In Psychology class, we learned about conditioning behavior via positive reinforcement and punishment. If someone performs a good deed, he/she will receive a reward, also known as positive reinforcement. This will increase the chance that this person will perform another good deed. However, if someone performs a bad deed, he/she will receive some form of punishment. This will decrease likeliness of reoccurrence. But the question is why should this person be punished or rewarded based on his/her actions? Simply because in general people would want this world to be filled with good rather than evil. Since people are defined by their actions and we want people to be good, we must reward their good behavior. On the other hand, we must punish bad behavior to reduce the chances of people performing bad deeds.
These rewards and punishments enable us to build a moral code by which we should live, even once the reinforcements stop. For instance, parents teach their children not to steal at a young age through reinforcement and punishment, but these children eventually develop a basic idea that stealing is wrong. Then the children should not steal even if they are punished for not stealing simply because they should know that it is wrong to steal. Just as revolutionaries do when tortured for their beliefs, all people should maintain their moral code. As long as we know what is right versus wrong, we should be able to do good, even if punished for it.
In The Book of Job, God punishes an innocent man for what appears to be no reason. I believe that he did so to demonstrate both his power and the unbending loyalty which everyone should have to God. He tortures Job to a horrible extent and even though he has not sinned, but his purpose is to prove that he is almighty and can do what he wants. In The Holocaust, Nazi generals would often injure innocent prisoners for the pure purpose of instilling fear and loyalty in the other captives. Similarly God made an example of his power on Job. This is meant to show that others should not question God’s motives or strength simply because he is God.
The psychology concept of conditioning is very interesting with respect to how we form our beliefs on what is good and evil and why we believe that good should be rewarded while evil punished. Furthermore, I think the fact that children know it is wrong to steal as demonstrated by their parents can also be connected to Kohlberg's stages of moral development.
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