Ethical Decision-Making Programme
A sequenced path through the ethical decision-making context, interleaving generative activities, phenomena reading, and analytical exercises organised by skill level.
Recognition
I can spot which mechanism is at play.
The goal is pattern recognition — given a scenario, identify which ETHIC level is the primary driver. No theory names needed yet, just the ability to sort.
Do first
Oil Pricing (generative activity, ~1-2 hours group exercise) : Run this before any reading. It creates shared experience of trust breaking down, representatives failing their teams, and the gap between stated strategy and actual behaviour. Debrief lightly — note what happened, don't explain it yet. : → Oil Pricing
Then read
Ethical decision-making context (context page) : The cascade overview. How gut reactions, rationalisation, environmental pressure, group dynamics, and institutional culture each contribute a small bias that compounds into ethical failure. This gives the big picture before zooming in. : → Ethical Decision-Making
Something isn't right (phenomenon — E-level) : The alarm that fires first. Your nervous system detects pattern violations and tags them with a gut-level sense that something is off — before you can explain why. Intuitions arrive before reasons. : → Something Isn't Right
Then practise
QDE: Level Identification (8 scenarios, solo) : Given a scenario, identify the primary ETHIC level. Multiple levels may be involved; you're looking for the primary driver. : → QDE: Level Identification
Check
Before advancing, you should be able to:
- Quickly sort a scenario into E/T/H/I/C
- Identify when multiple levels are involved
- Distinguish E (automatic feeling) from T (reasoning about feelings)
- Distinguish I (this group's dynamics) from C (broader cultural norms)
- Distinguish H (this situation's features) from C (institutional setup)
Explanation
I can explain how the mechanism works.
The goal is mechanistic explanation — not just naming the level, but explaining the machinery: what are the parts, how do they interact, what does the mechanism predict?
Read
Work through the four layer phenomena. Each one unpacks a different slice of the ethical failure cascade:
-
Rationalising away — the lazy controller and moral disengagement scripts. Why "thinking it through" often just generates reasons for what you were going to do anyway. : → Rationalising Away
-
Situations shape behaviour — the affordance auction and choice architecture. Why the environment predicts your actions better than your character. : → Situations Shape Behaviour
-
Thinking like the group — the prestige engine, tight-loose dynamics, engaged followership. Why group norms absorb you without deliberate choice. : → Thinking like the group
-
Rules on the wall — enforcement infrastructure and virtue indeterminacy. Why stated values without enforcement are decoration. : →
rules-on-the-wall
Then practise
QDE: Core Mechanisms (5 scenarios, solo) : For each ETHIC level, explain the core mechanism using the scenario. Name the parts (e.g., conflict monitor, affordance weighting) and trace the causal chain. : → QDE: Core Mechanisms
Optionally do
Promised Lands (generative activity, ~45-60 mins group exercise) : A three-stage moral ranking exercise. Watch your own moral reasoning shift when the incentives do. Surfaces the prediction engine, lazy controller, and the gap between moral reasoning and moral behaviour. : → Promised Lands
Check
Before advancing, you should be able to:
- Explain each core mechanism in one sentence
- Apply each mechanism to a novel scenario
- Identify which mechanism is primary in a complex scenario
- Suggest a mechanism-based intervention (not "train more" or "try harder")
Interaction
I can see how mechanisms compound across levels.
The goal is interaction analysis — tracing how mechanisms at different ETHIC levels reinforce, enable, or constrain each other. Most real situations involve multiple levels; the skill is seeing how they connect.
Practise
QDE: Key Phenomena (5 scenarios, solo) : Add specific phenomena per level — interruption, moral disengagement techniques, RPD, bonding vs bridging, tight vs loose — and apply them. : → QDE: Cross-Level Analysis
QDE: Extended Practice (16 standalone exercises, solo) : Work through these in order (E → T → H → I → C). Each targets a specific mechanism with a scenario and detailed answer key. These are the core analytical reps. : → QDE: Extended Practice
Optionally do
Lines to Take (generative activity, ~30 mins group exercise)
: Consolidate messages, handle hostile questions, understand why the redirect
works on the listener's brain. Practical influence skill that doubles as a
window into chunking and prediction.
: → lines-to-take-abc
Also read
The see-also phenomena from the ethics context. These aren't core to the programme but sharpen adjacent edges:
- The say-do gap — why knowing better doesn't mean doing better
: →
say-do-gap - Habits — trained routines resist change; normalisation of deviance : → Habits
- Different person in different places — context-dependent behaviour : → Different person in different places
Check
Before advancing, you should be able to:
- Recognise moral disengagement techniques in speech (yours and others')
- Explain when RPD helps and when it's dangerous
- Distinguish bonding from bridging capital and identify pathologies of each
- Analyse an environment as tight or loose based on enforcement infrastructure
- Trace how two or more ETHIC levels interact in a single scenario
Intervention
I can propose a change targeting specific mechanism components.
