Week 1 - Intro to Moral Psych

Moral Psychology

The empirical and conceptual study of moral judgement, motivation, and development and their interaction(s) with emotion, identity and culture

Where moral psychology exists

Exists @ intersection of philosophy and psychology

What moral psych aims to understand

Aims to understand various aspects of morality, but not usually what are or are not moral ways of being

Two ways of using the word "morality"

1. To refer to a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, should be followed by all rational people

2. To refer to certain codes of conduct put forward by a society or a group or accepted by an inidividual for their own behaviour

Morality vs. Ethics

Former = personal/normative

Latter = pertains to standards of right and wrong set by a community or group

Normative Ethics

- Attempts to discover which actions are right or wrong

- Analyzes how people should act/behave

- Includes philosophy/theology

Main normative theories

1. Deontology (Divine command theory)

2. Consequentialism

3. Virtue Ethics

Descriptive Ethics

- Describes people's moral beliefs, claims, and behaviour

- Analyzes how people do act, and what their moral standards are

- Includes psychology, sociology, and anthropology

Normative vs. Descriptive Ethics

- Former = how people should act, latter = how people do act

- Former - actions right or wrong? Latter = describes moral actions/beliefs

Deontology

- a normative theory

- From Immanuel Kant

- Includes categorical imperatives

What are the categorical imperatives of deontology

- The Universalizing Principle

- The Formula of Humanity

Categorical Imperatives

Certain moral truths/rules that should always be followed, and they come from reason/logic

The Universalizing Principle

A categorical imperative

- Only do actions that you are ok with being a universal laws without contradiction

- If you steal, you say stealing is ALWAYS right

The Formula of Humanity

A categorical imperative

- humanity is always an end, never as a means

- Lying is never ok because it robs the person of their autonomy, REGARDLESS of outcome/ reason for lying

Consequentialism

Morality is about doing what has the best consequences

- Most popular formation is utilitarianism

Who formed consequentialism

Jeremy Bentham formed this

Utilitarianism

Actions that lead to happiness and minimize unhappiness or harm are moral (hedonism)

- greatest good for greatest # of people

Who created virtue ethics?

Aristotle created this

Virtue Ethics

Emphasizes moral character before moral deeds

- if one is moral, they tend to behave morally

What the path to virtue is about in virtue ethics

This is about balance (honest but not too honest) → The golden mean

How we become virtuous in virtue ethics

We will eventually become this by practicing virtuous behaviour

What living virtuously leads to in virtue ethics

This leads to a life worth living (eudaimonia)

Summary of normative theories when someone needs help

1. a utilitarian will help because this maximizes well-being

2. A deontologist will help because they will be acting in accordance with a moral rule

3. A virtue ethicist will help because it would be virtuous and thus will keep them on a path to becoming virtuous.

What response problems such as the organ donor usually elicit (normative) --> Kill 1 man, harvest his organs, and save 5

These usually elicit a deontological response (murder (of innocents) is never acceptable)

What response problems such as the trolley problem usually elicit (normative)

Generally 80%-90% say they would sacrifice 1 to save 5

- Exception = hypothetical shock mouse (60% say would shock 1, but real life, 84% chose to shock 1)