In human society, people encounter various deontic conflicts every day. Deontic decisions are those that include moral, ethical, and normative aspects. Here, the concern is with deontic conflicts: decisions where all the alternatives lead to the violation of some norms. People think critically about these kinds of decisions. But, just ‘what’ they think about is not always clear. People use certain estimating factors/criteria to balance the tradeoffs when they encounter deontic conflicts. It is unclear what subjective factors people use to make a deontic decision. An elicitation approach called the Open Factor Conjoint System is proposed, which applies an online elicitation methodology which is a combination of two well-know research methodologies: repertory grid and conjoint analysis. This new methodology is extended to be a web based application. It seeks to elicit additional relevant (subjective) factors from people, which affect deontic decisions. The relative importance and utility values are used for the development of a decision model to predict people’s decisions. Fundamentally, this methodology was developed and intended to be applicable for a wide range of elicitation applications with minimal experimenter bias. Comparing with the traditional method, this online survey method reduces the limitation of time and space in data collection and this methodology can be applied in many fields. Two possible applications were addressed: robotic vehicles and the choice of medical treatment. In addition, this method can be applied to many research related disciplines in cross-cultural research due to its online ability with global capacity.

The identifiability effect - the human tendency to help identified victims to a greater extent than unidentified - has been proved of being an important aspect of moral judgment. However, the endowment effect - the human tendency to overestimate our properties - is unexplored within this area, such as the impact of identifiability on the endowment effect. For the purpose of examining the impact of identifiability and endowment on moral dilemmas, an experiment with 192 participants was conducted, using a charity scenario concerning African children, framed as a trolley dilemma. The results showed that a majority of the participants choose to maximize the number of children saved. No significant effects of identifiability or endowment were found. The main conclusion of the study was that the dilemma affected men and women differently. Women felt stronger feelings of sympathy, were less confident in choosing and perceived the choice more difficult than men.

Utgångspunkten för studien var att sjuksköterskor inom psykiatrin är en yrkesgrupp som konfronteras med olika etiska dilemman inom vardagen. Det undersöktes sjuksköterskornas upplevda etiska dilemman inom deras verksamhetsområde som var psykiatrisk sluten- och öppenvård samt kommunal psykiatri för att få djupare förståelse om vad de som erfarna psykiatrisjuksköterskor ansåg som generella etiska dilemman och vilka tankar de hade kring potentiella lösningar. Sju sjuksköterskor med vidareutbildning inom psykiatrin intervjuades om sina erfarenheter av etiska dilemman. Intervjuerna analyserades enligt Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). De två huvudteman som identifierades var lojalitetskonflikter och samarbete inom hierarkiska strukturer. Respondenterna upplevde etiska dilemman i situationer där de kände sig tvungna att välja mellan lojaliteten med patienten, mot organisationen eller mot sig själv som sjuksköterska. Som svårast uppfattades det att behöva agera i strid med egna värderingar. När känslor var involverade mindes dilemman starkast. Arbetsgruppen och läkaren på avdelningen beskrevs som potentiellt stöd i hanteringen av dilemman. Däremot upplevdes de också som utlösande faktorer för etiska dilemman, framförallt då sjuksköterskan blir medveten om den egna rollen inom den hierarkiska strukturen. Studien bidrar till möjliga lösningsansatser för att motverka de negativa konsekvenser som etiska dilemman medför såväl för personal som för patienter. / The basis of the study was that nurses in psychiatry is a profession who are faced with various moral dilemmas in everyday life. It was examined nurses' perceived moral dilemmas within their field which was psychiatric inpatient and outpatient care and public psychiatry to gain a deeper understanding of what experienced psychiatric nurses considered that general ethical dilemmas are and what thoughts they had about potential solutions. Seven nurses with further education in psychiatry were interviewed about their experiences with ethical dilemmas. It was used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) using verbatim transcriptions of the semi-structured interviews. The two main themes which were identified were conflicts of loyalty and cooperation in hierarchical structures. Ethical dilemmas were not experienced by the respondents mostly by the compulsory treatment, respectively coercion - as it could be expected - but in situations where they felt forced to choose between loyalty to the patient, organization or herself as professional. The hardest perceived dilemmas were those that forced the nurses to act against their own values. When emotions were involved, dilemmas were remembered strongest. The working team and the doctor on the ward was considered as part of the solution of moral dilemmas. On the other hand they were experienced equally as triggering factor for moral dilemmas, especially when nurses got aware of the role they play within the hierarchical structure. The study contributes to potential solution approaches to counteract the negative consequences that moral dilemmas entails both for personnel and for patients.

