Psych 448 C Morality, Religion, and Justice

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Psych 448 C Morality, Religion, and Justice

• 10/19/08

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Agenda

• Lecture
• In-class assignment
• Distribute study sheet

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Moral Judgments and culture

• Are there universal stages of moral reasoning?
• Is there universal agreement on what are the most
  important moral principles?
• Do we use our emotions or reasoning to make moral
  judgments?

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Development of moral reasoning Lawrence Kohlberg
(1927-1987)

• Interested in the question of how do
• we explain why something is right or wrong?
• Developed Six Stages of Moral Development

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Presented dilemmas to children adults

• Most famous one the Heinz dilemma.
• In Europe, a woman was near death from a special
  kind of cancer. There was one drug that the
  doctors thought might save her. It was a form of
  radium that a druggist in the same town had
  recently discovered. the drug was expensive to
  make, but the druggist was charging ten times
  what the drug cost him to make. He paid 200 for
  the radium and charged 2,000 for a small dose of
  the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went
  to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried
  every legal means, but he could only get together
  about 1,000, which is half of what it cost. He
  told the druggist that his wife was dying, and
  asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay
  later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered
  the drug and I'm going to make money from it."
  So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets
  desperate and considers breaking into the man's
  store to steal the drug for his wife.

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Interview questions

• 1. Should Heinz steal the drug?
• 1a. Why or why not?
• 2. Is it actually right or wrong for him to steal
  the drug?
• 2a. Why is it right or wrong?
• 3. Does Heinz have a duty or obligation to steal
  the drug?
• 3a. Why or why not?
• Etc.

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Level 1 Preconventional
• Needs and fears
• Stage 1 fear of punishment should obey
  authority
• Shouldnt steal, because Heinz will get in
  trouble
• Stage 2 personal interest equal exchange
  satisfying needs
• Should steal, because his wife needs the
  medicine more than the druggist needs money
• Level 2 Conventional
• Level 3 Postconventional

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Level 1 Preconventional
• Level 2 Conventional
• Follow the conventions of others and society
• Stage 3 Interpersonal accord and conformity
  Live up to the expectations of people close to
  you
• His family will think hes good if he steals
• Stage 4 Social accord and system maintenance
• He should follow the law, because the law is
  what is right
• Level 3 Postconventional

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Level 1 Preconventional
• Level 2 Conventional
• Level 3 Postconventional
• Universal moral principles
• Stage 5 Should generally follow laws, not
  because they are morally right, but because they
  are a social contract
• Stage 6 Follow universal moral principles (of
  justice and individual rights), regardless of law
• Stages 5 6 generally combined
• Heinz should steal because it is always wrong to
  allow a person to die when you have the power to
  prevent it, regardless of what the law says.

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Six Stages of Moral Development

• Level 1 Preconventional
• Needs and fears
• Level 2 Conventional
• Follow the conventions of others and society
• Level 3 Postconventional
• Universal principles

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Example interview each other

• Mr. Adams is an officer on a large modern
  American cargo ship in 2004. One night, while at
  sea, he finds a sailor drunk at a time when the
  sailor should have been monitoring the radar
  screen. After the sailor sobers up, Adams
  punishes the sailor by giving him 5 lashes with a
  whip.
• Should Mr. Adams have whipped the sailor? Why or
  why not?
• Can you think of reasons from each stage?

Based on scenario in Kelly, Stich, Haley, Eng,
Fessler 2007
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Are these Universal stages of moral reasoning?

• 1. Do all cultures have all stages?

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Are these Universal stages of moral reasoning?

• Snarey et al. (1985)
• 45 studies from around the world, 26 different
  cultures
• All urbanized cultures had at least one adult
  that showed postconventional reasoning
• Both Western and non-Western cultures
• To different degrees ranging from 1 out of 20
  adults in city in Turkey to 10 out of 12 Kibbutz
  members (Israel)
• However, NO adults in Folk / Tribal societies
  show any post-conventional reasoning

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Are these Universal stages of moral reasoning?

• Snarey et al. (1985)

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Are these Universal stages of moral reasoning?

• 1. Do all cultures have all stages?
• NO.
• Problem with the cultures, not developed
  enough?
• Or a problem with the way the stages are defined?
• Are there other postconventional principles?

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Other postconventional principles?

• For example Taiwan Joe story
• In Kohlbergs manual, principle of filial duty
  not part of Postconventional thinking

Snarey 1985, p. 224
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Richard Shweder

• Professor at University of Chicago
• Cultural Anthropologist
• Kohlberg only focusing on some moral principles?
• Detailed analysis of moral discourse from
  residents of a north-east Indian city
• The Big Three Ethics of Autonomy, Community,
  and Divinity

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The Big Three 1. Ethic of Autonomy

• Issues of Harm, Rights, and Justice
• Should protect the freedom of individuals as much
  as possible
• Familiar to people in individualistic societies
• Would consider the following to be moral issues
• Harm
• Whether or not someone cared for someone weak or
  vulnerable
• Whether or not someone was cruel
• Fairness
• Whether or not some people were treated
  differently than others
• Whether or not someone tried to control or
  dominate someone else

Shweder et al, 1997 Graham, Haidt, Nosek, MFQ,
2007
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Ethic of Autonomy violation examples

• How much money would you need to be paid to be
  convinced to
• Stick a pin into the palm of a child you don't
  know.
• Accept a plasma screen television that a friend
  of yours wants to give you. You know that your
  friend bought the TV a year ago from a thief who
  had stolen it from a wealthy family.

Haidt, 2007
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The Big Three 2. Ethic of Community

• Issues of Duty, Loyalty, Hierarchy
• Should be good member of group as much as
  possible
• Would consider the following to be moral issues
• Loyalty to Ingroup
• Whether or not someone did something to betray
  his or her group
• Whether or not someones action showed love for
  his or her country
• Hierarchy
• Whether or not someone failed to fulfill the
  duties of his or her role
• Whether or not someone showed a lack of respect
  for authority

Shweder et al, 1997 Graham, Haidt, Nosek, MFQ,
2007
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Ethic of Community violation examples

• How much money would you need to be paid to be
  convinced to
• Say something slightly bad about your nation
  (which you don't believe to be true) while
  calling in, anonymously, to a talk-radio show in
  a foreign nation.
• Slap your father in the face (with his
  permission) as part of a comedy skit.

Haidt, 2007
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Ethic of Community violation examples

• How much money would you need to be paid to be
  convinced to
• Say something slightly bad about your nation
  (which you don't believe to be true) while
  calling in, anonymously, to a talk-radio show in
  a foreign nation.
• Slap your father in the face (with his
  permission) as part of a comedy skit.

Haidt, 2007
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The Big Three 3. Ethic of Divinity

• Issues of Sacred Order, Purity, Sanctity
• Should not violate the natural, sacred order of
  things should not violate the sanctity ones
  body
• Would consider the following to be moral issues
• Purity
• Whether or not someone violated standards of
  purity and decency
• Whether or not someone acted in a way that God
  would approve of

Shweder et al, 1997 Graham, Haidt, Nosek, MFQ,
2007
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Ethic of Divinity violation example

• How much money would you need to be paid to be
  convinced to
• Attend a performance art piece in which the
  actors act like animals for 30 min, including
  crawling around naked and urinating on stage.

Haidt, 2007
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Kohlberg versus Shweder

• Kohlbergs 6 stages
• Moral reasoning what kinds of reasons do you
  give?
• Preconventional, Conventional, Postconventional
• Problems May not be cross-culturally applicable,
  because focuses too narrowly on Ethic of Autonomy
• Shweders Big 3 Ethics
• Moral Concerns What do you think is a moral
  concern?
• Autonomy (harm fairness), Community (loyalty
  hierarchy), Divinity (purity sacred order)

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What happens when ethics conflict?

• Joan Miller
• PhD University of Chicago
• Now professor at New School for
• Social Research (NYC)
• Studies Ethics of Autonomy vs. Ethic of Community
  in US and in India

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A moral conundrum (Miller Bersoff, 1992)
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Your choices
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Why a moral conundrum?

• Must choose
• Violate your interpersonal obligation?
  (Community)
• Violate rules of not harming an innocent person?
  (Autonomy)
• Asked Indian and American children adults what
  would be your choice?

