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KPMG, an international marketing and management company, has published Lawrence Kohlberg's "Heinz Dilemma" for a business ethics course. Answer the questions about the Heinz dilemma. Is it clear to you what the "ethical" response should be? What might influence a person's responses? According to Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning, how might a 10-year-old respond to the dilemma?
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The ethical answers are pretty clear. Obviously the ethical responses would be not to steal the drug for anyone, for the cop to report the guy and for the judge to give him jailtime.
Putting yourself in Heinz's shoes may change your ethical answers.
There are many factors that affect a persons response. These include:


- personal experience with sick, loved ones
- Your upbringing (nurture)
- How strong societal morals are ingrained in your head.
- What a job is and how important personal wants or beliefs are when it comes to your job.

More later!!

I would have to disagree with Montresor and say that the ethical answers to this dilemna are not clear at all. It depends on the person's perspective. If you believe firmly in "law and order," then you probably would believe that Heinz should not steal, the cop should report him and the judge should give him jailtime. However, if you felt it was unfair that the druggist was charging such an outragious amount for the drug, you might feel Heinz had good reason to steal, the cop had good reason not to report him and the judge was justified in being lenient. Any number of different personal perspectives could change what is considered ethical.

I agree with the factors that affect a person's response that Montresor outlined.

If you look in the text, there is a graph that suggests that a 10 year old would most likely be a Stage 2 reasoner. For instances,they would reason that it is okay to serve a little jail time if Heinz' wife was okay when he came out. Or they would reason that it is not worth stealing, because his wife would be dead by the time he got out.

Perhaps I should have put quotations around the word ethical. I meant to say that the societal ethics are pretty clear. For example, in interviews for Medicine they ask you questions like:

"If you had a big test coming up and you studied really hard for it and you felt really prepared, and you go to the exam and your best friend cheats on the exam; would you "tell" on him?"

Well most people answer this question with the answer that they think the interviewers want to hear: "I would tell on him". I think that there are only a few of those who would actually tell someone.

That's what I meant by the "ethical" answer being clear.

As for Kohlberg, he says that most 10 year olds (55%) would be in stage 2 or would answer the question in a self-interested way. Such as: "It won't bother him to serve a little jailtime, if he gets his wife back"

Interestingly, I asked my 13 year old brother the first question and he gave a Stage 4 response,("It's his wife, of course he should steal it") which according to Kohlberg's theory places him in Stage 4 or about 5% of his age.

I also asked my 12 year old brother, seperately, and he gave the same response ("I would steal it because it's my wife"). This response puts him under 5% for his age.

This may show how nurture plays a role in moral reasoning, because both of them also said that if they were the cop, they would report him beacause that is his job. A different family may give different answers, depending on how they were raised.

These questions reminded me of the movie "Trigger Effect". In this movie, a freak power shortage affects an entire city and it doesn't take long for conspiracy theories and looting and stuff like that. The grocery stores are all packed, people trying to buy everything and the gunshops are packed as well, and the guns are increased in price by 100's of dollars.
Anyways, the main character's baby gets sick (it's known to have ear infections), so the husband tries to get the prescription. Of course, the prescription info is on computer and the computer is down. So after getting kicked out (he created a scene) he sneaks back in and steals the drug (his wife told him she was disappointed after he didn't get the drug the first time). So he sneaks in and steals the drug just for a baby with sore ears.

I think this proves how hard it is to categorize people into stages. For example, for the husband to steal the drug for the baby, was he a Stage3 or Stage4? He loves his family, yet wasn't willing to steal the drug until after speaking to his wife (his wife never actually tells him to steal the drug). Is he worried what his wife will think of him if he doesn't bring home the drug again, or is his wife's disappointment just enough for him to realize that it is his duty as a husband to look after his family to whatever costs? Has he developed past Stage 3 yet? I think it is hard to say. He may even be thinking at a Stage 5 level ("I've tried eveything else, this is a last resort, the pharmacist just doesn't understand")

If you like answering or thinking about ethical issues such as this,"Trigger Effect" is a good movie, because this ethical dilemma just scrathes the surface of all the decisions the characters have to make. Although it only deals with adults, it shows the many different ethical and moral reasoning, and therefore many of Kohlberg's Stages, that go behind making a decision.


P.S. If anyone has seen this movie or is going to, I apoligize for any errors I might have made describing this movie; it has been a long time since I seen it!!! I am going on memory here!!

The "ethical" issues are clear, should he steal it or not. The dilemma is what side to choose. I think it is dependent on nuture. Not saying that one is better than the other, it just depends on what you have been taught. For some families law and order are emphasized. For example if you have authoritarian parents, you maybe more likely not to steal. I don't know if that example explains my point, I hope so.
A ten year old according to Kohlberg would be more likely to answer according to how it effects her/him.
I find it interesting that Motresor's brothers answered it the way they did. I wonder if it has anything to do with the increased information children are given at an earlier age.?

The Heinz dilemma incorporates many aspects of decision making into its problem. It has an issue with society ( the policeman and his job), issue with family and finally and issue with the institutions of society(capitalism, the price of the drug). It can display many aspects of an individuals morals and beliefs, which are developed through many parts of "nurture". All individuals have different experiences, and therefore different ways of deciding what is right and what is wrong. For some it is very black and white and others have only shades of grey.
With Kohlberg's stages we agreed a ten year old would be in stage two. Relating the issues to the results, Jene's ex Stealing and jailtime is justified if when the man got out his wife would be all right. But th eissue of the stages were questioned by the results of Montresor's brothers.