Why People Phone Hack: A Look Into the Psyche of Wrongdoing

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110727210012.htm

ScienceDaily (July 28, 2011) — Phone hacking. It doesn't even sound ethical. Neither does phone spying nor so called, 'phreaking.' So how does management at a best-selling newspaper approve this and everyone else play along?

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There is a lot more to this scandal than we know or may ever know. We know phone hacking went on for years. We know a lot of people knew, yet nobody stopped the behavior. "People can become convinced that something is okay as a result of watching others," Wright says. "Consider a boy watching an uncle sell drugs. If the uncle is admired, the kid could come to believe that selling drugs is in fact okay and ethical."

"Life is complicated and people are not always right just because they think they are right," says Wright. "Wise people tend to have a strong measure of modesty about the conclusions that they draw, including ones relevant to ethics."

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