No one teaches you the aspect of ethical behavior. You have to follow the pattern of idealism and pattern of correct behavior from your parents, teachers or gurus. Except for the period of your childhood when you are under the close monitoring of your parents, teachers or guardians for this aspect of maintaining an ethical practice in life, you have to hone this skill throughout your life. Needless to say, ethical behavior is an important aspect of life. It is like a navigator which will show you the right direction so that you can have sustainability in life. It is also true that every time you cannot be governed by the defined rules of ethical behavior. Sometimes, you need to use your judgment to comply with the rules of ethical behavior. When you are in any type of dilemma to take the correct path for moving forward, it depends on your cognitive capacity, particularly if the situation does not match to your ideologies, then you are in ambiguity what is to be done. At that point in time, the cognitive intelligence helps you to process information because, through this process, you will be able to pinpoint the moral reasoning behind your decision. This particular aspect is regarded as a principal force of a person’s correct and ethical behavior. You can get a reflection of your this behavior on three levels. One is pre-conventional, and the other two are conventional and post-conventional.
If your thoughts, speech, and actions are always in harmony, you will not be under duality to ascertain whether you are behaving ethically or not; one must ascertain this fact. When a person operates at the pre-conventional level, he considers any decision on an ethical dilemma. The reason behind this is that he does not want to enforce personal harm or loss. He will be searching for personal gain, but not on the basis of loss or harm. When a person is operating at the conventional level, he always accepts the norms of the group, or the family, or the culture in which he belongs to and he accepts the fixed pattern of the rules and regulations. At times, he deviates, but when he understands that his deviation from the ethical and moral behavior is not correct, he changes his mind. In a similar way, when a person operates at the post-conventional level, he will approach an ethical dilemma from various angles related to human values like love, truth, and goodness. He will consider all these values for a better perspective. A person when operates in this post-conventional stage will question before coming to the conclusion. Does he think that if the other people do the same thing in a similar type of situation, will the world be a better or worse place? It is a subject of debate.
