Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Virtue Ethics, Positive Psychology, and a New Model of Science and Engineering Ethics Education

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Science and Engineering Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This essay develops a new conceptual framework of science and engineering ethics education based on virtue ethics and positive psychology. Virtue ethicists and positive psychologists have argued that current rule-based moral philosophy, psychology, and education cannot effectively promote students’ moral motivation for actual moral behavior and may even lead to negative outcomes, such as moral schizophrenia. They have suggested that their own theoretical framework of virtue ethics and positive psychology can contribute to the effective promotion of motivation for self-improvement by connecting the notion of morality and eudaimonic happiness. Thus this essay attempts to apply virtue ethics and positive psychology to science and engineering ethics education and to develop a new conceptual framework for more effective education. In addition to the conceptual-level work, this essay suggests two possible educational methods: moral modeling and involvement in actual moral activity in science and engineering ethics classes, based on the conceptual framework.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Algoe, S. B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: The “other-praising” emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(2), 105–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle. (2009). Nicomachean ethics, Vol. 2013. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.html.

  • Bandura, A. (1969). Social learning of moral judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 11(3), 275–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A., & McDonald, F. J. (1963). Influence of social reinforcement and the behavior of models in shaping children’s moral judgments. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(3), 274–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkowitz, M. W., & Bier, M. C. (2005). What works in character education: A research-driven guide for educators. St. Louis, MO: Character Education Partnership.

  • Blasi, A. (1980). Bridging moral cognition and moral action: A critical review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 1–45. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.88.1.1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blasi, A. (1984). Moral identity: Its role in moral functioning. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Morality, moral behavior, and moral development (pp. 128–139). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blasi, A. (1993). The development of identity: Some implications for moral functioning. In G. G. Noam & T. E. Wren (Eds.), The moral self (pp. 99–122). Cambridge: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blasi, A. (1995). Moral understanding and the moral personality: The process of moral integration. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Moral development: An introduction (pp. 229–253). Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boss, J. A. (1994). The effect of community service work on the moral development of college ethics students. Journal of Moral Education, 23(2), 183–198. doi:10.1080/0305724940230206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruni, L. (2010). The happiness of sociality. Economics and eudaimonia: A necessary encounter. Rationality and Society, 22(4), 383-406. doi:10.1177/1043463110374500.

