Human-Rights (Fourth Year)

the topics above will be about Civil rights and civil rights movement

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it is more history than news for civil right movements

On Tuesday, two travelers filed a law-suit against United Airlines in a California court, asking $5 million in damages. The reason? They felt discriminated against for not being able to participate in United’s “Young Flyer” discount campaign.A class-act lawsuit was filed on Tuesday against United Airlines for age discrimination. Photo: Getty Images

We have heard of many strange and farfetched lawsuits in our days. However, the two United Airlines customers that are now asking for $5 million in damages for not being eligible for the carrier’s “Young Flyer” promotional discount might take the disproportionality cake.

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$5 million for a lost 10%

The class-action suit claims the two travelers were discriminated against because of their age, which is illegal according to Californian law. The suit was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The passengers are both residents of California.

United’s “Young Flyer” campaign ran from September 10th, 2019, to June 30th, 2020. It allowed travelers between the ages of 18 and 22 to book flights before December 31st this year within the US, Canada, and Mexico with a discount of 10%. The promotion was to make travel more accessible for young people still in college or at the start of their careers.

The conditions stipulated that the booking had to be made via the airline’s app and that the customer had to be a MileagePlus member. Conditions that the lawsuit says both travelers fulfilled. The only thing not applicable was their age, as they were 23 and 67 at the time.United’s “Young Flyer” campaign for the US, Canada, and Mexico ran from September 2019 to June this year. Photo: Getty Images

United says the lawsuit is baseless

Apparently, the two plaintiffs felt so discriminated against for missing out on their 10% discount by one and 45 years, respectively, that they decided to take United to court over it. The suit asks for $5 million in damages and an injunction against United not to engage in any further “age discrimination.”

A spokesperson for United Airlines told the Chigaco Tribune that,

“It is a shame that a few individuals take issue with an offer that is intended to make travel more accessible to more people. We believe this lawsuit is completely baseless and will defend ourselves vigorously.”

While there may technically be a case under California’s anti-discrimination laws, the sheer disproportionality of the damages the plaintiffs’ lawyer is requesting on their behalf should be enough to label this as the opportunistic stunt it seems to be.

Simple Flying has reached out to United for a comment but was yet to receive a reply at publication.A spokesperson for United says the airline will defend itself vigorously. Photo: Getty Images

Other select suits

This is not the first, and most likely will not be the last, of odd law-suits brought against an airline. Business Traveller mentions, among others, a nervous flier who was appalled when a carrier played “Killing Me Softly” with The Fugees as she was boarding the plane. The woman, who claimed psychological suffering, lost her case in court. 

Apparently, some of the most common claims stem from insect bites, including bed bugs from sleeper-style premium cabins, and injuries suffered due to turbulence. In the US, the airline is actually liable for the latter, with about $170,000 payable without any particular proof that the carrier itself was somehow at fault.

Now and then, the lawsuit comes from somewhere more unexpected. As NBC News tells it, an undisclosed airline’s CEO filed a lawsuit against his own airline from which he had received millions and full health insurance for life. The reason being that he had not been granted “full compensation” in the form of his free life-time first class flights.

What do you make of the class action against United? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. 

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file

I received a press release this afternoon from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission trumpeting a settlement they secured from United Airlines.

Apparently the airline should have given preference to disabled employees wanting to transfer jobs, rather than to the most qualified candidates for those open positions

Apparently the airline should have given preference to disabled employees wanting to transfer jobs, rather than to the most qualified candidates for those open positions.

By requiring workers with disabilities to compete for vacant positions for which they were qualified and which they needed in order to continue working, the company’s practice frequently prevented employees with disabilities from continuing employment with United, the EEOC said.

If a disability prevents an employee from returning to work in his or her current position, an employer must consider reassignment. As the Seventh Circuit’s decision highlights, requiring the employee to compete for positions falls short of the ADA’s requirements. Employers should take note: When all other accommodations fail, consider whether your employee can fill a vacant position for which he or she is qualified.

I have several observations on this, none of which are on the merits of the application of the Americans With Disabilities Act. While I have some familiarity with it as an employer, I am not a specialist on the requirements of the ADA.

• The suit was filed in 2009. It was settled in 2015.
• This isn’t United’s first EEOC settlement
• It’s being billed as a settlement of “over $1 million” because it is… $1,000,040. No doubt the EEOC pushed for that extra $40 so they could trumpet the ‘over’ part of the claim.
• The EEOC’s case was dismissed in 2011. However the EEOC got it re-instated by the full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that an EEOC case that went to the Supreme Court in 2002 trumped the precedent on which United obtained the dismissal. Given that United had won a dismissal from the 7th Circuit though, it suggests that it at least wasn’t obvious they had been violating the law. In that case, should they be liable, when they couldn’t clearly foresee their conduct was illegal? Shouldn’t the precedent be announced clearly – on a prospective basis – so that employers know what rules they’ll be held to, rather than being pursued for financial penalties based on past conduct?

In Blakey v. Continental Airlines, Inc. , 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2532 (D.N.J. 1998), the jury sitting in United States District Court in Newark, New Jersey, a federal court returned a verdict in favor of a former female pilot who sued her employer for sexual harassment, awarding the employee $480,000 in back pay, $15,000 in front pay and $500,000 for emotional distress, pain and suffering. However, the jury found that the employee had failed to mitigate her damages and subtracted $120,000 from her back pay award of $480,000.

