Deck 9: Moral Reasoning

Question 1

Partner choice theory can explain personal standards of morality but cannot explain the existence of universal standards of fairness.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A gerontocracy is a society in which the wealthiest members have the highest status and hold most of the power.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

_____________ refers to the fair allocation of goods and services. In particular, the norm of ______________ dictates that individuals' outcomes should be proportional to their inputs.

A) Distributive justice; equality
B) Distributive justice; equity
C) Procedural ethics; equality
D) Procedural ethics; equity

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What was the main finding in Schäfer's fishing-for-cubes study that involved young children from three different cultural groups?

A) Almost all children used merit as the basis for dividing the prizes.
B) Almost all children used equality as the basis for dividing the prizes.
C) Almost all children used a combination of merit and equality when dividing the prizes.
D) none of the above

Question 5

What is partner choice theory?

Question 6

In the summertime, Catherine and Peter have a lawn-mowing business. At the end of the summer, how will Catherine and Peter divide up their earnings if they follow the norm of equality? The norm of equity? The norm of power? The norm of need? The norm of responsibility?

Question 7

In Japan, someone who finds and returns a lost item has a legal right to a reward.

Question 8

When taking opinion surveys, many East Asians, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans show a moderacy bias.

Question 9

Law professor Mark West dropped 100 cell phones and 20 wallets in New York City and in Tokyo. What was the major finding of his field experiment?

A) Lost items were returned at an equal rate in New York City and Tokyo.
B) More lost items were returned to their owners in Tokyo.
C) More cell phones were returned in New York City, but almost all the wallets were empty.
D) none of the above

Question 10

What is the most plausible explanation for why lost items are recovered much more often in Tokyo than in New York City?

A) Japanese city dwellers are, on average, more honest than American city dwellers.
B) Japanese society is collectivistic, which means they are more helpful.
C) Tokyo has a well-established lost-and-found system, and New York City does not.
D) Options a, b, and c are equally plausible.

Question 11

In the view of law professor Mark West, why do people in Japan return lost items at high rates?

Question 12

Studies have found that persons with an interdependent sense of self tend to exhibit a moderacy bias when they complete opinion surveys. Why?

Question 13

Studies have found that people in many different countries are remarkably honest, even when they know they cannot be caught or penalized for cheating.

Question 14

The theory of self-concept maintenance states that people are not motivated by external incentives to cheat; they are strongly motivated by an internal desire to see themselves as honorable and morally upstanding.

Question 15

In 2015, behavioral economist David Pascual-Ezama and his team used a coin-flipping game to investigate cheating in 16 nations. What did they discover?

A) The rate of cheating in a country was related to its Corruption Index score.
B) The overall rate of cheating was high when cheaters could not be caught.
C) The rate of cheating was low and essentially the same in every country.
D) both a and b

Question 16

When researchers recognize that group-level data can sometimes give a misleading picture of what individuals do, they avoid committing an error called ________________.

A) the ecological fallacy
B) the fundamental attribution error
C) aggregate bias
D) confirmation bias

Question 17

What is incomplete cheating? Is incomplete cheating a universal phenomenon or a culturally variable phenomenon? How do you know?

Question 18

Use evolutionary thinking to explain why cultural groups everywhere have developed high standards regarding honesty.

Question 19

Studies have found that people often forego the opportunity to win something because their fear of losing is more intense than their anticipation of winning.

Question 20

In one study, participants were less likely to take a favorable bet when they were required to think about the bet in a foreign language.

Question 21

In moral philosophy, __________________ holds that the most ethical choice is the one that produces the greatest good for the greatest number.

A) the categorical imperative
B) the ethic of community
C) the law of large numbers
D) none of the above

Question 22

Based on the results of multiple studies, what seems to be the best explanation for the moral foreign-language effect?

A) People are more utilitarian when thinking in a foreign language because they think more deliberately.
B) People are more utilitarian when thinking in a foreign language because they feel less emotionally.
C) People are less utilitarian when thinking in a foreign language because they are more easily confused.
D) People are less utilitarian when thinking in a foreign language because they are more likely to be swayed by emotions.

Question 23

What is the moral foreign-language effect (MFLE)? What evidence is there to support the existence of the MFLE?

Question 24

If the moral foreign-language effect (MFLE) really exists, what are the implications for organizations like the United Nations, where people regularly consider moral and ethical questions while speaking a foreign language?