What keeps peoples morals in check? When you think about it, morals are what currently humanity demands. Morals are laws, based on the current standards and beliefs, so now the question is, what are real morals, if there are any? Why be good when all that it is are the ideas of others that are keeping our world in "check"? The laws of our country, or the most basic are indeed somewhat based on the 10 commandments, or at least some of them, "thou shalt not kill", "thou shalt not steal" and so on and so forth, so if we get our morals from the Christian God, who is constantly demanding genocide in his book, then why hasn't the world gone to hell in a hand basket? Because there are natural reasons. We can find examples of this in nature, some birds will assert their dominance by feeding their subordinates, and some chiefs in the South pacific were known to hold lavish feats with each of the contenders for the chief spot by out doing each other until all but one were left ruined and destroyed (in an economic sense) also, it has been observed that in some animal communities a sense of charity has been established, but instead a return favor is typically expected. A third reason for "good moral behavior" is others perception of one, or a "reputation". Reputation is a big part of human life, as it does not matter what is done, but usually what people THINK is done. This reason can also tie in with the assertion of dominance, but otherwise there you have it, morals.