This thesis talks about the pupil's moral development. It is focused primarily on possibilities of the moral development in drama education, eventually in some dramatic activities used during other lessons. The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. At the beginning of the theoretical part it acquaints readers with basic information about the moral consciousness and behavior, analysis of the moral judgement of the child and possibilities of its measuring. It also presents drama education as a separated subject its principles and methods and it outlines the possibilities of the drama education in the pupil's moral development. The practical part contains the analysis of the primary school age pupil's moral judgement and comparison outcomes of the pupils who are taught using the methods of drama education and pupils, who have never experienced drama education. The goal of the empirical survey is to find out whether and to what extent the drama education influences the development of moral judgement of the pupils.

Morality has been a subject of study for centuries, though there is still much that is not understood about the factors that dictate moral decision making and moral identity. This study examines the relationship between the Big Five Personality traits (agreeableness, openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion) as well as empathy and moral decision making. However, we use a slightly different methodology than previous studies on morality and personality by incorporating more relevant moral dilemmas related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in addition to the purely hypothetical dilemmas used in previous research (referred to as standard dilemmas). Additionally, rather than considering only the response to the dilemma as variable, this study also explored the relationship between these personality traits and the guilt felt by the decision made as well as how difficult participants felt it was for them to make the decision. The results suggest that there is a relationship between certain aspects of personality and the guilt felt by moral decisions as well as how difficult one finds making a decision. Additionally, the results imply that the relevance of the dilemma does significantly impact moral dilemma decisions and the feeling associated with such decisions.

Based on prior research, people tend to be more prone to save women before saving men, and this thesis presents two studies examining the social acceptance of having these different preferences. Participants (N=805) were randomly assigned to one of two studies, and within each study they were assigned to one of two conditions (allocation condition or choice condition). The participants first read a description of two medical helping project in which one project can treat only men while the other one can treat only women. Participants then read and rated six targets’ answers (three male targets and three female targets), based on their first impression (level of warmth and competence) of targets expressing a preference towards men, women, an equal preference, or no preference. In the first study, the projects presented the same number of treated patients (three patients), and in the second study, the project treating male patients was higher (four patients) than the project treating female patients (three patients). Results showed that a female preference are viewed as a more socially accepted preference than a male preference, but only when the number of treated patients in each project are equal. Also, when male targets express a female preference, they are seen as more competent than female targets with a female preference, but only when they express their preference in ratings of the project. When the number of treated patients differed between the projects, a female preference is not viewed as a more socially accepted preference than having a male preference, there were also no significant difference between how men and women were perceived in their competence level.

Cette thèse a pour objet la mise en place d'ateliers de philosophie auprès élèves adultes incarcérés. Notre dispositif pédagogique initie des discussions philosophiques sur des dilemmes moraux. En prison, l'enseignement a pour objectif principal de préparer le détenu à la sortie et de lui permettre de comprendre le monde dans lequel il vit. C'est dans cette optique que s'inscrit notre travail de recherche. Notre question centrale est : Dans quelle mesure le recours à la discussion de dilemmes moraux entre adultes incarcérés peut-il participer à leur développement moral ? Notre première hypothèse porte sur la mobilisation de la dimension rationnelle dans le jugement, afin de favoriser l'accès des détenus à un stade de développement moral plus avancé qu'auparavant. La seconde hypothèse concerne la nécessaire prise en compte de la dimension émotionnelle et affective dans la formulation des jugements moraux, car elle interfère avec les approches rationnelles. Sur le plan méthodologique, nous recourons à une méthode qualitative, l'analyse de contenu. A partir de la retranscription des discussions sur les dilemmes moraux, nous procédons au codage des unités de sens des verbatim, en lien avec les valeurs orientant la théorie des stades de développement moral de Kohlberg. Ensuite, nous appliquons la méthode de l'analyse de contenu afin d'accéder à la compréhension fine des arguments des apprenants. Puis nous appréhendons, sur l'ensemble des discussions, le niveau de développement moral des détenus, et dressons leur profil d'éducabilité morale. Ce travail réflexif sur le dilemme vise l'éducabilité morale du sujet, en se fondant sur le postulat d'une éducabilité toujours possible. Les résultats de cette recherche, en évaluant le potentiel l'éducabilité morale des détenus, pourrait permettre de rendre une décision sur le plan judiciaire. Notre recherche montre également qu'il est impossible de rattacher certaines argumentations à la grille de Kohlberg.En effet, la théorie des niveaux de développement moral ne prend pas en compte la primauté des valeurs familiales, idéalisées chez les personnes détenues. Nous postulons donc l'existence d'un nouveau stade de développement moral, de niveau post conventionnel, qui pourrait être nommé «stade du respect inconditionnel des valeurs familiales». Il aurait, comme principe directeur, la préservation absolue des membres de sa famille / This thesis's subject is the setting up of philosophy workshops aimed at inmates serving some time in jail. Our educational project allows them to learn and exchange on philosophical topics related to moral dilemmas. In prison, the teacher's main role is to prepare the inmates for their release and teach them how to understand better the world in which they live. Our research founds its framework for this purpose. The issue raised in this particular work is «To what extent can the use of discussions on moral dilemmas between inmates take a part in their moral development and/or behaviour ?». Our first hypothesis deals with the mobilisation of the rational dimension in their own judgement, in order to give them the opportunity to develop and increase their previous state of moral behaviour. The second hypothesis takes into account the emotional and affective dimension as regard the wording of moral judgements, as it might alter the rational approaches. On the methodological aspect, we focus on the qualitative side that is to say on the content analysis. Starting from the transcript of the discussions on moral dilemmas, we proceed to the coding of the units of meaning of the verbatim, in connection with the values guiding the theory of the stages of moral development of Kohlberg. Then, we apply the content analysis method to reach the sharp understanding of the learners' arguments. At last, from the whole discussions, we grasp the level of the prisoners' moral development and draw their profile of moral educability. This reflexive work on the dilemma aims at the subject's moral educability, based on the premise of a still possible educability. The outcomes of this research, by assessing the potential of the moral educability of the detainees, could alter a decision making on the judicial level. Our research also shows that some arguments can't be related to Kohlberg's grid. Indeed, the theory of moral development levels does not take into account the presence of family values, idealized for detained people. We therefore postulate the existence of a new stage of moral development, of a postconventional level, which could be called "stage of unconditional respect for family values". It would have, as a guiding principle, the absolute preservation of one's family members