Following the trial, the employer moved to have the entire verdict vacated including the jury’s award of back pay claiming that the jury’s reduction of the back pay by only $120,000 was inexplicable and inadequate. The court rejected the employer’s argument holding that the employer has the burden of proving that the employee failed to mitigate her damages.

The court held that an employee who fails to mitigate damages is not barred from recovering back pay. Rather, the employee’s back pay award may be reduced by the amount she could have earned with reasonable diligence.

The court noted that the employee was in an unusual position because she had not been terminated but rather was on an administrative leave by mutual consent. Therefore, the employee was not entirely free to obtain another job, nor was she able to return to work in what she perceived as an un-remedied hostile environment. The court found that the employer failed to introduce any evidence that it was reasonable for the employee to return to work and that the employer had the burden of proof on the issue of mitigation of damages and failed to meet it.

The court noted that although the employer eventually eliminated the problem, it did nothing to assure the employee that it had done so. Rather, the court noted that the employer allowed the employee to remain on administrative leave and did nothing to allay her fears and could not now avoid the consequences.

The court held that given evidence of the employee’s previous unpleasant experiences with her employer’s management, the jury was entitled to conclude that it was not reasonable for her to return to work.

1. Blakey v. Continental Airlines, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2532 (D.N.J. 1997)

A group of passengers is suing American Airlines, alleging two instances of racial discrimination before and aboard a recent American Airlines flight –– though the airline is pushing back on these claims.

Plaintiffs Elgin Banks and Aubrey Kelly, both Black men, claim the airline discriminated against them on a departing flight from Los Angeles on May 31.

“Discrimination of any kind is not acceptable and does not align with our values, which is why we launched an investigation when were made aware of the allegations,” Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for American Airlines, told USA TODAY in a statement. “We are continuing to review this incident, but we believe that the allegations are not a full or accurate portrayal of the incident.”

While Banks and Kelly are suing for discrimination, all five plaintiffs are suing for failure to prevent discrimination, among other accusations. The lawsuit comes as the nation has seen an outcry over racism and police brutality against Black people following the death of George Floyd, a Black man, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

One of the American Airlines incidents resulted in airport security and police being called onto the plane. The civil lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, the Central District of California, on Friday.

The first of the incidents began when the airline made Kelly check his carry-on bag without a justifiable reason, according to the complaint, as there was room for the bag on the flight and it met the airline’s sizing requirements.

Next, on the flight, Banks asked if the flight was full and if he could change seats if open ones were available. A flight attendant told him he could do so after the pilot announced boarding was complete. Non-Black passengers did so after the announcement, but when Banks asked for permission from the white flight attendant to get a seat closer to the front of the plane, the situation escalated.

“Excuse me, I asked for a seat earlier and I see you moving people so I wanted to know if I could get a closer seat,” Banks asked. The flight attendant said, “Sir, step back,” and the two began to argue, according to the complaint. She accused him of raising his voice, which he denied he was doing, and she told him to sit down.

The flight attendant called airport security and police. Security forced Banks off the plane, per the lawsuit. Kelly and the three other plaintiffs in the suit (Natalie Epstein, Brandy Flowers and Cynthia Vassor) were also escorted off as they vouched for Banks. The flight attendant suggested Banks was trying to sit in first-class, which the lawsuit called “a perjurious lie.”

Feinstein offered an alternate take on the events: “After boarding American Airlines flight 1931 with service from Los Angeles to Phoenix on May 31, Mr. Banks requested to be seated in the first class cabin. He was informed that he was not eligible for an upgrade and would have to remain in his assigned seat. During the boarding process, he attempted to relocate to the first class cabin prior to leaving the gate. One of the seats he attempted to sit in was assigned to another passenger. The disruption on board required deplaning passengers with the flight departing the next day.”

The lawsuit also alleges white passengers were offered accommodation vouchers while Black passengers “who were also escorted off due to their solidarity against discrimination American denied offering accommodations.”

“All affected customers were provided with a hotel voucher unless they lived locally, as is our policy,” Feinstein said. The lawsuit lists all plaintiffs as out-of-state residents. 

The plaintiffs are seeking a combination of punitive damages, the costs associated with the lawsuit, general damages and more.

The topics that will show How We already have laws that is working and it help in Discriminations but is not enough

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Describing Consciousness

Consciousness is an individual’s state of awareness of their environment, thoughts, feelings, or sensations; in order to experience consciousness, one must be both awake and aware.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Trace the history of the study of consciousness

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Key Points

• Philosophers since the time of Descartes and Locke have struggled to comprehend the nature of consciousness and pin down its essential properties.
• The study of consciousness helps scientists shed light on the inner workings of psychology and neuroscience. Scientists who study consciousness examine the relationship between stated perception and neural activity.
• The majority of experimental studies assess consciousness by asking human subjects for a verbal report of their experiences and then comparing their answers with the corresponding neural activity.
• While primary sensory areas of the brain are often involved in perception, it is the higher brain areas such as the primary cortex that are required for consciousness to occur.
• Issues of interest in consciousness research include phenomena such as perception, subliminal perception, blindsight, anosognosia, brainwaves during sleep, and altered states of consciousness produced by psychoactive drugs or spiritual or meditative techniques.

