Transcript What are Shweder`s codes of ethics? (continued)

Psychology 307:
Cultural Psychology
Lecture 17
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Reminder: Optional Paper
Topic due date: March 21 (Option A or B, 3-5 sentence
summary; e-mail to your TA for approval).
Paper due date: April 4.
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Morality
1. What are Shweder’s codes of ethics? (continued)
2. What emotions accompany moral violations?
3. Do cultural groups vary in the extent to which they
judge the morality of thoughts?
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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:
1. discuss cultural variation in Shweder’s codes of ethics.
2. identify the emotions that accompany distinct moral
violations.
3. review research on the impact of disgust on moral
reasoning.
4. discuss cultural variation in judgement of the morality
of thoughts.
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What are Shweder’s codes of ethics? (continued)
● According to Shweder, the ethic of autonomy is most
important in Western cultures.
However, in other cultures, the ethics of community and
divinity are as important or more important than the
ethic of autonomy.
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 Example: Miller and Bersoff (1992)
 Presented Indian and American adults with moral
dilemmas in which two ethics were in conflict.
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What should Ben do?
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Response choices:
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What results do you expect?
(a) Indians and Americans choose to protect the Ethic of
Community at the same rate.
(b) Americans choose to protect the Ethic of Community
more often than Indians.
(c) Indians choose to protect the Ethic of Community more
often than Americans.
(d) Indian and Americans choose to protect the Ethic of
Autonomy at the same rate.
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Sample Dilemma (Ben) 10
The Kargar Case
In 1996 in Maine, USA (State of Maine v. Mohammed Kargar,
679 A. 2d 81), an Afghani immigrant was charged with child
molestation after he was seen kissing the genitals of his infant
son. Mohammed Kargar provided baby-sitting services to local
families. One of these children saw Mohammed Kargar place a
kiss on the genitals of his own 18-month-old son. Disturbed by
this behavior, the child that Kargar was babysitting reported
Kargar’s behavior to her parents, who then reported the incident
to the police. Kargar claimed that his gesture is customary and
familiar to members of his family and within the Afghani
community, where it is understood as a display of love and
affection for baby boys.
Was Kargar’s behavior immoral?
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 Ethic of Autonomy
Concerned with harm, rights and justice. Moral
issues include:
Whether or not someone was harmed.
Whether or not someone suffered emotionally.
Whether or not someone cared for someone weak/vulnerable.
Whether or not someone was cruel.
Whether or not someone was denied his/her rights.
Whether or not someone acted unfairly.
Whether or not some people were treated differently than
others.
Whether or not someone tried to dominate someone else.
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 Ethic of Community
Concerned with duty, loyalty, and hierarchy. Moral
issues include:
Whether or not someone showed a lack of loyalty.
Whether or not someone did something to betray his/her group.
Whether or not the action affected your group.
Whether or not someone’s action showed love for his/her
country.
Whether or not someone failed to fulfill the duties of his/her role.
Whether or not someone conformed to the traditions of society.
Whether or not someone showed a lack of respect for authority.
Whether or not an action caused chaos or disorder.
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 Ethic of Divinity
Concerned with sacred order, purity, and sanctity.
Moral issues include:
Whether or not someone violated standards of purity and
decency.
Whether or not someone was able to control his or her desires.
Whether or not someone acted in a way that God would
approve of.
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The Shafia Family Case
In 2009 in Kingston, Ontario, Shafia sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17,
and Geeti, 13, along with Rona Amir Mohammed, 50, were found
dead inside a car that was underwater. The girls were daughters of
Mohammad Shafia and his second wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya.
The couple also had a son Hamed, 20. On July 23, 2009,
Mohammad, Tooba Yahya, and Hamed were arrested on charges of
first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. It was
speculated that the murder was an honour killing; Zainab and
Sahar had brought shame on the family by dressing in less modest
Western garb and keeping secret boyfriends. In secret wiretaps
recorded in the days after the deaths, Mohammad Shafia can be
heard saying, “God curse their generation, they were filthy and
rotten children" and "Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows,
nothing is more dear to me than my honour.”