  • Carr, D. (1996). After Kohlberg: Some implications of an ethics of virtue for the theory of moral education and development. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 15(4), 353–370. doi:10.1007/BF00368492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carr, D. (2000). Emotional intelligence, PSE and self esteem: A cautionary note. Pastoral Care in Education, 18(3), 27–33. doi:10.1111/1468-0122.00169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carr, D. (2005). On the contribution of literature and the arts to the educational cultivation of moral virtue, feeling and emotion. Journal of Moral Education, 34(2), 137–151. doi:10.1080/03057240500127053.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, D. (2007). Moralized psychology or psychologized morality? Ethics and psychology in recent theorizing about moral and character education. Educational Theory, 57, 389–402. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5446.2007.00264.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catalano, R. F., Hawkins, J. D., & Toumbourou, J. W. (2008). Positive youth development in the United States: History, efficacy, and links to moral and character education. In L. P. Nucci & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Handbook of moral and character education (pp. 459–483). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clonan, S. M., Chafouleas, S. M., McDougal, J., & Riley-Tillman, T. C. (2004). Positive psychology goes to school: Are we there yet? Psychology in the Schools, 41, 101–110. doi:10.1002/pits.10142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colby, A., & Damon, W. (1992). Some do care: Contemporary lives of moral commitment. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damon, W. (1984). Self-understanding and moral development from childhood to adolescence. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Morality, moral behavior and moral development (pp. 109–127). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damon, W. (2008). The path to purpose: Helping our children find their calling in life. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, M., Lickona, T., & Khmelkov, V. (2008). Smart & good schools: A new paradigm for high school character education. In L. P. Nucci & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Handbook of moral and character education (pp. 370–390). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar, W. S. (2005). Emotional engagement in professional ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 11(4), 535–551. doi:10.1007/s11948-005-0025-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fowers, B. J. (2005). Virtue and psychology: Pursuing excellence in ordinary practices. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. The American Psychologist, 56, 218–226. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, D., Aquino, K., & McFerran, B. (2009). Overcoming beneficiary race as an impediment to charitable donations: Social dominance orientation, the experience of moral elevation, and donation behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(1), 72–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. (2000). The positive emotion of elevation. Prevention and Treatment, 3(3), 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Han, H. (2014). Analyzing theoretical frameworks of moral education through Lakatos’s philosophy of science. Journal of Moral Education, 43(1), 32–53. doi:10.1080/03057240.2014.893422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han, H., Glover, G. H., & Jeong, C. (2014). Cultural influences on the neural correlate of moral decision making processes. Behavioural Brain Research, 259, 215–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, C. E. (2008). The good engineer: Giving virtue its due in engineering ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 14(2), 153–164. doi:10.1007/s11948-008-9068-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeong, C., & Han, H. (2012). Exploring the relationship between virtue ethics and moral identity. Ethics and Behavior, 23(1), 44–56. doi:10.1080/10508422.2012.714245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenny, N. P., Mann, K. V., & MacLeod, H. (2003). Role modeling in physicians’ professional formation: Reconsidering an essential but untapped educational strategy. Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 78, 1203–1210. doi:10.1097/00001888-200312000-00002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1978). Revisions in the theory and practice of moral development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 1978(2), 83–87. doi:10.1002/cd.23219780207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1981). The philosophy of moral development: Moral stages and the idea of justice. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraut, R. (2010). Aristotle’s ethics. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/.

  • Kristjánsson, K. (2002). Justifying emotions: Pride and jealousy. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kristjánsson, K. (2006). Emulation and the use of role models in moral education. Journal of Moral Education, 35(1), 37–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristjánsson, K. (2010). Positive psychology, happiness, and virtue: The troublesome conceptual issues. Review of General Psychology, 14(4), 296–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristjánsson, K. (2012a). Virtue development and psychology’s fear of normativity. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 32(2), 103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristjánsson, K. (2012b). Aristotelian motivational externalism. Philosophical Studies, 164(2), 419–442. doi:10.1007/s11098-012-9863-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristjánsson, K. (2013). Virtues and vices in positive psychology: A philosophical critique. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, R. M. (2008). Spirituality, positive purpose, wisdom, and positive development in adolescence: Comments on Oman, Flinders, and Thoresen’s ideas about “integrating spiritual modeling into education”. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 18(2), 108–118. doi:10.1080/10508610701879340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lickona, T. (1996). Eleven principles of effective character education. Journal of Moral Education, 25(1), 93–100. doi:10.1080/0305724960250110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, P., & Kunda, Z. (1997). Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 91–103. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, A. (2003). The nature of virtues. In R. Crisp & M. Slote (Eds.), Virtue ethics (pp. 118–140). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, M. W. (2002). Personal meaning and ethics in engineering. Science and Engineering Ethics, 8(4), 545–560. doi:10.1007/s11948-002-0008-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell, J. (2003). Virtue and reason. In R. Crisp & M. Slote (Eds.), Virtue ethics (pp. 141–162). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitcham, C. (2003). Co-responsibility for research integrity. Science and Engineering Ethics, 9, 273–290. doi:10.1007/s11948-003-0014-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monin, B. (2007). Holier than me? Threatening social comparison in the moral domain. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale, 20, 53–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monin, B., Sawyer, P. J., & Marquez, M. J. (2008). The rejection of moral rebels: Resenting those who do the right thing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 76–93. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostenfeld, E. (1994). Aristotle on the good life and quality of life. In L. Nordenfelt (Ed.), Concepts and measurement of quality of life in health care (pp. 19–34). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pimple, K. D. (2002). Six domains of research ethics. A heuristic framework for the responsible conduct of research. Science and Engineering Ethics, 8, 191–205. doi:10.1007/s11948-002-0018-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Power, C. (1988). The just community approach to moral education. Journal of Moral Education, 17(3), 195–208. doi:10.1080/0305724880170304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Power, F. C., & Makogon, T. A. (1995). The just-community approach to care. Journal for a Just and Caring Education, 2(1), 9–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prehn, K., Wartenburger, I., Meriau, K., Scheibe, C., Goodenough, O. R., Villringer, A., et al. (2008). Individual differences in moral judgment competence influence neural correlates of socio-normative judgments. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 3(1), 33–46. doi:10.1093/Scan/Nsm037.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Punzo, V. A. (1996). After Kohlberg: Virtue ethics and the recovery of the moral self. Philosophical Psychology, 9, 7–23. doi:10.1080/09515089608573170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosnow, R. L., Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Ceci, S. J., Blanck, P. D., & Koocher, G. P. (1993). The Institutional Review Board as a mirror of scientific and ethical standards. American Psychologist, 48(7), 821–826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schnall, S., Roper, J., & Fessler, D. M. T. (2010). Elevation leads to altruistic behavior. Psychological Science, 21, 315–320. doi:10.1177/0956797609359882.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schrag, B. (2005). Teaching research ethics: Can web-based instruction satisfy appropriate pedagogical objectives? Science and Engineering Ethics, 11(3), 347–366. doi:10.1007/s11948-005-0004-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York: Free Press.

  • Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology. An introduction. The American Psychologist, 55, 5–14. doi:10.1177/0022167801411002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P., Gillham, J., Linkins, M., Reivich, K., & Ernst, R. M. (2009). Positive education: Positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education,. doi:10.1080/03054980902934563.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silvers, J. A., & Haidt, J. (2008). Moral elevation can induce nursing. Emotion, 8(2), 291–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silverstein, A., & Trombetti, I. (2013). Aristotle’s account of moral development. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 33(4), 233–252. doi:10.1037/a0031013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snow, N. E. (2008). Virtue and flourishing. Journal of Social Philosophy, 39(2), 225–245. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9833.2008.00425.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steutel, J., & Spiecker, B. (2004). Cultivating sentimental dispositions through Aristotelian habituation. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 38, 531–549. doi:10.1111/j.0309-8249.2004.00403.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stocker, M. (2003). The schizophrenia of modern ethical theories. In R. Crisp & M. Slote (Eds.), Virtue ethics (pp. 66–78). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stovall, P. (2011). Professional virtue and professional self-awareness: A case study in engineering ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 17, 109–132. doi:10.1007/s11948-009-9182-x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vianello, M., Galliani, E. M., & Haidt, J. (2010). Elevation at work: The effects of leaders’ moral excellence. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(5), 390–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, L. J. (2013). Exemplars’ moral behavior is self-regarding. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 142, 27–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, L. J., & Hennig, K. H. (2004). Differing conceptions of moral exemplarity: Just, brave, and caring. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 629–647. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.4.629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wall, J. (2003). Phronesis, poetics, and moral creativity. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 6, 317–341. doi:10.1023/A:1026063925726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, S. (2003). Moral saints. In R. Crisp & M. Slote (Eds.), Virtue ethics (pp. 79–98). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zandvoort, H., Børsen, T., Deneke, M., & Bird, S. J. (2013). Editors’ overview perspectives on teaching social responsibility to students in science and engineering. Science and Engineering Ethics, 19(4), 1413–1438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Hyemin Han

Authors
  1. Hyemin Han
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hyemin Han.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Han, H. Virtue Ethics, Positive Psychology, and a New Model of Science and Engineering Ethics Education. Sci Eng Ethics 21, 441–460 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-014-9539-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-014-9539-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation