You see a bicycle on the road. Nobody is near it. You don't know who owns it.

What do you do?

• Leave it. I don't want trouble with police. Maybe it's a test.
• Leave it. I don't want people to think I'm a thief.
• Leave it. Nobody would see me take it... but stealing is wrong.
• A free bicycle! I need one. The owner doesn't need it now. Lucky me!
• If the owner is stupid to leave it here, someone will take it. It might as well be me!

You see an unattended bicycle while walking on the road. You're not sure who owns it but nobody seems to be around.

What do you do?

• Leave it alone. The last thing I need is problems with the law right now. It could be a trap or a setup.
• Leave it alone. I'd hate to have a reputation around town as a thief.
• Leave it alone. I wouldn't get caught... But stealing is just morally the wrong thing to do.
• Oh nice, a free bicycle! I need one badly and this owner obviously doesn't need it right now. It's my turn for some good luck!
• If the owner is stupid enough to leave it here and I can guarantee it will be stolen soon by someone. Then it may as well be me!

Fear is a feeling everyone knows. All people feel fear. Some societies use fear to control people. They say: "If you do bad things, we will punish you very badly." This can make society safe, but it can also hurt many people. Leaders like Draco and Genghis Khan used fear to control their people.

Fear is the most basic emotion in the human brain. People in all cultures understand fear. A society built on fear works in one simple way: the threat of terrible punishment is the only sure way to keep order. In history, this system has created both great stability and great human suffering. When we look at leaders like Draco and Genghis Khan, we see the clear choice between using terror efficiently and destroying human dignity.

Fear can make society safe very quickly. In ancient Athens, a man called Draco made new laws. His laws were very strict - you could die for stealing! But the laws stopped families from fighting each other.

Genghis Khan also used fear. He built a huge empire. People were so scared that nobody stole anything. A person could walk across Asia with gold and be safe. Fear stopped crime and helped trade.

The main benefit of a fear-based system is that it can create quick and equal stability. In 7th-century BCE Athens, Draco replaced a chaotic system of private family fights with written laws. His laws were very harsh - even small crimes like theft could get the death penalty - but they worked to centralize power and stop the cycle of family revenge.

Similarly, Genghis Khan used fear of total destruction to build the Mongol Empire. This created the Pax Mongolica, a time when people said a traveler could carry gold from one side of Asia to the other without being robbed. In these cases, fear worked to reduce crime and make trade safer.

But fear has big problems. It stops people from having new ideas. It makes society weak.

• Not fair: Draco's laws punished accidents the same as crimes. If you hurt someone by mistake, you got the same punishment as a murderer. Later, Solon changed these bad laws.
• Not stable: People get used to fear. Then the government must be more and more cruel. This usually ends badly - people fight back or the system breaks.

However, the problems of fear-based systems are very destructive. Fear-based government stops new ideas and creates a weak social system.

• Injustice: Draco's laws did not separate accidents from crimes done on purpose. The law could not see the difference, so Solon eventually cancelled these laws.
• Instability: Ruling by terror needs to keep getting worse. When people get used to punishment, the state must use even more cruelty to stay in control. This often causes the system to collapse or people to revolt.

In some societies, people behave well because they don't want others to think badly of them. This is called a "shame culture." People care a lot about what their family and neighbours think. If you do something bad, everyone knows and you feel ashamed. This is different from feeling guilty inside yourself - shame comes from other people judging you.

A shame-based society (also called an "honor-shame" culture) uses social pressure from others and the fear of being excluded to keep order. Unlike guilt-based societies, where people control themselves with their own conscience, shame-based systems care most about how the group sees you. This creates a strong but often strict social system.

Shame cultures can be very strong. The Japanese Samurai had a code called Bushido. It was about honour and doing the right thing. If a Samurai was a coward or a liar, he and his whole family would be shamed. Nobody would respect them anymore. This made Samurai very brave and honest.

Today, shame cultures often have less crime because people want to protect their family's good name.

The main benefit of a shame-based system is its strong ability to create group responsibility and self-control. The Bushido code of the Japanese Samurai is a good historical example. Bushido focused on gi (doing what is right) and meiyo (honor). A warrior's value depended on his public honesty and integrity. Because one act of cowardice or dishonesty would bring "social death" to the person and their whole family, this code created very disciplined and loyal leaders. Today, this way of thinking can lead to high cooperation in society and low crime, because people are very motivated to protect their community's reputation.

But shame cultures have problems too. They can hurt people who are weak, especially women.

• Unfair to women: In some countries, family honour depends on what women do. Women cannot choose their own education or husband.
• Dangerous control: If a woman does something the family doesn't like, they might stop her from going out, or worse. Some families even hurt or kill women to "save" their honour. This is very wrong.

The problems are found in limiting individual rights and keeping social inequality. Because "honor" is often connected to traditional power structures, it often hurts the most vulnerable people. In the end, while shame can create an orderly and loyal society, it often does this by sacrificing the individual to what the group thinks.

• Gender Oppression: In parts of India and various Muslim-majority countries, the idea of izzat (honor) or sharaf is often unfairly placed on women's behavior.
• The "Honour" Trap: When a woman's actions—from her education choices to whom she marries—are seen as the only measure of a family's status, shame becomes a tool for extreme control.

Some societies are built on pride. People want to be heroes! They want others to respect them for being brave or strong. They want people to remember them after they die. Vikings and Celts were like this. They didn't follow rules because of fear or shame—they wanted to be the best and win glory.

