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Recent work in moral psychology demonstrates that case discussion helps students to refine decision making techniques, leads them to question unexamined attitudes, and helps improve their moral reasoning. This module works with these developments by providing students with short, realistic scenarios whose narratives end at crucial points of decision. Students are provided with solutions that bring the narrative to a close and are asked to evaluate and rank them by using ethics and feasibility tests. The format bears a superficial resemblance to the Gray Matters exercise currently being used at Boeing Corporation in their ethics training program. But this particular version is more open-ended (students are invited to design their own solutions) and more oriented toward getting students to think about ethical issues and values. The first UPRM version of this module was introduced during an NSF funded retreat (SBR-9810253) held at Maricao, Puerto Rico in 1999. Different versions of this activity have been used in engineering, computer, and business ethics classes. This module is being developed as a part of an NSF-funded project, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF SES 0551779.

The cases used in this module have been developed through NSF SBR-9810253 and UPRM ABET EAC Workshops. Also to thanks to Jaime Rodriguez, a former MBA student at UPRM, for providing cases 1 and 2.This module represents a modification of the Gray Matters format developed by George Sammet. For a more detailed description of the history of Gray Matters, see Whitbeck, Caroline. 1998. Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 176-181.)

Directions

    Read the following scenarios and the accompanying solutions.

  • Evaluate the alternatives in terms of the tests described below.
  • Choose the one you think best or design your own solution if you believe you can do better.
  • Summarize your results by filling in the solution evaluation matrix that apprears on the page following the scenario. Notice that the first column repeats the solution alternatives.
  • Be prepared to present your matrix to the class. You will also provide the other groups in the class with a copy of your matrix for their ethics portfolios

    Solution evaluation tests

  • REVERSIBILITY: Would I think this is a good choice if I were among those affected by it?
  • PUBILICITY: Would I want to be publicly associated with this action through, say, its publication in the newspaper?
  • HARM/BENEFICENCE: Does this action do less harm than any of the available alternatives?
  • FEASIBILITY: Can this solution be implemented given time, technical, economic, legal, and political constraints?

Decision making scenarios and exercises

This file contains four cases: When in Aguadilla...?, The Laminating Press Room, Prints and Primos, and The Persistent Engineer.

    Harm test set-up

  • Identify the agent (=the person who will perform the action).
  • Describe the action (=what the agent is about to do).
  • Identify the stakeholders (individuals who have a vital interest at risk) and their stakes.
  • Identify, sort out, and weight the expected results or consequences.

    Harm test pitfalls

  • Paralysis of Action--considering too many consequences.
  • Incomplete analysis--considering too few results.
  • Failure to weigh harms against benefits.
  • Failure to compare different alternatives.
  • Justice failures--ignoring the fairness of the distribution of harms and benefits.

    Reversibility test set-up

  • Identify the agent
  • Describe the action
  • Identify the stakeholders and their stakes
  • Use the stakeholder analysis to select the relations to be reversed.
  • Reverse roles between the agent (you) and each stakeholder: put them in your place (as the agent) and yourself in their place (as the target of the action)
  • If you were in their place, would you still find the action acceptable?

    Reversibility pitfalls

  • Leaving out a key stakeholder relation.
  • Failing to recognize and address conflicts between stakeholders and their conflicting stakes.
  • Confusing treating others with respect with capitulating to their demands (Reversing with Hitler).
  • Failing to reach closure, i.e., an overall global reversal assessment that takes into account all the stakeholders the agent has reversed with.

    Public identification set-up

  • Set up the analysis by identifying the agent, describing the action under consideration, and listing the key values or virtues at play in the situation.
  • Associate the action with the agent.
  • Identify what the action says about the agent as a person. Does it reveal him or her as someone associated with a virtue/value or a vice?

    Public identification pitfalls

  • Action is not associated with the agent. The most common pitfall is failure to associate the agent and the action. The action may have bad consequences and it may treat individuals with disrespect but these points are not as important in the context of this test as what they imply about the agent as a person who deliberately performs such an action.
  • Failure to specify the moral quality, virtue, or value of the action that is imputed to the agent in the test. To say, for example, that willfully harming the public is bad fails to zero in on precisely what moral quality this attributes to the agent. Does it render him or her unjust, irresponsible, corrupt, dishonest, or unreasonable?

Questions & Answers

what does preconceived mean
sammie Reply
physiological Psychology
Nwosu Reply
How can I develope my cognitive domain
Amanyire Reply
why is communication effective
Dakolo Reply
Communication is effective because it allows individuals to share ideas, thoughts, and information with others.
effective communication can lead to improved outcomes in various settings, including personal relationships, business environments, and educational settings. By communicating effectively, individuals can negotiate effectively, solve problems collaboratively, and work towards common goals.
it starts up serve and return practice/assessments.it helps find voice talking therapy also assessments through relaxed conversation.
miss
Every time someone flushes a toilet in the apartment building, the person begins to jumb back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes. Identify the types of learning, if it is classical conditioning identify the NS, UCS, CS and CR. If it is operant conditioning, identify the type of consequence positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
Wekolamo Reply
please i need answer
Wekolamo
because it helps many people around the world to understand how to interact with other people and understand them well, for example at work (job).
Manix Reply
Agreed 👍 There are many parts of our brains and behaviors, we really need to get to know. Blessings for everyone and happy Sunday!
ARC
A child is a member of community not society elucidate ?
JESSY Reply
Isn't practices worldwide, be it psychology, be it science. isn't much just a false belief of control over something the mind cannot truly comprehend?
Simon Reply
compare and contrast skinner's perspective on personality development on freud
namakula Reply
Skinner skipped the whole unconscious phenomenon and rather emphasized on classical conditioning
war
explain how nature and nurture affect the development and later the productivity of an individual.
Amesalu Reply
nature is an hereditary factor while nurture is an environmental factor which constitute an individual personality. so if an individual's parent has a deviant behavior and was also brought up in an deviant environment, observation of the behavior and the inborn trait we make the individual deviant.
Samuel
I am taking this course because I am hoping that I could somehow learn more about my chosen field of interest and due to the fact that being a PsyD really ignites my passion as an individual the more I hope to learn about developing and literally explore the complexity of my critical thinking skills
Zyryn Reply
good👍
Jonathan
and having a good philosophy of the world is like a sandwich and a peanut butter 👍
Jonathan
generally amnesi how long yrs memory loss
Kelu Reply
interpersonal relationships
Abdulfatai Reply
What would be the best educational aid(s) for gifted kids/savants?
Heidi Reply
treat them normal, if they want help then give them. that will make everyone happy
Saurabh
What are the treatment for autism?
Magret Reply
hello. autism is a umbrella term. autistic kids have different disorder overlapping. for example. a kid may show symptoms of ADHD and also learning disabilities. before treatment please make sure the kid doesn't have physical disabilities like hearing..vision..speech problem. sometimes these
Jharna
continue.. sometimes due to these physical problems..the diagnosis may be misdiagnosed. treatment for autism. well it depends on the severity. since autistic kids have problems in communicating and adopting to the environment.. it's best to expose the child in situations where the child
Jharna
child interact with other kids under doc supervision. play therapy. speech therapy. Engaging in different activities that activate most parts of the brain.. like drawing..painting. matching color board game. string and beads game. the more you interact with the child the more effective
Jharna
results you'll get.. please consult a therapist to know what suits best on your child. and last as a parent. I know sometimes it's overwhelming to guide a special kid. but trust the process and be strong and patient as a parent.
Jharna
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Source:  OpenStax, Professional ethics in engineering. OpenStax CNX. Aug 29, 2013 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col10399/1.4
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