Key Terms

• anosognosia: The inability of a person to recognize his or her own illness or handicap.
• subliminal perception: Perception that is below the threshold of consciousness.
• blindsight: The responsivity shown by some blind or partially blind people to visual stimuli of which they are not consciously aware.

Consciousness is the quality or state of being aware of an external object or something within oneself, such as thoughts, feelings, memories, or sensations. It has also been defined in the following ways: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive-control system of the mind. At one time, consciousness was viewed with skepticism by many scientists, but in recent years, it has become a significant topic of research in psychology and neuroscience.

Philosophy of Consciousness

Despite the difficulty in coming to a definition, many philosophers believe that there is a broadly shared underlying intuition about what consciousness is. Philosophers since the time of Descartes and Locke have struggled to comprehend the nature of consciousness and pin down its essential properties. Issues of concern in the philosophy of consciousness include the following: whether consciousness can ever be explained mechanistically; whether non-human consciousness exists, and if so, how it can be recognized; how consciousness relates to language; whether consciousness can be understood in a way that does not require a dualistic distinction between mental and physical states or properties; and whether it may ever be possible for computers or robots to be conscious.

The Mind-Body Problem

The mind-body problem is essentially the problem of consciousness; roughly speaking, it is the question of how mental experiences arise from a physical entity.  How are our mental states, beliefs, actions, and thinking related to our physical states, bodily functions, and external events, given that the body is physical and the mind is non-physical?

The first and most important philosopher to address this conundrum was René Descartes in the 17^th century, and his answer was termed Cartesian dualism. The explanation behind Cartesian dualism is that consciousness resides within an immaterial domain he called res cogitans (the realm of thought), in contrast to the domain of material things, which he called res extensa (the realm of extension). He suggested that the interaction between these two domains occurs inside the brain. He further suggested the pineal glad as the point of interaction, but was later challenged several times on this claim. These challenges sparked some key initial research on consciousness, which we will discuss shortly.

Early Ideas on Consciousness

For over 2000 years, questions surrounding human consciousness—such as how the everyday inner workings of our brains give rise to a single cohesive reality and a sense of an individual self—have been baffling philosophers from Plato to Descartes. Descartes, as previously mentioned, is noted for his dualist theory of consciousness, in which the physical body is separate from the immaterial mind. He also gave us the most famous summary of human consciousness: “I think, therefore I am.”

The historical materialism of Karl Marx rejects the mind-body dichotomy, and holds that consciousness is engendered by the material contingencies of one’s environment. John Locke, another early philosopher, claimed that consciousness, and therefore personal identity, are independent of all substances. He pointed out that there is no reason to assume that consciousness is tied to any particular body or mind, or that consciousness cannot be transferred from one body or mind to another.

American psychologist William James compared consciousness to a stream—unbroken and continuous despite constant shifts and changes. While the focus of much of the research in psychology shifted to purely observable behaviors during the first half of the twentieth century, research on human consciousness has grown tremendously since the 1950s.

Current Research on Consciousness

Today, the primary focus of consciousness research is on understanding what consciousness means both biologically and psychologically. It questions what it means for information to be present in consciousness, and seeks to determine the neural and psychological correlates of consciousness. Issues of interest include phenomena such as perception, subliminal perception, blindsight, anosognosia, brainwaves during sleep, and altered states of consciousness produced by psychoactive drugs or spiritual or meditative techniques.

The majority of experimental studies assess consciousness by asking human subjects for a verbal report of their experiences. However, in order to confirm the significance of these verbal reports, scientists must compare them to the activity that simultaneously takes place in the brain—that is, they must look for the neural correlates of consciousness. The hope is to find that observable activity in a particular part of the brain, or a particular pattern of global brain activity, will be strongly predictive of conscious awareness. Several brain-imaging techniques, such as EEG and fMRI scans, have been used for physical measures of brain activity in these studies.

Higher brain areas are more widely accepted as necessary for consciousness to occur, especially the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in a range of higher cognitive functions collectively known as executive functions.

Prefrontal cortex: This image shows the location of the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain heavily involved in consciousness.

A History of Theories of Consciousness

Theories of consciousness include developmental, cultural, neural, computational, and moral perspectives.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Critique the major theories about human consciousness

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Key Points

• First appearing in the historical records of the ancient Mayan and Incan civilizations, various theories of multiple levels of consciousness have pervaded spiritual, psychological, medical, and moral speculations in both Eastern and Western cultures.
• The Ancient Mayans were among the first to propose an organized sense of each level of consciousness, its purpose, and its temporal connection to humankind.
• Sigmund Freud divided human consciousness into three levels of awareness: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.
• Modern psychological approaches to understanding consciousness include developmental, social, and neuropsychological; each contribute a different understanding of what consciousness might be.

Key Terms

• consciousness: The state of being aware; awareness to both internal and external stimuli.
• Sigmund Freud: (1856–1939) An Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis.

Historical Theories of Consciousness

Mayan and Incan Theories of Consciousness

First appearing in the historical records of the ancient Mayan and Incan civilizations, various theories of multiple levels of consciousness have pervaded spiritual, psychological, medical, and moral speculations in both Eastern and Western cultures. Consciousness can be defined as human awareness to both internal and external stimuli. Because of occasional and sometimes substantial overlap between hypotheses, there have recently been attempts to combine perspectives to form new models that integrate components of separate viewpoints.

