Concepts Unwrapped

Attribution is giving credit where credit is due. Appropriation is the complex borrowing of ideas, images, symbols, sounds, and identity from others.

The relationship between laws and ethics is not always clear. Legal rights to do something do not necessarily mean the actions are ethically justified.

Media representations of individuals or groups can hurt by reflecting stereotypes and mistaken beliefs or can help by being truthful and inclusive.

Systematic moral analysis is a tool that helps us to think through ethically complex situations.

Moral awareness is the ability to detect and appreciate the ethical aspects of a decision that one must make.

Moral action involves taking the necessary steps to transform the intent to do the right thing into reality. This includes moral ownership, moral efficacy, and moral courage.

Moral intent is the desire to act ethically when facing a decision and overcome the rationalization to not be ethical “this time.”

Moral decision making is the ability to produce a reasonable and defensible answer to an ethical question.

Relativism is the belief that a harmful act is ‘right’ if the perpetrator claims it is ‘right,’ but what is right and what is wrong is not always relative.

Causing harm explores the different types of harm that may be caused to people or groups and the potential reasons we may have for justifying these harms.

The moral example set by leaders has a major impact upon the behavior of their subordinates, both good and bad, ethical and unethical. Despite their career success, leaders may be particularly vulnerable to ethical lapses.

Psychological research provides guidance as to how leaders can create a workplace culture that encourages ethical behavior by employees.

Moral myopia is a distortion of moral vision that keeps ethical issues from coming clearly into focus. Written by Minette Drumwright.

Moral imagination is our ability to think outside the box and envision ways to be both ethical and successful. Written by Minette Drumwright.

Moral muteness is when we communicate in ways that obscure our moral beliefs and commitments, or don’t voice moral sentiments at all. Written by Minette Drumwright.

Tangible and abstract describes how we react more to vivid, immediate inputs than to ones removed in time and space, meaning we can pay insufficient attention to the adverse consequences our actions have on others.

The self-serving bias causes us to see things in ways that support our best interests and our pre-existing points of view.

Conformity bias refers to our tendency to take cues for proper behavior in most contexts from the actions of others rather than exercise our own independent judgment. Written by Robert Prentice. This video is accompanied by teaching notes to help aid classroom discussion and can be downloaded within this iTunes collection. For more on Ethics Unwrapped please visit our website: ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu