How to Act Ethically

Co-authored by Trudi Griffin, LPC, MS

Last Updated: February 7, 2023 References

Being ethical is being conscientious about your choices. If you are ethical, you know what things are good, and perform those good actions instead of malicious actions. To be truly ethical, you must be doing it for self-satisfaction, not a prize. Ultimately, one of the biggest challenges of living ethically is to resist the temptation to serve yourself at the expense of others. However, with some effort and an understanding of what it means to live ethically, you can live an ethical life and treat people well.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Identifying Your Own Ethics

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Learn about ethics. Ethics is defined as a set of moral principles that govern an individual or group’s actions and interactions with others. As a result of reliance on “moral principles,” most scholars agree that it is extremely hard to arrive at a single idea of what it means to live ethically. To learn more about ethics, make sure to:
- Read about ethics. There are hundreds if not thousands of books that address this topic.
- Talk to others about what they think of as ethics.
- Think about the idea of ethics.^{[1]
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Reflect on your own source of ethics. The first step in living an ethical life is to reflect on your own source of ethics. Most people do not have an explicit ethical code, but rather act ethically (or unethically) based on ideas they've internalized and on what they've seen other people do. To figure out where you get your ethics, think about what ideas and actions (by others) have influenced you and your view of ethics. Ask yourself questions about where you received the your idea about what is "right" and what is "wrong."
- Do you get it from religion? Religious ethics may come from the teachings of your religion's holy book or sacred texts.
- Do you get it from family? Ethics can be passed from family members by example or explicitly. If your parents treat others well, act honestly, and are generous toward others, you will likely adopt their ethical system.
- Do you get it from your political ideology? Your ethics may vary based on your political ideology. If you're a socialist, you might believe that people have a duty to help the poor. If you are a libertarian, you might believe that people have the right to live free of coercion regardless of their wealth or other people's poverty.
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3
Write out your ethical code. After you've reflected on and identified the source of your ethics, commit your ethical system to paper. This is a fairly easy process and will help you better conceptualize and understand your own ethical system. Make sure to:
- Write down your ideas about what ethics means, specifically.
- Rank your ethics in importance. Is honesty more important than generosity?
- Annotate each ranked ethical point with a comment about how you think you can implement this in your daily life. This could be as easy as "I will never tell a lie."
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Think about whether you follow your ethics. After you've figured out your source of ethics, consider whether you actually follow your ethics in every day life. This could be a potentially tough thing to figure out, as you'll have to truly challenge yourself, reflect, and even be critical of your own actions. Ultimately, this sort of self-reflection is very important if you want to act ethically every day.
- If you believe in helping the poor, do you help the poor? Do you volunteer at soup kitchens on weekends, holidays, or regularly?
- If you believe in honesty, do you practice honesty in your daily life? When was the last time you lied, and did it hurt someone?
- If you believe in people's right to seek their own happiness, have you ever bullied someone or used force or coercion to get something you want from someone else?^{[2]
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Apply your ethics. The next step will be to apply your ethics to everyday life. This can be a very challenging thing to do, as living an ethical life can often go against our instincts to seek our own self-interest. Ultimately, though, if you are determined to live ethically, you can.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Acting Ethically Towards Other People

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Empathize with people. For many people, being ethical means also being empathetic. Empathy is defined as our ability to share and understand how other people feel and experience the world. In a nutshell, to have empathy means that you have the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes.
- Try to imagine what it is to be someone who is less fortunate.
- When someone suffers a loss, try to imagine what that loss may mean for them.
- True empathy is when you can understand how others experience the world. ^{[3]
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Be selfless. Many people also see selflessness as an important part of living ethically. In this view, to put other people above yourself is a key to ethical life. The key to being selfless is to commit yourself to self-sacrifice. Sacrificing your own needs for others is the foundation of being selfless.
- In the view of many, self-sacrifice is virtuous and is at the center of what it means to be ethical.
- When you can, help others instead of helping yourself. For instance, when you're seated on a bus comfortably, offer your seat to someone who needs the seat (like an older person who may have trouble standing).
- Instead of taking an opportunity to make yourself wealthier, help others achieve happiness or assist them with basic needs. For example, if you're lead on a team at work, and you see the possibility of claiming credit for the team's work and getting a raise (even if you are largely responsible), don't do so. Instead, claim credit for your entire group and try to secure a raise for everyone (even if it means your raise or bonus might be less).^{[4]
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Embrace honesty. Many people also associate honesty with an ethical life. To tell the truth and avoid untruth is seen as one of the cornerstones of modern ethics. This comes out of the view that lies can and often do hurt other people. Lies, in this view, are rooted in selfishness.^{[5]
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- Tricking someone for your own gain is unethical.
- Cheating is unethical, as it hurts other people.
- Lying to someone for personal gain is unethical.
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Respect the rights of others. Respecting the rights of others is another cornerstone of modern western ethics. This is based on the idea that all individuals are endowed with certain rights by the very fact of their existence. To violate an individual’s rights is to live without ethics. In this view:
- Individuals should be free from the physical coercion of others.
- Individuals should be free to pursue their own interests and their own happiness.
- Violence against other individuals violates the rights of others and is therefore unethical.
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Honor your promises and obligations. Making sure you keep your promises and hold to your obligations is another cornerstone of ethical behavior. The reason breaking promises and shirking obligations is seen as unethical is that you are seeking your own self-interest at the expense of others.^{[6]
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- View promises as a way of verbally binding yourself to others.
- If you have an obligation, make sure to honor that obligation.
- Think before you make promises or obligations.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Avoiding Common Unethical Behaviors

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Don’t violate trust for your own gain. If someone puts trust in you, it is unethical to violate that trust for personal gain. By having someone’s trust and gaining by violating that trust, you are using your position to take advantage of someone.^{[7]
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- If someone entrusts possessions or information with you, keep the possessions and information secure.
- If someone hires you to do something, don’t use your situation to gain from them without their knowledge.
- Trust is the foundation of ethical relationships between people.
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Avoid hurting other people’s feelings for no reason. Hurting other people’s feelings for no reason is viewed as an ultimate unethical activity. Ultimately, being mean and unkind to other people is a selfish activity that creates a hostile environment for not just you and the person, but for others. Instead:
- Always be kind to people.
- Respect the feelings of other people.
- Think before you talk. Your words can hurt people.
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Do not steal. Stealing is almost universally seen as an unethical behavior. This is because stealing is dishonest behavior in which one takes advantage of someone else for personal gain. This not only violates other people’s rights, but demonstrates that you are a dishonest and irresponsible person who has little concern for others.^{[8]
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- Don’t take things that are not your own.
- Respect other people’s property.
- There are exceptions though. Many believe that stealing in order to survive or to help others survive is in fact a very ethical behavior.
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Try not to impose your ethics on other people. Ethics often means different things to different people based on social and cultural context. As a result, a behavior that you see as ethical might not be ethical to someone else.This is because we (largely) receive our ethical code from the society and culture we live in, as well as the religion we adhere to and political culture we embrace.
- For example, one person might see eating meat as unethical behavior, while someone who grew up in a culture where hunting is a way of life would not agree with this perspective.