Moral psychology and egoism
Read Chapter 5 Moral Psychology and Egoism pages 87-106. Answer the following questions:
Milgrams experiment (pages 87-88). What was Milgrams experiment? What was tested in this experiment? How was it done?
On page 103 there is a link to a video about this experiment. Please watch it. To make it easier: go to Pages on Canvas. The first part of video for question 2 Obeying or Resisting Authority is showing how this experiment was conducted.
Watch the video posted in PAGES:
Obeying or Resisting Authority: A Psychological Retrospective
Describe the Stanford Prison Experiment.
What these two experiments from video in question 2 show us about peoples moral behavior? Write min 1 paragraph.
Read pages 89 -91 and based on that reading answer following questions:
What is PSYCHOLOGICAL SYTUATIONISM?
According to described psychological experiments and situations findings we have reasons to believe that peoples moral behavior does not remain consistent over time. What are the factors that may change peoples decisions?
Pages 93-95: What is the play of Hopi children described on page 93 and how it can be justified (p.95)? Do you agree?
Page 94: What are the results of culture of honor experiment? If both northern and southern whites value honor, what is different in their moral reasoning?
Page 96-99: What is the difference between ethical and psychological egoism?
ALTRUISM: Do you know any movie or book describing a person that made a choice to act at a great personal sacrifice for the sake of others? Who is that person and what that person did?
EGOISM: What would be an example of the most egoistic act? Give two examples: one act of an individual persons and one collective act (as a society).
Read Case 4 on page 105. Is this an example what is really wrong with our societies?
a) Write a summary of Case 4.
b) Answer question # 5 p. 106.
Please go to Pages on Canvas. Watch video about Altruism posted there. This video is presented in segments you need sometimes click on the screen to continue watching next segment.
Write 15 sentences about what did you learn. Number your sentences.
From segments 1 and 13: Do you think that people are naturally good, nice and altruistic? What answer this video is suggesting?
You can also access this video on SMCC library Database, Films on demand. If you are not sure how to do that, please call and ask the librarian, they are people in our library always willing to help. In the future I will be posting more videos from this database and it will be good for you to know how to find videos there (in case you experience some trouble watching them via Canvas).
55:11
The Kindness of Strangers: Altruism and Human Nature
Segments
Are Humans Born Good or Bad?00:52
Tsunami00:58
Sri Lanka, December 200402:13
Altruism: Helping Others at a Cost to Oneself.00:45
Colombo: Preventing Tsunami Related Epidemic01:02
The Samaritan Paradox: Self-Interested Agents and Survival of the Fittest01:25
Compelled to Help01:01
Selfish Gene: Why Blood is Thicker than Water01:19
Altruism Beyond the Family: Selfishness in Disguise?01:57
Beyond Natural Selection: The Good of the Group01:14
Loyalty to the Group: A Driving Force01:32
Unawatuna Sri Lanka: The Work Continues01:13
Humans: Nasty or Nice?01:30
Kalmanai Sri Lanka:01:29
Watch posted in PAGES: TEDTalks: Philip ZimbardoHow Ordinary People Become Monsters…Or Heroes
Based on that video answer:
Why Zimbardo introduced Psychology of Heroism in this video?
Who are Heroes?
Answer these two questions from the MODULE Lecture 4. Explain your point of view.
Some people are sacrificing their life for other people. Is it praiseworthy?
Should we educate and encourage our children to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others?