The Ancient Mayans were among the first to propose an organized sense of each level of consciousness, its purpose, and its temporal connection to humankind. Because consciousness incorporates stimuli from the environment as well as internal stimuli, the Mayans believed it to be the most basic form of existence, capable of evolution. The Incas, however, considered consciousness a progression not only of awareness but of concern for others as well.

John Locke on Consciousness

John Locke, a 17th-century philosopher, was one of the first to speak and write on consciousness. He believed that our identity was tied to our consciousness, which he essentially defined as what passes through a man’s mind, or memories. He also asserted that our consciousness is not tied to our physical bodies, and that it can survive even after our physical bodies die. In fact, Locke held that consciousness could be transferred from one soul to another.

René Descartes on Consciousness

René Descartes also addressed the idea of consciousness in the 17th century. He set out to answer the question of how it is possible that our consciousness, a non-physical thing, can come from our bodies, a physical thing. The explanation he came up with was called Cartesian dualism; in short, consciousness resides within an immaterial domain he called res cogitans (the realm of thought), in contrast to the domain of material things, which he called res extensa (the realm of extension). He suggested that the interaction between these two domains occurs inside the brain.

Sigmund Freud on Consciousness

While Eastern perspectives on consciousness have remained relatively stable over the centuries, fluctuations in theory have come to define the Western perspective. One of the most popular Western theories is that of Sigmund Freud, medical doctor and father of psychoanalytic theory. Freud divided human consciousness into three levels of awareness: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Each of these levels corresponds and overlaps with Freud’s ideas of the id, ego, and superego. The conscious level consists of all the things we are aware of, including things we know about ourselves and our surroundings. The preconscious consists of things we could pay conscious attention to if we so desired, and is where many memories are stored for easy retrieval. Freud saw the preconscious as comprised of thoughts that are unconscious at the particular moment in question, but that are not repressed and are therefore available for recall and easily capable of becoming conscious (for example, the tip-of-the-tongue effect). The unconscious consists of things that are outside of conscious awareness, including many memories, thoughts, and urges of which we are not aware. Much of what is stored in the unconscious is thought to be unpleasant or conflicting; for example, sexual impulses that are deemed unacceptable. While these elements are stored out of our awareness, they are nevertheless thought to influence our behavior.

Freud’s levels of consciousness: This figure illustrates the respective levels of the id, ego, and superego. The part above water is known as the conscious level; the top level of waves just below the surface and above the white line is the preconscious level; and the bottom level is the unconscious.

Modern Theories of Consciousness

While Freud’s theory remains one of the best known, various schools in the field of psychology have developed their own perspectives, which we will explore below. It is important to note that these perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, just different approaches to the same questions.

Developmental Psychology on Consciousness

Developmental psychologists view consciousness not as a single entity, but as a developmental process with potential higher stages of cognitive, moral, and spiritual quality. They posit that consciousness changes over time, in quality and in degree: an infant’s consciousness is qualitatively different than a toddler’s, a teenager’s, or an adult’s. Abnormal development also affects consciousness, as do mental illnesses.

Social Psychology on Consciousness

Social psychologists view consciousness as a product of cultural influence having little to do with the individual. For instance, because different cultures speak different languages, they also codify reality differently. That difference in codification leads to differences in the experience of reality, and therefore of consciousness. Language is the main mechanism for transmitting a mode of consciousness, and an analysis of language can to some extent reveal the mentality of people who speak that language.

Neuropsychology on Consciousness

Neuropsychologists view consciousness as ingrained in neural systems and organic brain structures. A major part of the modern scientific literature on consciousness consists of studies that examine the relationship between the experiences reported by subjects and the activity that simultaneously takes place in their brains—that is, studies of the neural correlates of consciousness. The hope is to find activity in a particular part of the brain, or a particular pattern of global brain activity, that will be strongly predictive of conscious awareness. Several brain-imaging techniques, such as EEG and fMRI, have been used for physical measures of brain activity in these studies.

Neural Underpinnings of Consciousness

The neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) refer to the relationship between the experiences reported by subjects and the activity that simultaneously takes place in their brains.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Analyze the neural mechanisms underpinning conscious awareness

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Key Points

• Consciousness is the awareness of the self in space and time. Researchers attempt to study states of human consciousness and differences in perception in order to understand how the body works to produce conscious awareness.
• Neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) are sets of neurons and series of events necessary for conscious perception. Neural correlates in the brain have been found to be both redundant and parallel, which makes pinpointing brain activity difficult for researchers.
• Consciousness varies in both arousal and content. We have two types of conscious experience: phenomenal, or in the moment, and access, which recalls experiences from memory.
• Neural correlates of consciousness are studied using fMRI and EEG scans, which attempt to locate brain activity. The most popular stimuli for these studies has become visual tests as they are easily recorded and manipulated.

Key Terms

• arousal: A physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli, including elevated heart rate and blood pressure, and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility, and readiness to respond.
• consciousness: The state of being aware; awareness to both internal and external stimuli.

