Uncomfortable Ethical Decisions: The Role of Negative Emotions and Emotional Intelligence in Ethical Decision-Making

TLDR: In this article, the role of negative emotions in ethical decision-making has been investigated and synthesized, showing that the more skilled a person is in dealing with his/her emotions, the more likely that person is to make more ethical decisions.

Abstract: Understanding ethical decision-making and what makes for decisions that are more or less ethical has been a perplexing problem for eons. Even back in biblical times, the wise King Solomon pondered how he might "do justice." Doing justice, or the right thing, is no less salient in the current millennium. Consider a New York Times (5-28-2009, David Brooks) discussion on Supreme Court justices and the ethical decisions they must make. A central concern of this opinion piece is how these justices might make more or less ethical decisions. Curiously enough, the Times thought that a justice's emotions more often than not played a pivotal role in those ethical decisions. The Times claimed that having those emotions was inevitable. The important thing here, at least according to the Times, was not the presence of those emotions, but the way in which the justices interpreted and dealt with those emotions. When a justice appropriately deals with their emotions, he/she should be able to make better decisions. This issue dealing with justices, emotions, and ethical decisions parallels the central theme of this paper--and that theme is emotions are pervasive in ethical decision-making and how an individual works through those emotions strongly affects --for better or worse--their ethical decisions. The more skilled a person is in dealing with his/her emotions, the more likely that person is to make more ethical decisions. The above-mentioned historical, anecdotal, and practitioner-based perspectives are further supported by both theoretical and empirical research in ethical decision-making (EDM). Researchers have long acknowledged the importance of several factors that influence EDM. These factors include moral intensity (Jones, 1991), stages of individual development (Kohlberg, 1969), and the stage of decision-making (Rest, 1986). Even so, there still appears to be a significant void related to understanding the role of emotions. Many researchers have acknowledged this gap (Gaudine and Thorne, 2001; Haidt, 2001; Rogerson et al., 2011; Trevino et al., 2006). This is not to say that there is no research related to emotions. Most of the research related to emotions so far has looked at moral emotions (e.g., guilt, shame). As demonstrated by the previous situation, making ethical decisions, decisions that involve what is morally right or wrong, can be a challenge and a source of great discomfort, especially when emotional forces prompt individuals to act less ethically (Gentile, 2010). Although Connelly et al. (2004) have studied the effects of trait emotions on EDM, no other study has looked at the effects of state emotion on EDM. This study aims to fill that void by examining the specific emotions of sadness and anger. In filling this gap, this paper addresses Gaudine and Thorne's (2001) call for more scrutiny of the role of emotions in EDM and Trevino et al.'s (2006) call for closer examination of contextual and affective factors in EDM. Specifically, this study suggests two additional factors that could have a very strong influence on EDM, which are: (1) strong, negative emotions such as sadness and anger; and (2) people's ability to handle those emotions, otherwise more commonly known in the academic community as Emotional Intelligence (EI). In this paper, the role of two discrete negative emotions, sadness and anger, in the ethical decision-making (EDM) process is explained and synthesized. Discrete emotions are basic in nature and unique from each other and have evolutionary purposes (Frijda, 1988; Izard, 2009). The intervening and significant role of emotional intelligence in EDM is also explained. Then, data is presented that support hypotheses. THE PROCESS OF ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING Before the role of negative emotions in EDM is synthesized, an examination of research that has already been done is helpful. Traditionally, most research and practice has focused on the cognitive aspects of EDM. …