Comparison to College Cheating

In Lisa J. McIntyre’s The Practical Skeptic, the article, “Situational Ethics and College Student Cheating”, discusses how students “neutralize” their actions. Within the article, the authors talks about how behavior depends on the certain circumstances at hand. Therefore, these circumstances affect decision making. The authors state that, “ the concept of situational ethics might well describe this college cheating in that rules for behavior may not be considered rigid but depend on the circumstances involved.” Similarly, college underage drinking depends on the situation whereas a student a college believes underage drinking is acceptable in social settings. For example, drinking at college parties, bars and clubs. However, the same students may feel that it is not acceptable to drink while they are with their family. This shows that “any action may be considered good or bad depending on the social circumstances.”