Transcript Ethical Development (Kohlberg)

Ethical Decisions and Ethical Judgment
Theories about ethical judgment
and behavior
ACCT7320 Fall 2011
Your responses to dilemma of
confronting boss over tax fraud
Histogram
14
12
12
10
Frequency
10
8
8
6
Frequency
4
4
2
2
2
1
0
0
10
20
0
30
40
0
50
60
70
Probability of Confronting
80
90
100
Rest’s 4-Component Model of Ethical
Behavior
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Moral
Moral
Moral
Moral
sensitivity
judgment
motivation
character
James Rest & colleagues 1960’s
Ethical Development (Kohlberg)
Ethical Development: Conventional Level
Ethical Development: Postconventional Level
Rationalist vs. Intuitionist Theories
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Kohlberg adopted the tradition of philosopher
Immanuel Kant, holding the view that
individuals interact with their environment in
a rational process that becomes more and
more refined through time.
Other philosophers (Hume?) have seen us as
more emotionally/instinctively driven
Is ethical decision-making instinctive?
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“Intuitionist” theorists claim that moral
judgment is almost (or completely)
devoid of rational judgment
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driven by immediate instinctual
responses which the decider then justifies
by ex post explanations that masquerade
as rational reasons.
The social-intuitionists’ work
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Attracted attention in the popular press as
well as academic literature. For examples,
see Joshua Greene’s website,
www.wjh.harvard.edu/~jgreene/,
Jonathan Haidt’s website,
http://people.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/, and
www.yourmorals.org/links.php.
Dilemmas to demonstrate
Streetcar dilemma……vs……..Footbridge dilemma
The End