Consciousness is the awareness of the self, the environment, and the relationship between these two distinct worlds. From ancient philosophers to modern-day scientists, many people have struggled to understand, research, and document the processes involved in human consciousness. Thanks in large part to advances in medicine, science, and psychology, we have learned much about how states of consciousness are created. Current research studies the neural correlates of consciousness by examining experiences reported by subjects and recording the simultaneous activity that takes place in their brains. Researchers continue to search for brain activity or global brain patterns that can be predictive of conscious awareness.

Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC)

The neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) refer to the relationship between the experiences reported by subjects and the activity that simultaneously takes place in their brains. The physical world is perceived by human consciousness through the senses, which funnel stimuli and information into the central nervous system, and eventually the brain. The brain is the major organ implicated in turning physical stimuli into thoughts and actions. The study of NCC seeks to link objective, observable, neural activity to subjective, unobservable, conscious phenomena. While discovering and characterizing neural correlates cannot offer its own theory of consciousness, the data and findings may one day lead to such a discovery.

Neural correlates of consciousness: The study of neural correlates of consciousness seeks to link activity within the brain to subjective human experiences in the physical world.

Neural networks have been found to have a large amount of redundancy and parallelism, such that activity in one set of neurons cannot necessarily be said to correlate with the same perception over time. Scientists believe it may be the case that every phenomenal, subjective state has its own neural correlate. Continued advances in the ability to stimulate or induce activity in certain brain regions or sets of neural networks will help scientists answer ever more complicated questions about the characteristics and commonalities among neural correlates.

Neurobiology and Consciousness

The science of consciousness sets out to explain the precise relationship between subjective mental states and brain states, the relationship between the conscious mind and the electro-chemical interactions in the body. Progress in this arena has come from focusing on the body rather than the mind. In this context, the neuronal correlates of consciousness may be viewed as its causes, and consciousness may be thought of as a state-dependent property of some complex, adaptive, and highly interconnected biological system.

Most neurobiologists assume that the variables giving rise to consciousness are to be found at the neuronal level, governed by classical physics. More than ever before, neuroscientists are able to manipulate neurons
using methods from molecular biology combined with state-of-the-art optical tools (e.g., Adamantidis et al., 2007). Neuronal analysis and brain imaging techniques have become so fine-grained that a rational understanding of consciousness is within reach.

Dimensions of Neural Consciousness: Arousal and Content

Neuronal consciousness is often described as involving two distinct dimensions: arousal and content. In order for the brain to be conscious of any type of content, it must be in a high state of arousal. While awake and dreaming states are fundamentally different states of consciousness, they are both high-arousal, and thus allow for perception. Sleep is just one of the many types of consciousness we can experience and comprises several states of consciousness itself. Consciousness can also be phenomenal, such as our experiences in real time, or access, such as recalling a state of being or feeling.

Brain Areas Implicated in Consciousness

Another idea that has drawn attention for several decades is that consciousness is associated with high-frequency (gamma band) oscillations in brain activity. This idea arose from proposals in the 1980s, by Christof von der Malsburg and Wolf Singer, that gamma oscillations may link information represented in different parts of the brain into a unified experience.

Several studies have demonstrated that activity in primary sensory areas of the brain is not sufficient to produce consciousness: it is possible for subjects to report a lack of awareness even when areas such as the primary visual cortex show clear electrical responses to a stimulus. Higher brain areas are seen as more promising, especially the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in a range of executive (higher-order) functions. There is substantial evidence that a “top-down” flow of neural activity (i.e., activity propagating from the frontal cortex to sensory areas) is more predictive of consciousness than a “bottom-up” flow of activity. The prefrontal cortex is not the only candidate area, however: studies have shown that visually responsive neurons in parts of the temporal lobe reflect the visual perception in the situation when conflicting visual images are presented to different eyes.

Brain Imaging and Consciousness

One popular theory implicates different patterns of brain waves in producing different states of consciousness. Researchers can record brain waves, or tracings of electrical activity within the brain, using an electroencephalograph (EEG) and placing electrodes on the scalp. The four types of brain waves (alpha, beta, theta, and delta) each correspond with one mental state (relaxed, alert, lightly asleep, and deeply asleep, respectively).

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, can also be used to measure physical activity in the brain that correlates with different conscious states and perceptions. The ease in which visual perceptions can be manipulated in time and space has made visual studies, such as the Necker cube, one of the most preferred modalities for studying the neural correlates of consciousness. These studies take a seemingly simple and unambiguous visual stimulus and record differences in its subjective perception by a study participant. The cube, for instance, is 12 basic lines that can be interpreted in two different depths, creating a visual illusion. Scientists are interested in locating which neural correlates lead to differing mental interpretations.

Tikhomirov’s and his colleagues’ works revealed complicated emotional regulation of the performance of intellectual tasks (Tikhomirov, 1984). This regulation seems to be in the field of the self-correction of transgressions. Despite the improvement of technological resources in contemporary human society, the amount of intolerance, discrimination, and violence has not diminished. More conservative people see the solution of these problems in the development of the penitentiary system, from sanctions imposed on parents to criminal sanctions. Liberally oriented people see the solution in the humanization of family and school upbringing. In turn, good nurturance and upbringing can be viewed as successful only if people are able to autonomously correct their mistakes and improve their bjehavior. This ability essentially is described as conscience.

