Chapter 9 Quiz

15 questions. Mix of multiple choice, short answer, and applied analysis.

Part A: Multiple Choice (1 point each)

1. In Milgram's original obedience experiment, approximately what percentage of participants administered the maximum (450-volt) shock?

a) 15%
b) 35%
c) 65%
d) 90%

2. Which of the following modifications to Milgram's experimental design produced the largest reduction in compliance?

a) Moving the learner into the same room as the teacher
b) Having the experimenter leave the room and give instructions by phone
c) Using female instead of male participants
d) Increasing the maximum shock voltage

3. Hannah Arendt's phrase "the banality of evil" refers to:

a) The claim that evil people are morally indistinguishable from ordinary people
b) The observation that institutional evil often operates through ordinary people who have substituted role compliance for moral agency
c) The philosophical position that evil is a mundane feature of all human societies
d) The argument that the Nazi regime was not exceptional but typical of modern bureaucracies

4. According to Haidt's social intuitionist model, which of the following best describes the role of moral reasoning?

a) Reasoning precedes and generates moral judgment
b) Reasoning is primarily post-hoc rationalization of judgments already reached intuitively
c) Reasoning and intuition operate in parallel with equal weight
d) Reasoning is used to override intuitions that are demonstrably wrong

5. In the dual-process framework applied to ethics, System 1 moral responses are best characterized as:

a) Slow, deliberate, and rule-governed
b) Fast, automatic, and emotionally valenced
c) Consistently more accurate than System 2 responses
d) Exclusively products of cultural socialization with no biological basis

6. Haidt's moral foundations theory identifies which of the following as one of its six foundations?

a) Humility/Arrogance
b) Honesty/Deception
c) Sanctity/Degradation
d) Compassion/Indifference

7. Research on implicit bias using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has most reliably shown:

a) That people with high IAT scores consistently act in discriminatory ways
b) That implicit associations are easily corrected through awareness training
c) That many people harbor automatic associations that diverge from their explicitly stated values
d) That implicit bias alone explains most racial disparities in outcomes

8. Iris Marion Young's concept of "structural injustice" holds that:

a) Only individuals who intend harm are morally responsible for injustice
b) Structural positions can create moral responsibilities even when individuals don't intend unjust outcomes
c) Structural factors completely eliminate individual moral agency
d) Legal responsibility and moral responsibility are identical in cases of structural harm

9. Research on "moral dumbfounding" (Haidt) demonstrates:

a) That people become genuinely confused about basic moral principles under pressure
b) That people can be strongly certain that an action is wrong even when they cannot articulate a coherent reason why
c) That moral reasoning is reliable under conditions of emotional distance
d) That cross-cultural moral intuitions are highly inconsistent

10. According to moral foundations theory, what primarily distinguishes liberal from conservative moral profiles?

a) Conservatives weight Care and Fairness more than liberals
b) Liberals weight all six foundations equally; conservatives ignore the Sanctity foundation
c) Liberals tend to weight Care and Fairness most heavily; conservatives weight all six foundations more evenly
d) Conservatives reject the Liberty/Oppression foundation entirely

11. The "diffusion of responsibility" mechanism in bystander effect research refers specifically to:

a) Legal theories of shared liability in group negligence
b) The psychological process by which the presence of multiple bystanders reduces each individual's felt obligation to act
c) The tendency for decision-making authority to spread across organizational hierarchies
d) Haidt's theory of how moral judgment is distributed across the social group

Part B: Short Answer (5 points each)

12. What is the main methodological criticism of the Stanford Prison Experiment, and why does acknowledging it matter for how we use the study as philosophical evidence?

Suggested length: 100–150 words

13. Explain the philosophical tension in Haidt's social intuitionist model: if moral reasoning is mostly post-hoc rationalization, how does moral progress happen?

Suggested length: 100–150 words

Part C: Applied Analysis (10 points each)

14. A large accounting firm has a culture in which junior employees are expected to defer to senior partners on all decisions, including decisions about what to report to clients. A new junior employee discovers that a senior partner has been advising a client in a way that may be misleading. She mentions her concern to a colleague, who says, "That's just how it works here. You don't want to make enemies." She stays quiet.

Using concepts from this chapter — at least two of: Milgram's obedience findings, Arendt's banality of evil, bystander effect, structural injustice — analyze what is driving her inaction and what institutional changes would reduce the likelihood of this outcome in the future.

Suggested length: 250–350 words

15. You are preparing to have a conversation with a family member about a genuinely contested political issue — one where you have strong disagreements. Using moral foundations theory, describe how you would prepare for that conversation differently than you would without the framework. What would you try to understand about the foundations driving their position? What would you try to communicate about your own? What limitations does the framework have for this purpose?

Suggested length: 250–350 words

Answer Key (Instructor Use)

  1. c
  2. b
  3. b
  4. b
  5. b
  6. c
  7. c
  8. b
  9. b
  10. c
  11. b

Short answer evaluation criteria: - Q12: Should identify Zimbardo's dual role as researcher and "superintendent," coaching of guards, lack of neutral data collection, Le Texier/Blum 2018 findings. Matters because: distinguish influential-but-weak evidence from strong evidence; intellectual honesty in using science philosophically. - Q13: Should identify the apparent paradox (if reasoning is always post-hoc, there's no mechanism for revision) and Haidt's resolution (moral imagination through narrative and confrontation with different perspectives shifts intuitions; reasoning follows the new intuitions).

Applied analysis evaluation criteria: - Q14: Should correctly apply at least two mechanisms; should distinguish individual-level and institutional-level analysis; institutional recommendations should be specific and linked to identified mechanisms (not generic "be more ethical"). - Q15: Should demonstrate genuine understanding of MFT (not just name-dropping), include both diagnostic use (understanding their position) and communicative use (translating your position into their moral language), and acknowledge at least one genuine limitation (e.g., MFT is descriptive not normative; knowing someone's foundation doesn't validate it).