Exercise 3: Can morality be measured?

Time

40 min
 

The goals of this exercise

• to make students understand how morality affects our judgement and decisions
• to provide students with a framework for understanding their own moral values
   

Teaching methods

Case study, discussion, writing
 

Instruction and commentary for teacher

1.  Start with the template “What is your price?” (page 4). Ask students to fill in the template. Once they filled the template, the students should add the numbers in each column and say in which column their score is higher. The vast majority of students should have more points in column B.
2. Discuss each case row by row by asking what the difference is and what moral principle are these cases about. One by one they reflect the five moral foundations developed by Haidt (care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and sanctity). In this way the moral foundations can be introduced and described to students.
3. You can invite students to fill in the “Moral Foundations Questionnaire” and see for themselves how they score. Ask them to anonymously write their scores on stick notes, so that the whole class can see how they differ.
4. Watch the YouTube movie (“The moral roots of liberals and conservatives”) to see how moral foundations are used in politics.
5. Discuss whether the difference observed by Haidt in the US (liberals using only two foundations, care and fairness, in contrast to conservatives who use supplement those with more attention paid to loyalty, authority and sanctity) apply to the political scene in your country.
6. Ask students to listen to selected politicians and indicate when do they refer to the moral foundations in their speeches. Does the reference stay in tune with their political orientation?
7. Ask students to think about building a political speech built on a certain set of moral foundations (e.g. present the refugee crisis by using care + fairness vs. care + loyalty).
    

Instruction and commentary for student

1. Start with the template “What is your price?”. Fill in the template. Once you are ready, add the numbers in each column and say in which column your score is higher.
2. Discuss one by one the five moral foundations developed by Haidt (care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and sanctity).
3. Fill in the “Moral Foundations Questionnaire”.
4. Write your scores anonymously on stick notes, so that the whole class can finally see how you all differ.
5. Watch the YouTube movie (“The moral roots of liberals and conservatives”) to see how moral foundations are used in politics.
6. Discuss whether the difference observed by Haidt in the US (liberals using only two foundations, care and fairness, in contrast to conservatives who use supplement those with more attention paid to loyalty, authority and sanctity) apply also to the political scene in your country.
7. Listen to selected politicians and indicate when do they refer to the moral foundations in their speeches. Does the reference stay in tune with their political orientation?
8. Think about building a political speech (words always have power!) based on a certain set of moral foundations (e.g. present the refugee crisis by using care and fairness). You can use some tips, how to make it right.