The American Psychological Association’s definition of conscience is “an individual’s sense of right and wrong. In psychoanalysis, conscience is the SUPE- REGO, or ethical component of personality, which acts as judge and critic of one’s actions and attitudes” (APA Dictionary of Psychology, 2007, p. 218). Changing ethical to inner and adding the estimation of other persons’ actions, we can get a balanced definition of conscience: an inner component of personality that acts as judge and critic of one’s own and others’ actions according to one’s values. This definition is in agreement with Freud’s and Allport’s descriptions (Allport, 1955; Freud, 1923/1968). In contemporary psychology the closest construct to conscience seems to be self-control of social behavior. Its function is signaling an important discrepancy or a gap between our social behavior, on the one hand, and our values, goals, and beliefs, on the other. According to psychoanalytical and socio-cultural approaches, this self-control grows through the internalization of social (first of all, parents’) control (Freud, 1923/1968; Mead, 1934; Vygotsky, 1984).

However, how can we be sure that twinges of conscience or the feeling of remorse really exist? Sometimes self-reports represent desired rather than real experience and feeling. Given the essence of self-control, we can expect that the coherence of our social behavior with our aspirations and expectations leads to a feeling of pride, while incoherence leads to feelings of shame and guilt. Many studies in the field show that the most reliable expressions of twinges of conscience are moral emotions, especially shame and guilt (Barret, 1995; de Hooge, Zeelenberg, & Breugelmans, 2010; Lewis, Sullivan, Stanger, & Weiss, 1999). Some authors consider twinges of conscience to be an obligatory element of guilt (Tangney, Stuewig, & Hafez, 2011). The common reason for both these emotions is the discrepancy (cognitive dissonance) between one’s actual behavior (or unjustified lack of activity) and the wish to conform to one’s desired self-image and values. The subject of these emotions can be not only oneself but any member of one’s group (from a relative to a compatriot).

The differences between shame and guilt should be discussed. Shame is ex- pressed clearly: flushed face, ears, and neck; averted or sunken head; closed face or eyes; interrupted communication; avoidance of the witnesses of a transgression. Guilt is not expressed so obviously. Shame is impossible without a real or imagined audience that is critical of the agent of a transgression. One is shamed or blamed by somebody in one’s consciousness. Guilt is more oriented toward the victim of a transgression but not to betrayals. A person who has guilt feelings cares not about an observer’s assessment of the deed but about the consequences of the transgression. In the case of my wrongdoing the cognitive content of shame is focused mainly on my own self (“I am bad”) but the cognitive content of guilt is differentiated from myself and is focused on my particular actions only (“I was wrong in this situation”) (Tangney, 1995).

Some researchers consider that guilt is based on empathy with real or imagined victims of our activity (or on passivity) and presupposes concerns about issues connected with the direct or indirect responsibility for infliction of harm (Olthof, 2012; Olthof, Ferguson, Bloemers, & Deij, 2004). Hoffman (1982) proposed a differentiation of guilt and shame based on their consequences: namely, guilt promotes reparative behavior and an increase in motivation to communicate, whereas shame leads to withdrawal and a decrease in this motivation. Meta-analysis has shown that the feeling of guilt is related to the development of conscience in children and to conscientious behavior in young adults (Dost & Yagmurlu, 2008). Table 1 summarizes the differences between shame and guilt.

Table 1. Differences between shame and guilt

	Shame	Guilt
Cognitive content	«I am bad» negative identity	«I did it badly» wrongdoing
Focus of feeling and cognition	On self	On the victim and on compensation for the infliction of harm
Duration	Short-term	Long-term
Links with the situation of the transgression	Field dependence (concerns about others’ opinions)	Field independence
Expression	Flushed face, ears, and neck; averted or sunken head; closed face or eyes; interrupted communication	No constant pattern
Possible consequences	Social acceptance, desire to improve one’s imageSocial avoidance, feelings of inferiority and loneliness, social anxiety, hostility, and aggression	Social approach, inclination to correct situation, compensation, depression

Lewis considered individual differences in affective style depending on preferences to feel shame or guilt in appropriate situations of moral transgression (Lewis, 1971). These differences, in their turn, lead to different types of dysfunctions. Inclination to shame is linked to vulnerability to affective dysfunctions (depression, anger, narcissism), but inclination to guilt is linked to vulnerability to cognitive dysfunctions (paranoia, obsessive -compulsive disorders).

At the same time, we should take into account that a long-term feeling of guilt leads to depression. Zahn-Waxler discussed adaptive guilt as an action-oriented, conscious feeling accompanied by making reparations and helping others, and maladaptive guilt as an excessive, self-critical feeling accompanied by a sense of responsibility for everything that goes wrong (Zahn-Waxler, & Kochanska, 1990). Some scales have been elaborated for the measurement of long-term or chronic feelings of guilt (Harder, Cutler, & Rockart, 1992; Kugler & Jones, 1992). When one widens the zone of one’s activities, criticism increases the probability of fixation on negative self-image, self-condemnation, and self-punishment. Research data from a sample of college students showed no significant link between experiencing predis-positional guilt and psychological problems such as those with somatic, obsessive- compulsive, anxious, and paranoid symptoms; but they did show a positive link between chronic guilt and these symptoms, including depression (Quiles & Bybee, 1997). Taking into account the longer duration and larger depth of guilt, it is understandable that patients with strong depression show higher correlations with guilt than with shame (Alexander, Brewin, Vearnals, Wolff, & Leff, 1999). Relatives of schizophrenic patients demonstrated a guilty conscience (negative self-esteem, because of their belief that they were morally wrong, and self-condemnation), which was positively linked with their depression, suffering, and failure to cope with these feelings (Boye, Bentsen, & Malt, 2002). In other words, the feeling of guilt did not help but rather shaped in these relatives a neurotic circle.