School leaders are faced with serious moral challenges on a daily basis at schools, which often result in them making poor moral choices. In a situation of moral decay in schools, reports in the news media create the impression that school leaders often fail to demonstrate the necessary values advocated by the Moral Regeneration Movement and the Manifesto of Values, Education and Democracy. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore school leaders’ understanding and reasoning regarding values and morality. For the purposes of the study a number of possible lenses, such as cultural relativism, religious beliefs, ethical subjectivism, classical utilitarian theory, Domain theory, and the ethic of justice, ethic of care, ethic of critique and the ethic of community, were identified and used in analysing the way school leaders reason about moral dilemmas. A design located within hermeneutic phenomenology was used in the study with the aim to understand school leaders’ understanding and reasoning regarding values and morality. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data gathering techniques was used in a concurrent mixed method design using a single questionnaire. The sample for the study consisted of educators enrolled for a formal management training programme. This group was largely homogenous in terms of religion, language, culture and was mainly from rural areas of Mpumalanga. Seventy-three participants took part in the study. It emerged from the data that the espoused theories used by school leaders could be related to the lenses identified in the literature. The school leaders’ espoused theories were mainly based on the ethic of justice and the ethic of care and were aligned to their preferred value orientations. At the espoused theory level, school leaders revealed a strong moral orientation. Further research is indicated to study school leaders’ theory in action. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Rares sont les recherches qui ont analysé le contenu des justifications réalisées à l'issue d'un choix fait à un dilemme moral, choix aux conséquences toujours graves pour autrui. Plusieurs recherches ont montré que le jugement moral était largement intuitif et, de ce fait, était difficilement explicités par les individus. Pourtant, étudier le contenu de ces rationalisations après coup devrait permettre d'apporter des éléments nouveaux sur les relations entre les aspects cognitifs et émotionnels à l’œuvre lors d'une prise de décision moralement difficile. Aussi, le design expérimental de cette étude a consisté à demander à des adultes de fournir un jugement à la suite d'un dilemme personnel (Pont) ou impersonnel (Aiguillage) en expliquant les raisons de l'orientation de leur choix soit par oral, soit par écrit. Plusieurs observables, concernant la nature des arguments (déontologiques et utilitaristes) ainsi que le lexique (émotionnel et cognitif) utilisés, ont été mis au point. L'attente principale de cette thèse est de montrer que ce que disent des adultes à propos de leur choix est fortement dépendant de la nature du dilemme auquel ils étaient soumis, de leur jugement et des contraintes facilitatrices ou non de leur modalité d'expression. Autrement dit, le contenu de leur rationalisation après coup dépendrait largement des conditions dans lesquelles ils les ont produites. / Few studies have analyzed the content of justifications made at the end of a choice facing a moral dilemma, although this choice causes serious consequence for others. Several studies have shown that moral judgments were largely intuitive and, therefore, were hardly explained by individuals. However, studying the content of these rationalizations afterthought is expected to provide new information on the relationships between cognitive and emotional aspects at work in a morally difficult decision. The experimental design of this study was to ask adults to provide a judgment on a personal (Bridge) or impersonal (Switch) dilemma explaining the reasons of the direction of their choice either by oral or in writing. Several observables were developed on the nature of the deontological and utilitarian arguments and the emotional and cognitive lexicon used. The main expectation of this thesis is to show that what adults say about their choice is highly dependent on the nature of the dilemma they were submitted to, on their judgment and on the constraints making their mode of expression more or less easier. In other words, the content of their post hoc rationalization would greatly depend on the conditions under which they were produced. More precisely, the content of justifications produced by 331 participants was analyzed with an analytical grid of the deontological and utilitarian arguments and with Tropes software, enabling two scenarios of automatic counting of the emotional lexicon (EMOTAIX) and cognitive lexicon (COGNITAIX). The results show that individuals do not only produce one kind of argument (utilitarian or deontological).

This thesis presents a contribution to exploration of the business ethics area from the psychological point of view with focus on multidisciplinary character of the subject. The empirical part brings mapping study describing the implementation of the business ethics management system and its impacts on the employees' approaches using example of the specific company. The thesis tries to capture which company functions and operations are covered by the code of ethics, what steps and process were taken when implementing the code, if the implementation of the code influenced employees' approaches and relation to the employer and if the implementation of the code influenced the ways how employees solved their moral dilemmas. The qualitative research part of the thesis uses semi-structured interviews, company documents analysis and observation.