Ethical Decision Research Paper

Ethical Decision Paper

An ethical decision helps a person to make a choice when faced with a situation in which there is no clear right or wrong decision. The word ethical is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as “Involving or expressing moral approval or disapproval.” Making an ethical decision is one of the most difficult things a person can have to do in their life. What one person may consider to be a good and moral option, another may consider that to be an unthinkable option. In order to make a good ethical decision, one must consider every possible outcome and consequence. They must also attempt to keep in mind how the decision will affect each of the parties involved.
The first thing one must consider when making an ethical decision
One must consider each individual and keep their best interests in mind before coming to a conclusion. While it is usually true that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, it is still important to think of each individual and how it will affect them. Many times after horrible acts of genocide those accused of those acts claim that they were just following the orders of their superiors. In 1961 Stanley Milgram devised an experiment to answer this, the conflict of obedience to authority and personal conscience. Milgram wanted to see how far an individual would go in following orders to harm another human being. As Joel Stein, an American journalist, said; “Once society makes a new moral decision we’ve got to quickly mop up the resisters.” (Stein) The experiment was that the participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the ‘learner’ and who would be the ‘teacher’. The draw was rigged so that the participant was always the teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s confederates (pretending to be a real participant). The learner was then taken into a room where he then had electrodes attached to his arms. The teacher and researcher then went into the room next door that contained the electric shock generator which had several choices of shocks; slight shock (15 volts), danger: severe shock (375 volts), and xxx (450 volts). When asked a series of questions the teacher had to administer a shock every time the learner answered wrong, the level of shock was to increase at every wrong answer. If the teacher hesitated to administer a shock there was another person called the experimenter who had to remind them that for the experiment to continue they must administer a shock. Diana Baumrind a clinical and developmental psychologist says, “Unfortunately the subject is not always treated with respect he deserves.” (Baumrind 189)