A functional approach to emotion leads us to an understanding of the constructive role of shame too. The expression of shame is a good signal of the negative estimation of one’s behavior and the readiness to eliminate such socially unattractive behavior. These signals can prevent others’ aggression (Ferguson, 2005; Gilbert & McGuire, 1998). Acceptance of one’s wrongdoing together with elements of the expression of shame leads to the appeasement of the injured party and forgiveness (Keltner & Harker, 1998). At the same time, verbal apologies, such as “I was ashamed remembering my behavior yesterday,” are not always accompanied by a feeling of shame. Sometimes these phrases represent our acceptance of moral norms and not our real attitude toward a transgression.

Often the blushing of a transgressor in comparison with the neutral face of a transgressor leads to a higher appraisal from observers (Dijk, de Jong, & Peters, 2009). The reason for such an appraisal is the perception of blushing as an involuntary, sincere reaction of the transgressor that promises a correction of behavior and the prevention of future transgressions (de Jong, 1999; Gold & Weiner, 2000). In its turn, strong blushing shows a reaction to a possibly unpleasant perception of a person by significant observers, a perception the person finds it difficult to accept. Some researchers label this phenomenon negative identity (Ferguson, Eyre, & Ashbaker, 2000; Olthof et al., 2004).

A person’s anticipation of feeling shame or guilt can be a serious obstacle to amoral behavior (Olthof, 2012). Students’ feelings of shame were negatively linked with the desire to drink or to filch in a store (Tibbetts, 1997). These data show that the feeling of shame has an adaptive function in the understanding and correction of wrong actions (Dost & Yagmurlu, 2008). When there is a strong differentiation of shame and guilt, both emotions are negatively linked with antisocial behavior (Menesini & Camodeca, 2008), but only the feeling of guilt can predict prosocial behavior in cases of school violence (Olthof, 2012).

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of autobiographical narratives on the feelings of shame and guilt (N = 23, Ma = 24.5), using χ2 of association, showed a stronger desire to improve one’s image in the case of shame than in the case of guilt. The same priority in the case of shame was given to desiring to keep close or to abate, striving to escape from a situation, being concerned about others’ opinions, striving to change the image of a situation. These were predicted on the basis of previous studies. In the phenomenology of guilt, the fear of not acting in accordance with one’s desires and acceptance of the inadequacy of one’s actions were higher than in the phenomenology of shame (Breslavs, 2007). It appears that retrospective narratives about experienced shame for particular actions can be identified as expressing the feeling of guilt, not of shame.

These data showed that, in a situation of transgression, for a feeling of shame to develop the public situation as such is not critical but the opinion of a significant observer is critical. If we believe that this observer considered our behavior a transgression, a cognitive dissonance arises. The second obligatory aspect of shame is the content of this dissonance. It is not a particular but a general dissonance between the ideal self and global self-esteem. Both aspects are interdependent (Wolf, Cohen, Panter, & Insko, 2010), and this interdependence can be explained by social perception. We are able to take into account that people around us judge our image and actions quickly and superficially, sometimes using insignificant elements of our behavior. It is understandable that people are inclined to feel shame in prestigious and responsible situations (official parties, conferences, the bestowal of honors, and so forth). Transgressions in these situations can destroy a person’s reputation, and emotional anticipation in the form of shame can mobilize the self- correction process.

Using R. Lazarus’s model of two stages of cognitive appraisal, de Hooge and colleagues (2010) proposed two possible consequences of the feeling of shame: approach when the renovation of reputation is estimated as more or less possible, and avoidance when the renovation of reputation is estimated as very dangerous or impossible. If shame represents concern about one’s marred reputation, the emergence of the motivation to renovate one’s self-image is understandable. In its turn, the motivation to renovate one’s self-image can result in mitigation-at-any-cost (self-defense), or it can be prosocial (apologies and compensation to victims). Only the prosocial version can be related to twinges of conscience.

The secondary stage of a moral transgression can be (1) condemnation by significant others or (2) understanding of one’s weakness (Gausel & Leach, 2011). The first possibility was related by Gaisel and Leach to concerns about one’s social image, while the second possibility was related to concerns about self-image. Condemnation by significant others leads to avoiding contact with others and a feeling of inferiority. Understanding one’s weakness has two possible results: (1) if negative self-esteem is global (“I am bad”), it results in a feeling of inferiority and avoidance of traumatic social contacts; (2) if this appraisal is specific and particular (“I have no good skills in the field”), it results in self-improvement. In these differentiations the borderline between social image and self-image remains unclear because our weakness worries us in the context of social relationships only. A mirror for us is a tool for the control of social perception as well as a tool for self-control.

