Moral Dilemma: The Exam Dilemma

Abstract

In daily life, it is widespread for people to encounter numerous moral dilemmas, which is, in fact, a decision-making process—in which people often make different choices for a variety of reasons, making it a "moral dilemma" that is hard to decide rather than a " fact" that everyone agrees on. Thus, a specific moral dilemma (the exam dilemma) is demonstrated: a girl named Lisa found that her best friend cheated in a critical exam while her sister took part in it. The question is whether or not to report the friend, as reporting the friend could cause everyone to retake the exam (which could be harsher). In this case, two experiments are designed to obtain data from different influencing variables, including age, cultural context, marital status, etc. Based on this situation, this article will elaborate on some hypothetical factors and different theoretical perspectives that could be argued to be responsible for the deviation of the results of the two experiments, including (a) Morality as Cooperation; (b) age; (c) cross-cultural effects; (d) Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development; (e) marriage; and finally the aspect of (f) deontology and utilitarianism. This article will analyse what they are from these perspectives and why they can be a possible factor in the final result.