Deck 3: Guidelines for Ethical Decision Making

Question 1

Ethical absolutism stresses the importance of fixed moral rules.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT true about professional values?

A)The social work value system provides for individual and group fulfillment.
B)Ethical dilemmas arise in situations in which there is conflict between the social worker's personal, group, societal, and professional values.
C)Concern about balancing the rights of the group and the rights of the individual is unique to the social work profession.
D)The social work value system reflects a democratic ethos.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to the ethics of caring, people are by their very nature bound up in
relation to others.How can attention to emotions reduce conflict in moral
dilemmas?

Answer 3

no answer

Question 4

Which ethical framework would encourage a person to determine what a role model such as Jesus or Buddha would do in a given situation?

A)Confucian ethics
B)Virtue ethics
C)The ethics of caring
D)Religious ethics

Question 5

Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between ethical relativism
versus ethical absolutism.

Question 6

Which values are recognized by a major percentage of the entire social system?

A)Group values
B)Professional values
C)Societal values
D)Personal values

Question 7

Deontologists reject the notion of fixed morals and believe that ethical decisions are based on the consequences of the situation.

Question 8

Choose two aspects of feminist theory that are important to professional ethics.

A)Commitment to caring
B)Idea that every individual has a distinctive personality
C)Oppression of women by men
D)Agreement for abstract universality

Question 9

Humanistic ethics have been criticized for encouraging individualism to the extent that a sense of community is undermined.

Question 10

The development of ethics was influenced by tradition, politics, religion, race, and gender.

Question 11

Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between societal values
and group values.

Question 12

What type of ethics believes that people are innately good and intrinsically ethical?

A)Humanistic ethics
B)Relative ethics
C)Feminist ethics
D)Situational ethics

Question 13

One premise of secularist ethics is that there are eternal rules that give direction for correct behavior.

Question 14

Which ethical principle is concerned with the balance of power differences?

A)Ethical relativism
B)Religious ethics
C)Feminist ethics
D)Situational ethics

Question 15

Jenny Jones' social worker knows that Jenny is working part-time and not reporting the income for TANF and food stamp purposes.The social worker
Decides not to turn Jenny in because she knows that Jenny is using the extra money to pay for dental work that she desperately needs.This an example of

A)ethical absolutism.
B)feminist ethics.
C)Confucian ethics.
D)ethical relativism.

Question 16

Using the framework of feminist ethics, what part do the ideas of autonomy and
empowerment play in the process of ethical decision making?

Question 17

Which ethical framework concerns itself with taking responsibility in interpersonal relationships?

A)Religious ethics
B)Feminist ethics
C)The ethics of caring
D)Humanistic ethics

Question 18

Confucian ethics teach that an ethical life is a means to spiritual freedom.

Question 19

Discuss the differences between values and ethics.

Question 20

Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between humanistic ethics
and religious ethics.

Question 21

As an exercise in clarifying your own personal values, what do you see as the
three most important ones and why?
Class Exercises:

Question 22

Divide the class into two groups.Have one side of the room read pages 52-53
on ethical relativism and apply it to the following vignette.Have the other side
of the room read pages 53-54 on ethical absolutism and apply it the vignette
below.
Nina is a 19-year-old female in her final semester of high school.Nina has been accepted on a full scholarship to UVA for the fall semester to study English.She has been sexually active since the age of 16 and has had more than 6 partners.Nina takes the birth control pill but does not like the feel of a condom, thus oral contraception is her only line of defense.She has been dating Jimmy (age 22) for three months and discovers she is pregnant and has been infected with Chlamydia (a treatable and curable STD).Nina is considering not telling Jimmy and having an abortion.

Question 23

Explain what is involved in clinical pragmatism.
Discussion Topics:

Question 24

Discuss the differences and similarities between personal, group, societal, and
professional values.

Question 25

Discuss the eight approaches to ethical decision-making located on pages 56-64.