Losing Sense Of Guilt

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30937, 18 December 1965, Page 19

Losing Sense Of Guilt

CN.Z. Prest Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, Dec. 16. Australians, says a leading Sydney psychologist, are gradually losing their sense of conscience when it comes to stealing from shops and settling credit accounts. -

The psychol6gist, Mr Wilfred Jarvis, is a lecturer at the University of New South Wkles.

Mr Jarvis and his colleagues are dismayed by reports of increasing dishonesty among Australians, with retailers claiming that customers and employees are robbing them weekly of thousands of pounds. They also report that customers buy goods on credit accounts and hire purchase, then fail to meet their commitments. Mr Jarvis says, "There was a time, not so long ago, when an Aussie wouldn’t dream of welching on a bill. It was part of the national code to settle up like a man. “Thsi certainly isn’t the case nowadays.” Mental Structure Conscience, says Mr Jarvis, is a valuable part of our mental structure "which we seem to be growing out of when it comes to money matters.”

“In a lot of us," he says, “there is just no sense of guilt any more.” Monthly accounts with department stores or hire-pur-chase payments are regarded quite flippantly. "Many people just couldn’t give a damn, and scores of shoppers are becoming used to day-to-day dishonesty.

“People, who not so long ago wouldn’t have dreamt of stealing anything lift* things from supermarkets without a second thought Complete Disrespect “With many,” Mr Jarvis says, “it is just a case of complete disrespect for companies. They wouldn't rob a person near or dear to them, or fail to repay a debt to a friend.” The reason for this widescale loss of conscience? Mr Jarvis and the other pschologists agree that it is a symptom of our present affluent society, where the accent is on materialism.

The cure? “We can’t see one at this stage. It’s too big and too widespread a problem,” Mr Jarvis says. “And it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better."