Moral Decision-Making Em Mitchell & Jordan Wylie

Do we differ in our moral intuitions? Today we are going to be diving into moral psychology and thinking about what is means for something to be right and to be wrong – do we have differing intuitions on this? Photo source: https://psmag.com/social-justice/morality-can-trump-tribalism-83378

Moral Psychology- Quick Recap What is Deontology? Act-centered; right and wrong under a set of rules; Kantian Ex. Don’t Lie, Don’t steal What is Consequentialism? Consequence-centered, emphasizing the end result; John Stuart Mill Ex. How many people will be hurt by this action? Begin with think pair share for definitions of the two (either split the group and have half do deontology and other half do utility or all do both) Have students come up with what the differences are Both are prominent moral theories used to justify or formalize moral rules and people differ on what intuitions they have (neither are right or wrong!)

Class Activity – An Intro to the Trolley Problem We are going to make some decisions as a class—“blind” to reduce social pressure Each scenario will be explained and followed by a short “deciding period” (about 30 sec) Everyone should put their head down and vote for an action Don’t over think it - just go with your gut (or guess) Tally the votes and the scenario with the most votes will be the one we decide on as a class *Note: Please do not question the physics, just assume it happens the way it is described We will come back to ties – discuss them as a class -Once the scenario comes up, I will explain it and then there will be a short “deciding period” -In the scenario, there will be two sides –the ”decision” that the person IN THE BLUE is making is different on either side (TEACHER NOTE: -this is the classic trolley problem – the students are deciding which person or people to “save” from a trolley running them over. So, it is necessarily life or death situations, since this is how moral philosophers think about how we decide what is right and what is wrong; this can be a n opportunity to introduce what a thought experiment is – because that is what the trolley problem is) -After this, everyone will put their head down and vote for which action – the one on the right or the left, each students chooses -If you do not "decide,” just go with your gut (or guess) -I will tally the hands and the scenario with the most votes will be the one we decide on as a class

Class Activity – An Intro to the Trolley Problem We can tally them on the board in chalk. There are 2 scenarios (the traditional one as shown) Remind students not to question the physics You are selecting which action for the PERSON IN BLUE On left, is pulling the lever to divert the trolley from its straight path to kill one to save 5 (you can see the kill with the skull above the head) On the right, the BLUE person does not touch the switch, and instead leaves the trolley to go straight on its path (killing 5 instead of diverting to kill 1) This is a basic is more lives better than less? Some students may, however, think that action (inserting yourself to change the course of the trolley) is wrong – this is something you can all discuss if it is not unanimous (though it typically is very close to unanimous) Pulled from: moralmachine.mit.edu

Class Activity – An Intro to the Trolley Problem Here is the same problem – but time is limited (for the person in BLUE). You can either skip this one. Or you can limit time IN CLASS to make it more like what the blue person would be choosing – does this differ at all from above if you limit time? Pulled from: moralmachine.mit.edu

Class Activity – An Intro to the Trolley Problem It turns out – this one is really different! Deontologists no longer act! There’s something sticky about the rule of not doing harm to others – in this case, compared to the other, the harm would be direct. Pulled from: moralmachine.mit.edu

What do you think the results say? Is our class more deontological or utilitarian? Did you differ on average compared to our class? Do you think you are more deontological or utilitarian? Cold call a few students

Different Moral Compasses? What does it mean for something to be right? What does it mean for something to be wrong? Consequentialists Less emotional More rational? High in Need for Cognition Time pressure makes these go away (largely) Psychopathy? Deontologists More emotional More empathic Damage to “emotion” centers in the brain reduce this type of decision- making TPShare What kind of information were you using to make judgments and choices in the scenarios? Is our class mostly deontologists or consequentialists? In what situations do you think it would be important to have people following/you follow each of these judgment patterns?

Hidden slide Photo source: http://doublehelixdynamics.com/sample-page/research-findings/kohlberg-and-loevinger-debate/calvin-hobbes-the-moral-dilemma-issue/screen-shot-2017-01-21-at-20-34-15/