This blog post examines why we should prioritize long-term social benefits over short-term gains and discusses the importance of living rightly.
Humans live by forming societies. To coexist with diverse others, we establish laws and rules to uphold, enabling us to live together without harming others. These laws and rules form the crucial foundation for society to function smoothly. If everyone prioritized only their own interests and ignored laws and rules, society would descend into chaos, and ultimately, the harm would come back to them. However, there are quite a few selfish people who do not follow these laws and rules. These are individuals who act in socially unacceptable ways. Yet, from a short-term perspective, it often seems like selfish people gain more benefits. So, why should we live rightly? I will explore the reasons for living rightly by describing the problem of free-riding in team assignments, which we commonly encounter, and ways to solve it.
Before proceeding, I will categorize the benefits one gains from an action into two types. First, narrow self-interest refers to the direct benefit one gains from an action, which is a short-term gain. The direct benefit gained through selfish actions falls under this narrow self-interest. Broad self-interest, on the other hand, refers to the indirect benefit that comes to oneself socially through one’s actions. This is a long-term gain.
From elementary school through university, or even beyond, we are evaluated on what we learn and receive corresponding grades. Within the educational process, grades are not merely indicators of an individual’s academic achievement; they are also a crucial factor significantly influencing social trust and future opportunities. Evaluation methods include those determined solely by individual effort, like exams, and others where multiple people form a team to produce a single outcome and are assessed based on that result, such as team assignments. The purpose of team assignments is for members to collaborate and create an outcome surpassing what any individual could achieve alone. However, when evaluating the results, the process of completing the task is often disregarded, with assessment based solely on the final outcome. This is why free riders emerge.
A free rider is someone who uses a bus service without paying the proper fare, seeking to gain benefits without contributing. In team assignments, a free rider is someone who doesn’t participate sincerely in team activities but still takes the credit. Complaints about free riders in team assignments are easily heard in conversations among friends on Facebook or Instagram. When searching online about team assignments, the most prevalent discussions revolve around free riders, indicating their widespread presence. Indeed, this issue is frequently observed not only in academic communities but also in workplaces and social organizations. Behavior where individuals attempt to share in the group’s achievements without faithfully performing their own role can be problematic in any field. Free riding is a highly selfish act because individuals harm their teammates by not participating in group activities yet receive the same grade. However, I believe the problem persists largely because there are no strong penalties for this behavior.
The most fundamental way to prevent free riding is to impose penalties for it. When free riders emerge during group assignments, record conversations or save the progress of the group work to create evidence. Submit both the assignment and the evidence to the professor so the free rider receives the lowest possible grade. Strong penalties for free riding will make potential free riders feel pressure about their grades, encouraging them to participate more diligently in group activities. However, this method has one problem. In courses where grades are not reflected or are not particularly important, some students may not care about their scores. Since these students are unconcerned about their grades, they are highly likely to avoid participating in group activities. The method of punishing free riders only addresses narrow self-interest, making it ineffective for those who don’t consider the group assignment important.
Therefore, preventing free-riding in this situation requires a broader approach. If someone free-rides, team members will first dislike the free-rider and give them a poor evaluation. This perception also spreads to others, leading the free-rider to be labeled as a selfish person who free-rides by those around them. This reputation doesn’t just affect immediate relationships; it becomes a major obstacle to building long-term social trust. This will cause significant disadvantages for the free rider in any future activities, and they will face difficulties forming relationships with people socially, even outside of group activities. This is because the free rider will avoid free riding to prevent harming others.
Furthermore, from a long-term perspective, free-riding becomes a factor that hinders one’s own growth and development. While it might seem like an easy way to get points in the short term, it ultimately results in failing to build one’s own skills and experience. Therefore, the most effective way to prevent free-riding is to persuade someone showing signs of wanting to free-ride that such behavior will, in a broader sense, be disadvantageous to them. This method will be highly effective.
