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Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in

Criminal Justice Tenth Edition

Chapter 4 Becoming an

Ethical

Professional

Learning Objectives

1. Describe biological influences on ethical behavior.

2. Describe psychological theories that attempt to explain

individual differences in behavior.

3. Describe research that addresses work group

influences on behavior.

4. Explain organizational influences on behavior.

5. Explain the cultural and societal influences on ethical

behavior.

Individual Influences

Biological Factors

Behavior depends on an individual’s biological

predispositions.

Learning Theories

Behavior depends on the rewards an individual has

received.

– Modeling Theory

– Reinforcement Theory

Kohlberg’s Moral Stage Theory

Emotional, physical, and cognitive development happen in stages

Biological Factors (1 of 2)

• Links between brain and predisposition to certain

behaviors.

• Research focuses on hormones, including oxytocin,

serotonin, and testosterone.

• Phineas Gage.

• Genetic influences continue to be denied.

• Oxytocin as “moral molecule.”

• Are women more “moral” than men?

Biological Factors (2 of 2)

• Frontal lobes of the brain implicated in:

– Feelings of empathy

– Shame

– Moral reasoning

• Individuals with frontal-lobe damage may display

characteristics related to unethical behaviors.

• Research shows moral decision making seems to take

place in different areas of brain.

Learning Theory

Premise: All human behavior is learned; therefore, ethics

is a function of learning rather than reasoning.

Modeling

• Imitating the behavior of others

• Parents and other adults provide role models for children through their behavior

Reinforcement

• A behavior that is rewarded will be repeated

• After enough reinforcement, the behavior becomes permanent

• The individual develops values consistent with the behavior (cognitive dissonance)

Kohlberg’s Moral Stage Theory (1 of 3)

Premise: Moral development, like physical growth, occurs

in stages.

1. They involve qualitative differences in modes of thinking, as opposed to quantitative differences.

2. Each stage forms a structured whole; cognitive development and moral growth are integrated.

3. Stages form an invariant sequence; no one bypasses any stage, and not all people develop to the higher stages.

4. Stages are hierarchical integrations.

Kohlberg’s Moral Stage Theory (2 of 3)

• Pre-Conventional Level

Approach to moral issues motivated purely by personal interests

Stage 1: Punishment/Obedience Orientation

Stage 2: Instrument/Relativity Orientation

• Conventional Level

Approach to moral issues motivated by socialization

Stage 3: Interpersonal Concordance Orientation

Stage 4: Law-and-Order Orientation

Kohlberg’s Moral Stage Theory (3 of 3)

• Post-Conventional Level

Approach to moral issues motivated by desire to discover

universal good beyond own self or own society.

Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles

Workgroup and Organizational

Influence (1 of 2)

• Individuals sometimes behave in ways that are

contrary to their belief systems when exposed to

external influences.

• Bandura’s mechanisms:

– Moral justification

– Euphemistic labeling

– Advantageous comparison

– Displacement of responsibility

– Diffusion of responsibility

– Disregard or distortion of the consequences

– Dehumanization

Workgroup and Organizational

Influence (2 of 2)

• External conditions are not all powerful.

• Bounded ethicality: cognitive structuring whereby

decisions are interpreted using variables that do not

include ethics.

Ethical Climate and Organizational Justice

• Research explores the ability to measure the “ethical

climate” of an organization.

• Leadership, reward structure, and organizational

messages affect climate.

• Three basic ethical orientations:

1. Egoism

2. Benevolence

3. Principle

Ethics Training

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

• Most professional schools require at least one class in

professional ethics

• Differences between ethics courses in college

environment and training courses offered at

organizations

Leadership

Ethical leaders should:

1. Create environment conducive to dignified treatment on the job

2. Increase ethical awareness

3. Avoid deception and manipulation

4. Allow for openness and free flow of unclassified information

5. Foster sense of shared values

6. Demonstrate obligation to honesty, fairness, and decency

7. Discuss issue of corruption publicly

Societal and Cultural Influences

• Organizational culture is subject to external influences.

• External influences are both objective (e.g., laws and

regulations that constrain the organization), and

normative (public belief systems).

Discussion Questions

1. Name as many biological factors that may affect ethics

as you can. In what ways to these factors affect

ethics?

2. Critique your own moral stage using Kohlberg.

3. Have you ever used moral justification for an action

you knew was wrong? Did you ever tell someone else

that you’d done so?