for others. The orientation toward these values might improve ethical decision making by framing the benefit of others before the individual benefit. While these findings should be considered in their cultural context, research has more broadly begun to map how individual attitudes and beliefs affect larger ecological thinking.