Should the Canadian government accept “cultural relativism” as a
defense?
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● Notably, within cultures, the importance of these ethics
varies among groups:
 orthodox (i.e., fundamentalist) and progressive
(i.e., modernist) religious groups (Jensen, 1997).
 political groups (Graham et al., 2009; Haidt, 2008).
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Number of Justifications
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What emotions accompany moral violations?
● Consider the following:
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A soldier has died in military combat. At her funeral, as her
parents are grieving, a group of religious fundamentalists begin
to protest, chanting that God is killing Canadian soldiers
because the government is permitting individuals who are
homosexual to serve in the military.
Have the protesters behaved immorally?
What emotion does reading this passage generate for you?
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An individual’s mother has died. However, he chooses not to
attend her funeral because he has a number of social and workrelated obligations that he feels he must attend to.
Has this individual behaved immorally?
What emotion does reading this passage generate for you?
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A brother and sister, who are especially close, are traveling
together through Europe. One night they decide to have sex
with each other. Although they enjoy it, they vow never to do it
again, and that it would be their own private secret that keeps
them close.
Have this brother and sister behaved immorally?
What emotion does reading this passage generate for you?
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● Research suggests that distinct emotions are associated
with distinct moral violations:
Autonomy violations: Anger
Community violations: Contempt
Divinity violations: Disgust
● Several studies have demonstrated that the experience
of disgust leads people to judge simultaneous events as
being immoral:
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 Example: Schnall et al. (2008)
 Manipulated disgust among participants using
“fart spray.”
Control condition: Normal smelling room.
Mild “stink” condition: Four sprays.
Strong “stink” condition: Eight sprays.
 Asked participants to assess the morality of
dubious behaviours in vignettes.
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Moral Condemnation
 Wheatley and Haidt (2005)
 Hypnotized participants:
“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.”
 Participants then rated the morality of a target
individual in several scenarios.
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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.
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Dan’s Immorality (0-100)
 Participants’ explanations:
“It just seems like he’s up to something.’’
“He’s a popularity-seeking snob.’’
‘‘It just seems so weird and disgusting.’’
“I don’t know [why it’s wrong], it just is.”
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● The extent to which the experience of disgust impacts
moral reasoning may be influenced by socioeconomic
status (SES):
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 Example: Haidt, Koller, and Dias (1993)
 Recruited American and Brazilian participants of
varying socioeconomic status (SES).
 Asked participants to rate the morality of the man in the
following vignette:
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A man goes to the supermarket once a week and buys a dead
chicken. But before cooking the chicken, he has sexual
intercourse with it. Then he cooks and eats it.
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Percentage indicating the behaviour
was Immoral
 Follow up questions revealed that:
High SES individuals tended to base their decision on
the degree of harm caused (i.e., the ethic of
autonomy).
Low SES individuals tended to base their decision on
the extent to which they were “bothered” or felt
disgust.
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Do cultural groups vary in the extent to which they
judge the morality of thoughts?
● Research suggests that cultures vary in the extent to
which they judge the morality of thoughts:
 Example: Cohen and Rozin (2001)
 Hypothesized that Protestants would judge the morality
of thoughts to a greater extent than Jews due to their
distinct religious doctrines:
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Hebrew Bible (Old Testament): The Ten Commandments
emphasize behaviour. Examples:
You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain
Remember the Sabbath day. On it, you shall do no work.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
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Christian Bible (New Testament): Passages reference the
morality of thoughts. Example:
Jesus stated “You have heard it said ‘you shall not commit
adultery’: but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a
woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her
already in his heart” (Matthew 5: 27-28: New American
Standard version).
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Morality
1. What are Shweder’s codes of ethics? (continued)
2. What emotions accompany moral violations?
3. Do cultural groups vary in the extent to which they
judge the morality of thoughts?
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