Topic 5. Moral dilemmas in the activities of a practical psychologist

Ethical dilemma

Definition 1
An ethical dilemma is a situation of moral choice when, when one moral value is realized, another, no less valuable, collapses.

A dilemma is a judgment in which an object has two contradictory characteristics; An ethical dilemma is a difficult choice that must be resolved based on morality and ethics.

Simply put, a dilemma is a choice between two contradictions, and this choice is very difficult. In a normal situation, a person makes a choice based on his own values and interests, or makes a decision that is beneficial for him.

Morals and ethics throughout life regulate the behavior of people in society, they guide a person to make choices that are considered most acceptable, what we should do and what we should not do. Often in life, people are faced with situations when they do not know what to do in a particular situation, which is also complicated by the fact that both cases have their positive and negative sides. In this case, the values that guide us throughout our lives come into conflict.

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A man, all his life, has been guided by the principle “a woman cannot be beaten or insulted,” but suddenly in the evening in a dark entrance he is attacked by a woman who begins beating him with a bat, the only option left is to strike back, but what about the principle?

A train at full speed loses control, there are 4 people tied to one track, you can switch to another track, but one person is also tied there, what choice will the driver make?

Two alleged criminals were taken into custody, the punishment for the crime will be fifteen years in prison, but there is no evidence of involvement in this crime. The police offer them each the opportunity to go free. If both confess to the crime, they will each serve six years in prison. If one denies his involvement and the other provides evidence of his non-involvement, the informant will be released and the other will be sentenced to fifteen years in prison. If both deny the facts, both will remain in prison for a year. How to make a choice?

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Moral dilemmas. What will you do?

Culture

9. Doctor and sick patients

You are a very experienced doctor, and you have five dying patients on your hands, each of whom needs different organ transplants in order to survive. Unfortunately, at the moment there is not a single organ available for transplantation.

It so happens that there is another 6 person who is dying from a fatal disease, and if he is not treated, he will die much earlier than the others. If the sixth patient dies, you can use his organs to save five others.

However, you have a medicine at your disposal that can save the life of the sixth patient. You:

- Wait until the sixth patient dies, and then use his organs for transplantation;

— You will save the life of the sixth patient, while others will not receive the organs they need.

If you chose the second option, then, knowing that the medicine would only slightly delay the date of his death, would you still do the same? Why?

8. Robber Robin Hood

You witnessed a man rob a bank, but then he did something unusual and unexpected with the money. He handed them over to an orphanage that was very poorly run, dilapidated and lacking proper nutrition, proper care, water and amenities. This money greatly benefited the orphanage, and it went from poor to prosperous. You:

- Call the police, although they will probably take the money from the orphanage;

“You won’t do anything if you leave both the robber and the orphanage alone.”

7. Friend's wedding

Your best friend or girlfriend is getting married. The ceremony will begin in one hour, however, on the eve of coming to the wedding, you found out that your friend’s chosen one (chosen one) had connections on the side. If your friend connects his life with this person, he is unlikely to be faithful, but on the other hand, if you tell him about this, you will upset the wedding. Can you tell your friend what you found out or not?

6. Plagiarism of the report

You are the head of the student council and are faced with making a difficult decision regarding one of the graduates. This girl has always been a worthy student. Throughout all her years of study, she received only high grades, she has many friends, and ideal behavior. However, towards the end of the school year, she fell ill and did not attend school for some time. She missed three weeks of classes, and when she returned, she was informed that in one of the subjects she was not enough to graduate with excellent marks. She was so desperate that, having found a report on the necessary topic on the Internet, she passed it off as her own. Her teacher caught her doing this and sent her to you. If you decide that it is plagiarism, then she will not receive a high grade, and therefore will not be able to qualify for budget education at the university of her dreams. What would you do?

5. Fountain of Youth

Your loved one is immortal because he and his family drank from the fountain of youth, unsuspectingly. You love him very much and know that this is your destiny. However, the only way to stay with him is to also drink from the fountain of youth. But if you do this, all your family and friends, as well as all your acquaintances, will grow old and eventually die. On the other hand, if you do not drink from the spring, you will grow old and eventually die, and the person you are with will never see you again and will be condemned to eternal loneliness. Which would you choose?

4. Concentration camp

You are a concentration camp prisoner. The sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and tells you to push the stool out from under him. He tells you that if you don't do this, he will kill your other son, who is another innocent prisoner. You have no doubt that he will do exactly as he says. What will you do?

3. Son and granddaughter

Much to your horror, your son lies tied up on the tracks as the train approaches. It so happens that you have time to use the switch and direct the train in the other direction, thereby you can save your son. However, on the other side lies the bound granddaughter, the daughter of this particular son of yours. Your son begs you not to kill his daughter or touch the switch. What will you do?