The goal is intervention design — not just diagnosing what went wrong, but proposing changes that target the right mechanism at the right level. Good interventions name the mechanism component they're acting on and predict what should change.
Practise
QDE: Full Application (multi-level scenarios, solo or paired) : Analyse across all five ETHIC levels. Name mechanisms and phenomena at each level. Explain how the levels interact. Propose interventions targeting specific components. : → QDE: Full Application
Generate your own : Write a scenario targeting a specific mechanism. Trade with a partner. Grade each other's analysis. This is the highest-value exercise — if you can write a good scenario, you understand the mechanism.
Check
You should be able to:
- Conduct a multi-level analysis of a novel ethical scenario
- Name specific mechanisms (not just ETHIC labels) at each level
- Trace interactions between levels
- Propose interventions that target mechanism components, not symptoms
- Explain why "train more" and "try harder" are usually insufficient
Delivery Notes
Facilitated mode
The programme is designed for facilitated delivery. The phases don't map 1:1 to contact sessions — they represent a progression through material that may span multiple sessions and self-study periods. A facilitator can map the phases onto their own delivery structure (lecture, seminar, exercise, etc.) depending on context.
Typical mapping:
| Session type | Programme phases | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-reading | Phase 1 (read) | Phenomena card as advance reading |
| Introductory session | Phase 1-2 | Introduce ETHIC Stack; mechanisms are the content |
| Self-study | Phase 2-3 (QDEs) | Analytical practice between sessions |
| Discussion / seminar | Phase 3 | Interaction-level skills need conversation |
| Applied exercise | Phase 3-4 | Scenarios requiring full application |
| Consolidation | Phase 4 | Intervention design, scenario generation |
Self-study mode
The same four-phase progression, packaged for someone working alone. Group activities are off the critical path — the QDEs and reading carry the analytical progression. Work one session at a time. Don't advance until the gate criteria pass without reference material.
Session 1: Recognition (~45-60 mins)
Read the context page — the cascade overview — then the first phenomenon. Work the level identification exercises. Write your answer before checking.
: → read contexts/ethical-decision-making
: → read something-isnt-right
: → do qde-level-identification
Gate. Cover the mechanism table. Given a novel scenario, can you sort it into the right level and say why? If not, re-read the context page and retry the scenarios you got wrong.
Session 2: Explanation (~60-75 mins)
Read the four remaining phenomena in order. Then work the core mechanism exercises — for each, name the parts and trace the causal chain from input to output.
: → read rationalising-away
: → read situations-shape-behaviour
: → read thinking-like-the-group
: → read rules-on-the-wall
: → do qde-core-mechanisms
Gate. Can you explain each mechanism in one sentence, naming its key parts? Can you suggest an intervention that targets a specific component — not "train more" or "try harder"?
Session 3: Interaction — phenomena (~45-60 mins)
Work the key phenomena exercises — these introduce specific phenomena per level and begin multi-level analysis. Then start the concept bank: E-level (3 scenarios) and T-level (4 scenarios).
: → do qde-cross-level-analysis
: → do qde-extended-practice (E1–E3, T1–T4)
Gate. Can you name the eight moral disengagement techniques? Can you explain the RPD trade-off (speed vs misrecognition)? Can you distinguish bonding from bridging capital?
Session 4: Interaction — application (~45-60 mins)
Finish the concept bank: H-level (3 scenarios), I-level (4 scenarios), C-level (4 scenarios — note C4 is a genuine dilemma, not a mechanism failure). Optionally read the see-also phenomena from the context page.
: → do qde-extended-practice (H1–H3, I1–I4, C1–C4)
: → optional read say-do-gap
: → optional read habits
: → optional read different-person-in-different-places
Gate. Can you trace how two or more levels interact in a single scenario? Can you predict what happens when enforcement infrastructure changes?
Session 5: Intervention (~45-60 mins)
Work the full application exercise — The Drift. Analyse across all five levels, trace interactions, propose interventions. Then try generating your own scenario: pick a primary mechanism, write 3–5 sentences, add a secondary mechanism, write an answer key.
: → do qde-full-application
Gate. Can you conduct a multi-level analysis of a novel scenario? Can you propose interventions that name the specific component they target?
Sessions 6+: Spacing
Return to the concept bank for spaced repetition. Leave at least 3 days between passes.
: → redo qde-extended-practice (randomised order)
: → redo errors only
Scoring (concept bank exercises): concept identification (1 point), mechanism explanation with parts and causal chain (1 point), reasonable intervention targeting a component (1 point). Track scores by level (E/T/H/I/C) to identify gaps — revisit the relevant phenomena for any level that scores low.
Group activity notes
Oil Pricing, Promised Lands, and Lines to Take are group exercises. If you get the opportunity to run any of them — with other students, during recovery, in a seminar — do so. They add experiential depth that the QDEs can't replicate. But they're not required for the analytical progression and the programme works without them.