A pride-based society (often called "heroic" or "contest" cultures by anthropologists) is driven by the search for personal respect, fighting ability, and a lasting legacy. Unlike fear-based systems that demand obedience or shame-based systems that demand conformity, pride-based cultures encourage people to be better than their peers through extraordinary achievements.

Pride societies create amazing achievements! Vikings and Celts earned their place by being brave, not by being born rich.

• Be remembered forever: Vikings were not afraid of death—they were afraid of being forgotten! This made them explore new lands and do great things.
• Protect yourself: In some African tribes like the Maasai, a man's pride in defending his animals means he doesn't need police.

The main benefit of a pride-based society is its amazing ability to drive individual achievement and community strength. In Viking and Celtic cultures, a person's social position was not just inherited but earned through drengskapr (courage and integrity) or bravery in battle.

• The Immortality of Reputation: This belief created the "heroic age" mentality, where the fear of death was less important than the fear of being forgotten.
• Self-Governance: In many herder societies, like the Nuer or Maasai, a "culture of honor" based on pride works as protection without needing an army.

But pride has big problems. Everyone wants to be number one, so there is always fighting.

• Never-ending fights: If someone insults you, you must fight back or look weak. This creates long family wars that last for generations.
• Can't work together: The Celts were brilliant people, but they could never unite. When the Romans came, the Celts lost because they couldn't fight together.

The problem with this system is the natural instability of a society where everyone is competing for the top position.

• The Cycle of Revenge: When pride is the most important thing, any insult must be answered to avoid losing status. This leads to endless "blood feuds."
• Weak Cooperation: Pride-based societies often struggle to form large, united countries. The Celts were famously unable to unite against the Roman Empire.

In guilt cultures, people control themselves. You don't need police or neighbours watching you. You have a voice inside you—your conscience—that tells you what is right and wrong. If you do something bad, you feel guilty even if nobody knows. Western countries like America and Europe are mostly guilt cultures.

A guilt-based society depends on an internal moral code—a "conscience"—to control behavior. Unlike fear (enforced by the state) or shame (enforced by the community), guilt is self-controlled. It is the main force in individualistic societies, where the person is an independent moral being responsible for their own good behavior.

The good thing about guilt is that people behave well even when alone. Nobody is watching, but you still do the right thing.

• Socrates said: Doing bad things hurts your soul. If you really understand what is right, you won't want to do wrong.
• Christianity: Christians believe that sin is wrong against God, not just wrong against other people. So you feel guilty even if no human sees you.

The main benefit of a guilt-based system is its ability to keep order even when no one is watching. Because the "judge" is yourself, people are motivated to act ethically whether they are being watched or not.

• The Philosophical Foundation: Socrates argued that doing wrong harms the soul more than any external punishment could.
• Stoic and Christian Development: Christianity developed this through the idea of "sin" as a personal wrong against God, moving morality from public performance to internal relationship.

But guilt has problems too. It can hurt your mind and make you lonely.

• Too much pressure: If everything is your fault, you carry a heavy weight. People often get anxiety and depression.
• Lonely people: If everyone follows their own conscience, people stop caring about the group. Modern Western societies often have lonely people who have no community.

The problem with this system is the possibility of mental breakdown and social isolation.

• Mental Burden: In a guilt-based culture, failure is completely your own responsibility. Guilt can become a constant, damaging weight, leading to anxiety and depression.
• Breaking Down Community: By making individual conscience more important than social harmony, these societies can become separated and isolated.

Some societies are based on envy. This often happens in communist countries. The idea is: everyone should be equal. But instead of making poor people richer, these societies make rich people poorer. If your neighbour has more than you, that's not good—it's a crime!

An envy-based society is often the unintended result of "basic communism" or extreme equality movements. While the stated goal is social justice, the working method often changes from "raising the bottom" to "pulling down the top." In this system, a neighbor's success is not seen as an example to copy, but as a crime against the collective.

Envy societies can do some good things. They can destroy unfair old systems and give everyone basic needs.

• Soviet Union: At first, the USSR ended the old Russian class system. They gave everyone education and jobs.
• Everyone together: Because nobody can be much richer than others, people feel equal. There are no very rich or very poor people.

The main benefit of an envy-based structure is its effectiveness at destroying old aristocracies and making sure everyone has basic survival needs met.

• The Promise of the Soviet Union: In its early stages, the USSR successfully destroyed the Tsarist class system, providing education and jobs for everyone.
• Social Safety Net: The "envy" of the group acts as a control that prevents huge wealth gaps from forming.

But envy societies have big problems. These problems destroyed the Soviet Union.

• No reason to work hard: If you work hard and do well, people punish you! Soviet workers said: "They pretend to pay us, we pretend to work."
• Everyone spies: The government told people to report their neighbours. Nobody could trust anyone.
• Secret rich people: The leaders said everyone was equal, but they had secret luxuries. When people found out, they became very angry.

The problems of envy-based government eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

• The "Crab Mentality": When excellence is punished, people lose the reason to innovate. Workers said, "They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work."
• Organized Spying: Citizens were encouraged to report neighbors who had "illegal" luxuries. This destroyed trust.
• The "Nomenklatura" Paradox: Ironically, these societies created a new elite—the Party bureaucrats—who enjoyed secret luxuries.