2. Sacrifice of a son

A very evil, psychologically unstable man tried to kill your son when he was very young, but then, having killed the child's uncle and aunt who were looking after him, he never got to the baby. After the murder, you fled into hiding, but now you have discovered that the prophecy has come true, and that part of the killer's soul has moved into your child. In order to overcome this evil and defeat this man, your son must go to him and allow himself to be killed. Otherwise, after some time, your son, with part of the soul of a villain, may himself become one. The son courageously accepts his fate and decides to go to the villain in order to bring peace. You as a parent:

- Hold him because you feel you have to protect him;

- Accept his choice.

1. Friendship

Jim works for a large company and is responsible for hiring employees. His friend Paul has applied for a job, but there are several people who are more qualified than Paul and have a higher level of knowledge and skills. Jim wants to give this position to Paul, however, he feels guilty because he should be impartial. He tells himself that this is the essence of morality. However, he soon changed his mind and decided that friendship gave the moral right to be partial in some matters. So he gives the position to Paul. Was he right?

Types of Ethical Dilemmas

Ethical dilemmas can differ in the degree of their specificity.

An open dilemma arises when the subject who has to resolve the dilemma has not yet made a choice; he still chooses how to act in this situation.
Closed dilemma - in which the situation has already been resolved, and the person evaluates the other person's decision.
A hypothetical dilemma is the need to make a choice in a situation that is unlikely to happen in real life.
A real dilemma is a situation close to a person that can happen in everyday life; usually such dilemmas are less dramatic in nature.

Block 5. Value system. Social norms of behavior.

Why is violence at home, and this not only hitting children with a belt or hand on the torso, but also moral humiliation, widespread, while few people dare to do it in public?

There are social norms of behavior that have a significant impact on the value choice of an individual:

5.1. Injunctive.

Norms that prohibit certain forms of behavior. Prescribe rules of behavior. Presented in the country's legislation, instructions, business etiquette, etc. If they are violated, the subject realizes that he is threatened with direct or indirect punishment. These norms are presented in the form of scripts and scripts.

5.2. Descriptive.

Descriptive norms that are updated regardless of how acceptable they are. Such norms are based on the subject’s idea, belief, belief about how people usually behave in a similar situation.

Thus, killing another person is prohibited. This is an injunctive norm. However, the murder of a person who attempts to kill other people is already understood as a descriptive norm. Thus, the same outcome may involve either denial of goal-directed behavior or positive reinforcement of the behavior. The difference lies in the assessment of the current moment at a certain time by a specific subject.

Ethical dilemmas in social work

Ethical dilemmas in social work are different from dilemmas that arise outside of professional activity, but even here a person must make a choice between two equal options.

The source of various value contradictions in the professional activity of a social worker is the need to combine into a single whole the contradictory demands that the profession has placed on him.

The most important contradiction for a social worker is the need to be an instrument of both social change and social control; very often social workers are faced with insoluble situations when the interests of a particular individual and the interests of society are at stake. In such situations you have to find a balance. One of the most common dilemmas facing social work is how to alleviate the hardships of socially deprived groups of the population, but at the same time avoid social dependency.

Definition 2

Deprivation is a reduction or complete deprivation of the opportunity to satisfy one’s basic psychophysiological and social needs.

The key task of social work is the well-being of people, this makes the problem of paternalism particularly relevant.

Note 1

Paternalism is a system of relations in which authorities provide certain needs of citizens in exchange for allowing them to dictate rules of behavior.

In the interests of the client, in order to protect him from himself, adherents of paternalism consider it possible, if necessary, to limit the client’s actions that may cause him harm, to oblige him to accept services against his will or by force; in such situations, the social worker has the right to withhold information or provide misinformation and etc. This practice is perceived ambiguously and causes debate about the limits of admissibility of paternalism:

on the one hand, social services have a responsibility to protect clients;
on the other hand, there is a possibility of instilling in the client certain forms of self-destructive behavior.

Block 1. Value system. Definition.

Let us talk today about the human value system!
And first, as always, a definition! A value system is a set of variable components that determine the nature and direction of a person’s activity through the individual’s attitude towards objects and phenomena of the external/internal world.
The value system is manifested through the answer to the question:

– What is valuable and important to you in life?

The answers that you and I will receive are a product of the subject’s rationalization, while his behavior is regulated to a large extent by the brain, focused on PLEASURE - PAIN in the context of “HERE AND NOW”. And therefore:

Manifestations of a genuine value system can be assessed exclusively through human activity throughout the life cycle.

What it is?

A life cycle is a set of cause-and-effect chains of actions/results, limited in time, located within one whole system (part of life or all of life), which has an emergent quality, which is determined by a goal.

In short, the life cycle is context. You can read more about goals in life here: What is a goal in negotiations? Tree of goals, principles of construction.

A subject's declaration of his values in a hierarchical order may be false for various reasons, including self-deception. The truth of the carrier’s values is manifested in life situations when a person makes his choice. There is a set of dilemmas, in solving which a person sometimes unexpectedly discovers a contradiction between an action and his previous thoughts about the action.

