Research suggests it's hardwired in your brain. Sorry.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052701056_pf.html
2007-06-13 18:49:05 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
"One experiment found that if each time a rat is given food, its neighbor receives an electric shock, the first rat will eventually forgo eating."
Awwww....
2007-06-13 18:49:29 · update #1
A few comments:
Would it be moral to test this hypothesis by abandoning a baby or depriving it of touch, feeding it remotely and then observing the morality of the child? I think that the result would be a little savage beast, more like an animal than a human in behavior. This experiment should never be done.
Perhaps socialization and instruction from parents or caregivers helps to hard wire the responses described.
Studies have shown that nurture can and does hard-wire the brain. Is the feel good response wired when a mother smiles at a child for smiling, cooing, walking, or picking up his/her room?
It is also interesting to note that even though there appears to be a correlation between doing good and feeling good, where are the waiting lists to work at the soup kitchens? World Vision, Feed the Children, your local homeless shelter, and center for battered women and children are still in need of your donations.
This posting reminds me of the truism that people only do what makes them feel happy (i.e., all actions are ultimately selfish). The question lies in WHAT it is we choose to make us feel happy. That is what we can be judged on.
2007-06-13 19:34:15 · answer #1 · answered by Scott 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Morals are taught. Different cultures have different morals. E.g. in some tribes in papua/new guinea, it is acceptable to eat the brains of your enemies. In certain california communities, it is not acceptable to eat meat, and that the veges be organically grown. In Singapore, littering carries a heavy fine and some public humiliation.
2007-06-14 02:19:13 · answer #2 · answered by CC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How about from having love and caring for other people?
We don't need "religion" to do this...
Perhaps it is just coincidental that love is the core tenet of Christianity, and the Bible defines moral behavior and virtue.
2007-06-14 01:54:27 · answer #3 · answered by Bill Mac 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
You are right. If morality only came from the bible, then the majority of the people on this earth would be immoral. All societies develop a code of right and wrong. It helps everyone survive. Only stupid people think it comes from religion.
2007-06-14 02:13:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
Research also suggested at one point in human history that the earth was flat, and that tomatoes were poisonous.
The answer is, I get my morality from the brain that God gave me, from the things that I have read in the bible which are not repugnant to that brain, and communing with the holy spirit..
Believe what you will.
Namaste
2007-06-14 01:57:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
Partially learned as we grow up and partially fro the heart, and partially from the brain.
2007-06-14 01:54:26 · answer #6 · answered by mari_aset 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In our conscience.
Sometimes it gets seared through lack of listening to it long enough.
Bible just says it because it is true, not to make it true.
2007-06-14 02:06:00 · answer #7 · answered by Blank 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
We are social ANIMALS and so evolutionarily speaking we have a concept of the common good of the herd. All social animals have compassion........solitary predators lack compassion.
Ouch, the god of gaps gets just that much smaller.
2007-06-14 01:55:17 · answer #8 · answered by thewolfskoll 5 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Wow, that rat thing is pretty cool. Yeah, I always figured you didn't need religion to have morality.
2007-06-14 01:53:14 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I think it's partly there and the rest is learned as we grow up.
Definitely not from the bible
2007-06-14 01:52:38 · answer #10 · answered by RU SRS? 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