When people are born they have not yet been exposed to or socialized with other people and they have not experienced situations to impact how they think. People are virtually a blank canvas and have not yet developed a personal value system. As individuals progress through life, they develop values based on what is learned or experienced. Individuals start to experience situations and have interactions with other people who impact the future choices and decisions that are made. This is the formation of each individual's value system.
Detail of The School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio...
The Journal of Ethics
From http://hypernews.ngdc.noaa.gov"A value is a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful." (Posner, R. & MSS, 2006) "Ethics can be defined as a set of moral principles or values." (Nelson, K. & Trevino, L., 2004) Each individual has different values and ethical standards that set the tone and the direction for one's life and for one's decision making process. These individual ethics and values are instilled by ones culture, background, and environment and continue to evolve throughout ones life. (Posner, R. & MSS, 2006) The entire process of value development is lifelong and continuous. (Nucci, 2002)Many things can impact the development of a person's values and ethics. These individual values and ethics are developed over many years and are impacted by many things such as family, friends, religion, environment, and many other environmental and cultural factors. As individuals experience these factors they develop an ability to think and reason and to form opinions on given situations. This individual reasoning and opinion formation results from the individual's values and ethics. As people's lives continue to evolve and goals are accomplished, their values and ethics continue to evolve as well. The bottom line is that individual values and ethics are impacted by many factors but they are formed by the person...