GP ESSAY.

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8. ‘Reward and punishment are the only effective regulators of human conduct.’ Discuss.

Maintaining the appropriate level of human conduct has always been a problem in our modern society. Very often, people tend to be overcome by their own greed or desire that they exhibit poor, or sometimes, unacceptable human conducts. As such, it is crucial that actions are taken to regulate human conducts, contributing to a safe and harmonious society. How do we do that? By using rewards and punishments as forms of regulators for human conducts, of course. However, I personally feel that these two are definitely not the only effective regulators available for us, as there is one other widely used regulator for human conduct, that is, education.

What are rewards? Rewards are bonus given to someone who has done something up to expectations. They can come in various forms, prize money, gifts and incentives for example, and sometimes, even simple words of encouragement can, too, act as rewards. What makes rewards effective regulators for human conduct is that rewards encourages people to be doing what is expected of them, (like honesty or uphold of justice) as it provides them with the sense of satisfaction that everyone enjoys. Even though rewards can be used effectively most of the time, however there are limitations to it. First of all, it is expensive to administer, since constant monitoring had to be done to ensure fair and appropriate distribution of rewards. Secondly, rewards do not come free. The government would have to set aside a considerable amount of money to be used as ‘rewards’ if it is to rely heavily on this form of regulator. This extra sum of money could have been used effectively in other areas beneficial to the society like better public facilities, healthcare and education, for example.

However, there is one main flaw in the utilization of rewards as a form of human conduct regulator, making it sometimes ineffective for its purpose. There are times when the gains one could get from breaking the laws outweighs the rewards they could get from upholding it. This can be seen clearly from the rising trend of the poor committing crimes like robbery and kidnapping. Why do they do so? This is because they are desperately in need of money, and by keeping themselves faithful to the laws would not provide them with their much-desired way out for their financial difficulties. They are unable to resist the temptations. In cases like these, punishments would come into play.

Punishments are penalties given to one who either commit actions morally unacceptable in the society, or in simple cases, actions that are yet up to expectations. Examples of punishments would include fines, jailing, or even a simple scolding given can be considered as a form of punishment. Punishments are indeed effective as a form of human conduct regulator, as they inflict some form of pain or suffering to the person punished, hence stimulating them to reflect on their own mistakes, or at least discouraging them from committing the same actions again.

Punishments, as like rewards, come with their own set of flaws too. For example, there are times when punishments, instead of discouraging someone from doing a certain action, actually tempts them psychologically to be rebellious and thus committing more of the undesired actions instead. This is why the traditional joke about human beings rebellious by nature: the more you stop him from doing something, the more he wants to do it.

Even though rewards and punishments seemed like the only effective regulators of human conducts as they complement each other in terms of their uses, however another possible regulator for human conduct would be education. Education is capable of reaching out to people, explaining to them the possible outcomes of their actions, whether is it beneficial or detrimental to the society. As such, people would be more aware of their own actions, and would understand better the effects of their actions on others. Moreover, education can also be used in conjunction with rewards and punishments. Education would explain to the people the rationale behind their rewards, and punishments, thus ensure that they do learn from their mistakes or achievements. This is what makes education another effective regulator for conduct.

In conclusion, it would be incorrect to be saying that rewards and punishments are the only effective regulator of human conduct, as education is another form of regulator that cannot be left out. However, it is undeniable that rewards and punishments are the more direct forms of regulators, whose effects could be yield almost immediately.