Moral judgement - Partial due to strike Flashcards
Who proposed the research question
“For how much money, would you do the following?”
Edward L. Thorndike, 1937
Thorndike,E.L. (1937)
Give examples of Edward L Thorndike’s proposed options regarding Morality
1.Have one upper front tooth pulled out
2.Choke a stray cat to death
Provide a summary of Deontological Theory
‘Good’ actions follow certain moral rules
Immanuel Kant -moral rules should be adhered to if universalising the opposite would make an impossible world
BUT…is absolutist – some actions are always good or bad without judging context
In morality the following describes which type of theories
1.Focus on the consequences of an action
2. Jeremy Bentham + J.S. Mill Utilitarianism: the greatest happiness for the greatest number
3. BUT…no space for moral rules and focuses too much on the ends rather than the means.
Consequentialist theories
in the Trolley Problem a trolley car heading towards a group of people can be switched to a track in which it will hit only one person
to change the track requires an action
changing the track represent which theory structure
- Consequentialist / Utilitarian - Pull the lever – the trolley kills one person on the side track - this result in the more people surviving
2.To do nothing – the trolley kills the five people on the main track would be Deontological as the action of changing the track causes the death of a person and killing is wrong
Haidt’s (2001) approach argues that the way that people arrive at most of their moral judgments is by:
relying on intuitions, only coming up with reasons after we have reached a judgment
Experiments have found that if you make people disgusted, this can lead to:
more severe moral judgments, particularly with regard to sexual behaviour
What are the levels of Kohlberg’s model of moral development?
Level 1. Preconventional= Punishment- obedience, Instrumental -hedonistic
Level 2. Conventionial = Good- Child,Law and Order
Level 3. Post Conventional = Social Contract, Universal ethical principles
Provide an overview of Lawrence Kohlbergs Pre-conventional stage of moral Development
Kohlberg, L. (1963; 1984)
Stage 1.
Pre-conventional: Based on punishment and rewards
1. Punishment-obedience – Avoiding punishment“Heinz should steal the drug because if he lets his wife die he’ll get into trouble.”
2. Instrumental-hedonistic – Gaining rewards“Heinz should steal the drug because that way he’ll still have his wife with him.”
Provide an overview of Lawrence Kohlbergs conventional stage of moral Development
Kohlberg, L. (1963; 1984)
Stage 2 .
Conventional:
Conformity to other people’s values
3. Good-child – Gaining approval of others“Heinz should steal the drug because people will think he is bad if he doesn’t.”
4. Law-and-order – Respecting authority and maintaining social order”Heinz should steal the drug because it’s his duty to take care of his wife.
Provide an overview of Lawrence Kohlbergs Post -conventional stage of moral Development
Kohlberg, L. (1963; 1984)
Level 3
Post-conventional:
Internalised moral values
5. Social-contract – General moral principles promoting welfare and individual rights“Heinz should steal the drug because he is doing it to save a life.”
6. Universal ethical principles – Abstract moral principles of justice and equality”Heinz should steal the drug because saving life should always come before financial gain.”
Name 3 Aspects of the role of Reasoning vs. Emotion In moral judgment?
1.Dual processes model of moral judgment
2.Social intuitionist model (SIM)
3.The Case of Disgust
What does Greene, J. D., Sommerville, R. B., Nystrom, L. E., Darley, J. M., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). study of the trolley problem switch and bridge cases show
Dual processes model of moral judgment
Moral judgment produced by either of two distinct processes
Moral decisions vary in the extent to which they engage emotional processing and these variations influence moral judgment
People tend to have an automatic emotional response to the footbridge dilemma (‘bridge’ case) that leads them to judge the action of pushing the man inappropriate
Situational factors willdetermine whetheremotion or reasoning driveour moral judgments
Give some examples of criticisms to the Dual processes model of moral judgment
Mostly connected to using the trolley problem
Low external validity
Too unrealistic
Bauman and colleagues (2014)
Doesn’t predict real life choices
Bostyn, Sevenhant & Roets (2018)
Too reductionist, has problematic implications for real world contexts,e.g. self-driving cars
JafariNaimi (2017)
Utilitarianism is more
complicated than just sacrificing
Kahane and colleagues (2018)
The Below describes what aspect of Dual Process theories of Moral Judgement
Moral judgment mostly driven by emotion / intuition
Cultural and social influences shape emotional moral intuitions (System 1)
Reasoning (System 2) typically post-facto justifications of initial moral intuitions
Social intuitionist model (SIM)