How adaptive guilt and shame are depends on the subject matter and duration of these emotions (Breslav, 1977). The subject matter of shame and guilt depends on: (a) the agent of the transgression (oneself, a friend, a relative, members of one’s in-group or nation); (b) the burden of the transgression (failure in sports, tardiness, a white lie, aspersion, or violence); (c) how reversible the transgression is (the availability of opportunities to correct outcomes); (d) whether the transgression is intentional or unintentional, random; (e) how particular or general the transgression is (lack of skills in a particular field or general disability); (f) who the victims and observers of the transgression are. Critical for the feeling of shame is the significance of the transgression’s observers and the probable loss of reputation, while for the feeling of guilt the critical factor is the harm to the victims. Figure 1 presents a general model of these emotions.

Figure 1. General model of moral emotions (guilt and shame)

The duration of these emotions is different and can be of adaptive value. Shame, as the more painful and expressive emotion, is a short-term feeling. When coping with cognitive dissonance through a reappraisal of the situation—for example, by the transfer of responsibility from oneself to others—shame can be changed into resentment or anger with subsequent aggression. The reappraisal of a transgression can minimize the burden of wrongdoing (for example, “it is common to all people”); such minimization weakens moral emotions. If a person fails to minimize cognitive dissonance through reappraisal, shame can turn into long-lasting guilt. If this feeling of guilt does not lead to compensation for the inflicted harm—in particular, when this harm is irreversible (death or loss of health)—the outcome of the accumulation of guilt can be more destructive than the outcome of shame (Wolf et al., 2010)

Conscience is the set of faculties that allows one to participate in the social world by balancing one’s needs and desires with those of others. Conscience is evident in behavior that is consistent with an individual’s own moral standards. Often, at the core of these standards is a value of the rights and welfare of others. Conscience is expressed both through doing (e.g., giving one’s bus seat to someone who looks tired) and not doing (e.g., not taking a friend’s toy). A key feature of conscience is that it sustains moral functioning independent of external intervention (e.g., by parents, police). Current understanding of conscience has roots in Sigmund Freud’s theory of the struggle between superego and id and Emile Durkheim’s description of internalized morality as self-restraint, the precedence of social engagement over egoism, and autonomous reflection based on standards of conduct.

Conscience integrates capacities for emotional arousal, mental representation, and behavioral self-regulation. The emotional features of conscience include self-focused and other-oriented arousal that reinforces and motivates acceptable behavior and punishes and inhibits inappropriate behavior. Self-focused emotion includes negative (e.g., guilt) and positive (e.g., pride) arousal, dependent on whether one’s behavior contradicts or promotes internal standards. For example, violation of one’s principles results in guilt and remorse that is unpleasant. This negative emotion discourages future violations and may be assuaged through corrective action. Importantly, the self-focused emotion component of conscience does not depend on immediate external consequences and thus differs from, for example, the fear of being caught. Other-oriented emotional arousal, coupled with the ability to take others’ perspectives, is another feature of conscience. This empathic component prompts awareness of the effects of one’s actions on the feelings of others and elicits emotional arousal (e.g., concern), both of which influence behavior choices.

The mental representation component of conscience allows one to store and reference prototypes of moral conduct. Such representations are based on direct articulation and modeling of values and appropriate behavior (e.g., by parents). These also are gleaned from experiences with, for example, misbehavior, altruism,  disciplinary  encounters,  and  associated emotional arousal. In this way, conscience formation is unique to one’s particular assimilation of life experiences and socialization.

A central component of conscience is the capacity for impulse control, attention, and sustained effort, known as behavioral self-regulation. This capacity reflects executive brain functioning, rather than the popular notions of simple motivation or self-control. Without adequate self-regulation, the other components of conscience may not be consistently expressed in moral behavior. Such has been found in some studies of aggressive children, who did not differ from nonaggressive children on knowledge of rules or capacities for empathy or guilt. Instead, some of these children’s difficulties were explained by less mature executive functioning that seemed to thwart the expression of their more mature faculties.

The features of conscience work in concert: A failure to regulate a selfish impulse may injure a friend, activating empathic concern, awareness of a standard violation, and self-censure through guilt. The process of development in these features is captured by the term internalization. This includes an inward transition of behavioral control from external to internal regulation, a growing sense that standards governing behavior are self-generated rather than externally imposed, and increased attribution of anxiety associated with rule breaking to internal rather than external causes. Notably, the development of conscience is undermined by some discipline strategies, such as physical punishment, that focus children’s attention on external causes of emotional discomfort and reasons for compliance. Conscience is best fostered through discipline that teaches the reasons for moral behavior and the consequences of one’s behavior for others. For example, the reason that lying is wrong is because it takes advantage of others and hurts friendships, not because it results in a spanking. Positive parenting practices support the development of conscience and sustain moral functioning in the absence of external forces—that is, when no one is looking.

References:

1. Berkowitz, W., & Grych, J. H. (1998). Fostering goodness: Teaching parents to facilitate children’s moral development. Journal  of  Moral  Education,  27(3),  371–391.
2. Retrieved from http://parenthood.library.wisc.edu/Berkowitz/Berkohtml
3. Grusec, J. , & Kuczynski, L. (1997). Parenting and children’s internalization of values: A handbook of contemporary theory. New York: Wiley.
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5. Turiel, (1998). The development of morality. In W. Damon & N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social,  emotional,  and  personality  development (5th ed., pp. 863–932). New York: Wiley