Examples of ethical dilemmas

Example one . The social worker is a single mother, and she received a call from the kindergarten and was told that her child had a high temperature. At the moment, there is no boss at the workplace, and she asks her colleague to “cover” for her. The boss returns and does not find the employee at the workplace, in which case he must take measures that will entail negative consequences for her (reprimand, deprivation of bonus). The boss cannot leave the employee’s unauthorized absence without punishment, but out of pity he decides to limit himself to a warning. “Well-wishers” brought the situation to the attention of senior management. The dilemma facing management: how to evaluate the performance of the boss?

Example two . A seriously ill client suffers every day, experiencing terrible pain and wants to voluntarily die, he calls his relative and asks to bring medicine that will help him die, but the social worker accidentally overheard the conversation, what should he do?

The main mission of social work is to help a person be a person, to gain a sense of solidarity with other people. In such situations, you should use common sense; in any case, you will have to make a choice.

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Block 4. Value system. Moral dilemma “Punishment with a belt.”

Let's look at another story.

Alexander walks in the city recreation park with his family. Children walk nearby and eat ice cream happy! Suddenly the whole family sees how, literally five meters away from them, a dark-haired man of about 35 in gray jeans and a blue T-shirt begins to loudly swear at his son, about 8 years old! But the matter doesn't end there! The aggressive man takes off his belt and hits his son several times. The baby is crying.

How will Alexander and his wife react? Such an action will most likely cause disapproval and censure from them! One of the adults will reprimand the unrestrained man or even prevent him from continuing to punish his child, and maybe the police will be called! For many passers-by, such an event will look disgusting! The behavior of an adult man punishing his son with a belt in public will cause condemnation! However, at this moment, the same Alexander may completely forget how he himself punished his son with a belt some time ago at home, when he was rude to him. Moreover, Alexander, among his male colleagues, in one of his conversations outside of work, previously spoke out in favor of the fact that sons sometimes need to be punished with a belt for their own good, so that the child can learn the principles of correct behavior.

How to evaluate Alexander’s value system in this case? Alexander himself may not be in a park or in a public place to beat his son with a belt, but he will do it at home. From a rational point of view, in both cases, both the child of an aggressive man from the street and Alexander’s son will receive blows with a belt and a so-called “lesson” of correct behavior.

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Exploring the Prisoner's Dilemma

American political scientist Robert Axelrod, in his work “The Evolution of Cooperation,” conducted numerous studies of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, which is repeated over and over again, taking into account the fact that in life the same people face the need to constantly resolve this dilemma, taking into account their past experience, mistakes and victories , actions and results.

The researcher recruited colleagues from around the world to jointly develop special computer strategies aimed at resolving the dilemma presented. As a result, an entire championship was organized on the repeated Prisoner's Dilemma. The results of these competitions showed that strategies in which greed prevails, based on the long-term perspective, gave results significantly worse than those strategies that can be called altruistic. Axelrod also showed the evolution of “greedy” strategies into altruistic ones through natural selection. In other words, the greatest return and benefit came from those strategies in which profit was not an absolute priority.

According to Robert Axelrod, for a negotiation strategy to be effective, the following conditions must be met:

The negotiation strategy must be loyal and exclude any attempts to betray the opponent until he does it himself (almost all strategies that won the championship met this condition)
In the event that one opponent betrays the second, then the first must “repay in kind”
Once vengeance has been achieved, the strategy must once again be cooperative.
The negotiation strategy should in no case be aimed at scoring more “points” than the opponent’s strategy

As a result, Robert Axelrod recommends that anyone facing the Prisoner's Dilemma, if they truly want to build an effective strategy and have a better chance of winning, follow these guidelines, which will greatly increase the chances of winning for all parties.

Examples of Prisoner's Dilemma

As the first example of the Prisoner's Dilemma, one can cite one of the jokes familiar to many, when two businessmen sign an agreement to complete a transaction for the purchase/sale of a carload of tomatoes. After the contract is signed, the first merchant begins to look for the goods, and the second goes in search of money. In fact, the presented example of the Prisoner's Dilemma is a “classic of the genre.”

Look: the contract has been signed, but what if one of the merchants can find tomatoes and send a whole carriage, as agreed, but the second cannot find the money? But what if the situation turns out the other way around? What is the probability that your business partner will not let you down and can you trust him? What efforts should you make to protect your interests? And is it necessary to collect money at all? Let this loser look for his tomatoes and send them, and the second one simply will not pay, but what kind of reputation will the partner who is obliged to pay in this case have? Would anyone want to do business with such an unscrupulous person in the future?

Here's a second example: two large corporations must determine the size of their budget for creating television advertising in the next year. High-quality advertising on television is quite expensive. Based on this, the more advertising is launched, the less net profit will be received and, most likely, the quality of the product will become worse, because you need to save on the formula of the product being created.

However, if one competitor manages to advertise better, the second will lose its reputation, profits and some consumers. For this reason, both competitors need, out of fear of losing to each other, to invest an incredible amount of money in advertising every year. The result of this pursuit is that the product offered by companies becomes of poor quality: soda can be used to clean frying pans, toothpaste does not whiten teeth, household appliances constantly break down, and the product manufacturers themselves somehow manage to equalize income and expenses by the end of the year. And this happens again and again, year after year.