1 Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology Lecture 18

3 Announcement Due to renovations in the Kenny Building, Will’s (TA for students R-Z) office has been moved for the remainder of the term. Will’s new office is in the Botany Annex: Room 203.

4 Reminder Students who are planning to complete the optional paper for this course should submit their paper topic to their TA by the end of the day. Please indicate the paper option that you have selected (i.e., A or B) and provide a 2-3 sentence summary of your paper topic.

5 Morality 1.What codes of ethics guide morality in non-Western cultures? (continued) 2.What emotions accompany moral violations? 3.Do cultural groups vary in the extent to which they judge the morality of thoughts?

6 1. discuss cultural variation in Shweder’s codes of ethics. 2. identify the emotions that accompany distinct moral violations. By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 3. review research on the impact of disgust on moral reasoning. 4. discuss cultural variation in judgement of the morality of thoughts.

However, in other cultural contexts, the ethics of community and divinity are as important or more important than the ethic of autonomy. ● According to Shweder, the ethic of autonomy is most important in Western cultures. What codes of ethics guide morality in non-Western cultures? (continued)

 Example: Miller and Bersoff (1992) Presented Indian and American adults with moral dilemmas in which two ethics were in conflict.

9 What should Ben do?

Response choices: 10

What results do you expect? 11 (a) Indians and Americans choose to protect the Ethic of Community at the same rate. (c) Indians choose to protect the Ethic of Community more often than Americans. (b) Americans choose to protect the Ethic of Community more often than Indians (d) Indian and Americans choose to protect the Ethic of Autonomy at the same rate.

Sample Dilemma (Ben)

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?

14  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.

15  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.

16  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.

17 ● Notably, within cultures, the importance of these ethics varies among groups: political groups (Haidt, 2007) orthodox (i.e., fundamentalist) and progressive (i.e., modernist) religious groups (Jensen, 1997)

18 Number of Justifications

What emotions accompany moral violations? ● Consider the following:

21 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?

22 An individual’s mother has died. However, he chooses not to attend her funeral because he has a number of social and work- related obligations that he feels he must attend to. Has this individual behaved immorally? What emotion does reading this passage generate for you?

23 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?

● 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:

25  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.

Moral Condemnation

27  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.

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.

29 Dan’s Immorality (0-100)

30 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.”

31 ● The extent to which the experience of disgust impacts moral reasoning may be influenced by socioeconomic status (SES):

32  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:

33 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.

Percentage indicating the behaviour was Immoral

35 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 experienced disgust.  Follow up questions revealed that:

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:

37 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.

38 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).

39 Presented Jews and Protestants with vignettes in which individuals were thinking about immoral behaviours:

40 Mr. B is a 1992 graduate of the University. Since graduation, Mr. B. has worked at an entry-level job in a marketing firm. Mr. B. married his University sweetheart six months after they both had their graduation from University. Mr. B. and his wife do not have any children. One of Mr. B.’s colleagues at work is a very attractive woman. This woman sometimes flirts with Mr. B. and they both know that she would be willing to have a sexual affair with him. For an average of 20 minutes a day, Mr. B. consciously entertains thoughts about having a sexual affair with his colleague by thinking about where they would have an affair and what it would be like to have an affair with her.

41 Mr. B. is a senior at the College of Arts and Sciences. One of his courses is a seminar in marketing strategy. Mr. B. asked his professor for permission to turn in his final paper late because of his heavy course load. But his professor did not give him permission, although it was within his right to do so. Mr. B. was not able to get his paper finished on time, and his grade on the paper was changed from an A− to a C. Mr. B. is angry at his professor because of this. Every day on the way to school, Mr. B. passes by this professor's house and sees the professor's dog in the yard. His professor has brought up his dog many times in class, and everyone knows that the professor loves the dog very much. One day Mr. B. realized that it would be easy to give the dog a treat with poison in it, and no one would ever know that he did it. Sometimes, Mr. B. consciously entertains thoughts about poisoning his professor's dog.

42 Found that: The thoughts were viewed as more immoral by Protestants than Jews. The behaviours were viewed as comparably immoral by Protestants and Jews. Protestants were more likely than Jews to believe that individuals have control over their thoughts. Protestants were more likely than Jews to believe that thoughts lead to behaviours.

43 Morality 1.What codes of ethics guide morality in non-Western cultures? (continued) 2.What emotions accompany moral violations? 3.Do cultural groups vary in the extent to which they judge the morality of thoughts?