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Results for Adults
Percentage of adults who chose to
protect Interpersonal obligation
How undesirable the violations were
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Miller Bersoff, 1992 Moral Conundrum summary

• Indian and American adults chose to resolve the
  conundrum differently.
• Forced to choose, the Indian adults chose to
  follow Ethics of Community over Ethics of
  Autonomy more often than American adults did.
• Conversely, the American adults chose to violate
  the interpersonal obligation more often than the
  Indian adults did.
• Cultural differences in the relative importance
  of these different Ethics

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Are there universal moral concerns?

• Some moral concerns are not universally seen as
  important (e.g. Community and Divinity among
  liberal Americans)
• Given a conflict between these moral concerns,
  different cultures resolve them differently
• But there is still debate about whether or not
  some or all of these Big 3 Ethics have an innate
  basis

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How about this moral conundrum?

• There is a secret group of Seattleites who have
  the ritual practice of eating parts of their
  deceased relatives' bodies as part of elaborate
  funeral rituals.
• What do you feel when you read this?
• Which of the Big 3 Ethics are violated by the
  cannibals?
• Which of the Big 3 Ethics would be violated if
  you stopped the practice?
• Conflict between ethics (Divinity Autonomy, but
  also Community)

Based on scenario in Kelly, Stich, Haley, Eng,
Fessler 2007
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Disgust a natural moral emotion?

• Jonathan Haidt
• University of Virginia
• Is Disgust a good reason to judge something to be
  immoral?

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Disgust immoral?

• Asked high and low Socio-Economic Status (SES)
  adults in USA and Brazil whether or not a
  disgusting but harmless action was OK.
• (A man goes to the grocery store, buys a dead
  chicken, comes home masturbates with it cleans
  it thoroughly and eats it. Suffers no harm
  whatsoever.)
• What percentage of respondents say its not OK?

Haidt, Koller, Dias, 1993
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Disgust Immoral?

• Not so much for High-SES Americans, but more so
  for all other groups

Haidt, Koller, Dias, 1993
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Disgust Immoral?

• So, high-SES Americans (college students)
  generally think that a disgusting but harmless
  action is not morally wrong.
• They dont think that the feeling of disgust is a
  good reason to think somethings wrong.
• But what do they REALLY believe?

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Hypnotized Disgust

• Hypnotized Disgust (Wheatley Haidt, 2005)
• Participants hypnotized
• When you read the word often, you will feel a
  brief pang of disgust . . . a sickening feeling
  in your stomach. You will not remember that you
  have been told this.
• After being brought out of hypnosis, students
  given several different scenarios to read
• Asked to rate how immoral the person was, from 0
  to 100

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Hypnotized disgust example

• Congressman Arnold Paxton frequently gives
  speeches condemning corruption and arguing for
  campaign finance reform. But he is just trying to
  cover up the fact that he himself will take
  bribes from/is often bribed by the tobacco
  lobby, and other special interests, to promote
  their legislation.
• (often feel disgust)

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Hypnotized disgust

• What if there was no reason at all to think the
  person was immoral?

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Hypnotized disgust no-violation example

• Dan is a student council representative at his
  school. This semester he is in charge of
  scheduling discussions about academic issues. He
  tries to take/often picks topics that appeal to
  both professors and students in order to
  stimulate discussion.
• (often feel disgust)

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Hypnotized Disgust

• Why is Dan immoral?
• It just seems like hes up to something.
• Hes a popularity-seeking snob.
• It just seems so weird and disgusting
• I dont know why its wrong, it just is.

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Disgust Immoral? Summary

• For liberal college students, disgust isnt a
  good reason to think something is wrong
• but it still makes them feel like somethings
  wrong.

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So, do we use emotions or reasoning?

• Haidt argues that we more often first have an
  emotional response, which actually tells us
  whether or not something is morally wrong.
• Then we will try to come up with the reasons for
  our feelings.
• Disgust is a particularly powerful moral emotion
  even works on people who dont think its a good
  reason.

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Is disgust biologically wired?

• Evolutionary advantages
• Incest
• Cannibalism
• Social constructions
• Wearing Adolf Hitlers sweater
• Burning the American flag

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Moral Judgments and culture

• Are there universal stages of moral reasoning?
• Preconventional and Conventional (Kohlberg)
• Is there universal agreement on what are the most
  important moral principles?
• Community, Autonomy, and Divinity (Shweder)
• Do we use our emotions or reasoning to make moral
  judgments?
• Emotions, although reasoning is involved