S11 - Intuitions, Emotions and Ethical Decision-Making Flashcards
What are the two systems used during decision-making?
- Autopilot
Fast, automatic (low effort),
unconscious, default (intuition) - The Pilot
Slower, conscious (high effort),
reasoning (associated with rationality)
What is the role of emotions in the decision-making process?
- Emotions contribute to rational decision making
- Emotions act as moral intuition
* Emotions help to assess and appreciate a situation (e.g. identifying an ethical dilemma)
* Emotions are an essential aspect of ethical decision making - Emotions of the past are intuitions of the present
* A lot of intuitions come from our emotions, when we go through various situations.
* Emotions attach “somatic labels” which are connected to outcomes or scenarios experienced. Act as markers.
Is there a social aspect to ethical decision making?
Yes;
* Group effects (bias, spillover effects)
* Peer pressure
* The significant impacts of organizational culture
-> Shared values (not always those that are formally communicated)
-> Shared biases and prejudices
So why teach applied ethics if you don’t think before you decide?
- Intuitions are influenced by feedback
-> Thinking after a decision/its outcome can influence future decisions, future hunches and decision patterns - Understanding how we make decisions also allows us to bypass intuitions and to switch the decision towards a more rational process, but which takes into account
the emotions. - We can work at the level of organizational contexts, culture, leadership, in structures, organizational ethics programs, etc., to modulate the social aspect of ethical decision-making and try to influence behavior positively.
What is empathy?
Empathy is a “multidimensional construct to account for the sense of sharing and understanding the subjective experience of others”
* Integrates physiological, emotional, cognitive (theory of mind), and self-awareness aspects
What is emotional empathy? Cognitive empathy?
Emotional empathy
Defined as the vicarious experience of another’s emotions, or the experience of “coming to feel as another person feels”
Spontaneous emotional response to another’s emotional state / Bottom-up process.
Cognitive empathy
The “deliberate attempt to effortfully imagine what it is like to be in the emotional situation of another
person as if it is happening to you”
Top-down process / Partly voluntary, a skill
What are the functions of empathy?
Emotions motivate ethical behavior towards others (fuel the desire to help)
Empathy is a fundamental skill for social relations and moral reasoning, and as a potential source of altruistic behavior.
“Empathy-related processes are thought to motivate prosocial behavior, inhibit aggression, and provide the foundation for care-based morality”
What are some examples of empathy modulators?
- Nature of the relationship between individuals: degree of affiliation, emotional bond, proximity and similarity.
- Characteristics of the emotion: valence, intensity, salience.
- Characteristics of the empathetic person: mood, personality, gender, age, past experiences.
- Characteristics of the context, objectives, beliefs and values that we carry and that we share or not with the other person.
How does empathy help managers?
- Empathy allows for a more informed decision making in context of complexity. Emotional information obtained through empathic processes serve to:
* Signal the presence of a moral dilemma (act as a “moral marker”)
* Stimulate ethical reflection on the current situation
* Improve the understanding of a situation
* Assist in evaluating the possible consequences of decisions
* Find resolution to a range of issues and dilemmas in practice
* Double-edged sword: there are limits to empathy - Empathy is a skill of ethical managers
* Contributes to fostering cooperation and collaboration on the part of employees
* Create a positive relationship between the manager and his employees
* Promotes confidence, commitment, mobilization, team stability, good conflict management, loyalty to the organization / manager, job satisfaction and even career progression for managers
How does empathy help on the organizational level?
- Empathy is a prerequisite to moral engagement
* By connecting individuals and making us more aware of the feelings and potential consequences of our actions and decisions, empathy fosters moral engagement
* Empathic concern often leads to pro-social behavior towards other organizational (or extra-organizational) members - Empathy is a bulwark against cold, impersonal and dehumanized business
* Empathy on the part of managers and employees contributes to a more ethical organizational culture - Empathy is an essential aspect of efficient organizations
* Facilitates cooperation between organizational and extra-organizational members
* Is a facilitator of effective teamwork
How to develop/teach empathy?
- Empathic abilities can be stimulated by daily activities, such as healthy relationships at work
- Promoting closeness between managers and employees means fostering the empathic abilities of all
- Foster attention (eliminate distractions that keep us away from others)
- Develop emotional intelligence
- Recognize, understand, use and control your own emotions
- Recognize, understand, and respond to those of others - Development of cognitive empathy through experiential learning such as
role playing, but also artistic approaches (exposure to art, music, literary works)
- This allows people to develop their imaginative, emotional and aesthetic
faculties
What is the integrative model of ethical decision-making?
- Take note of your moral intuition
- Establish the facts
- Identify the ethical issue(s)
- Identify the stakeholders involved
- Identify the consequences
- Identify your obligations
- Reflect on your character and personal values
- Show empathy
- Explore decision options and alternatives
- Make an assumed decision
