Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
48. According to Jean Piaget, what does a child possess at 18 months that they do not
possess earlier in life?
a. feelings such as pride and shame
b. curiosity
c. a social smile
d. an understanding of what it means to be good or bad
49. Antwon is old enough to have developed the capacity for mental scripts. Which of
the following scenarios demonstrates enactment of a mental script?
a. An uncle gives Antwon a present, and Antwon says, “Thank you.”
b. Antwon’s mother smiles at him, and he smiles back.
c. Antwon recognizes that others might feel bad even though he feels good.
d. A stranger appears, and Antwon tries to crawl away from him.
50. According to Lawrence Kohlberg, how does right behavior at the conventional level
of reasoning differ from right behavior at the preconventional level?
a. It is less concerned with being a good role model.
b. It has a higher component of pain avoidance.
c. It is based more on universal ethical principles.
d. It is based more on societal order.
51. Chudra’s cognitive moral development has reached the postconventional level. With
which of the following statements is she most likely to agree?
a. Act as you would to be the best role model for others.
b. Every human being has the right to sufficient food, shelter, and just treatment.
c. The law is the law, and it should be obeyed to maintain societal order.
d. Life is short; do what makes you happy.
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
52. According to Lawrence Kohlberg’s moral development theory, which of the following
is a factor that influences passage through the stages of moral development?
a. avoidance of pain
b. empathy for people at lower stages
c. moral comfort
d. age
53. In Lawrence Kohlberg’s moral stages, most adults never advance beyond the
______ level.
a. postconventional
b. preconventional
c. conventional
d. “good boy–nice girl”
54. What component must be present for a person to advance from one stage of moral
reasoning to the next?
a. a significant advancement in age
b. empathy for others
c. psychological pain
d. a moral script
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
55. “Do not lie” is an example of which of the following found in all major cultures and
world religions?
a. a moral imperative
b. a stage of moral reasoning
c. cognitive dissonance
d. conventional reasoning
56. Which of the following statements about lying and cheating in high school and
college is accurate?
a. Less than half of high school students thought it was important to display good
character.
b. The incidence of cheating is lower in college than in high school, though still very
high.
c. Most college students admit to wanting to cheat, though most do not.
d. Over ninety percent of high school students admit to cheating in the last year.
57. For what common social function does lying serve as a defense mechanism?
a. hiding our flaws and imperfections
b. assisting in material gain
c. maintaining societal order
d. protecting self-interests
58. While all children might lie in situations where doing so would benefit them, ______
are also viewed as innate.
a. moral imperatives
b. a lack of justifications for behaviors
c. extreme selfish actions
d. helping behaviors
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
59. According to research, when are altruistic behaviors first observed in children?
a. 4 years
b. 2 years
c. 12 months
d. 18 months
60. Which statement is true about helping behaviors?
a. Helping behaviors tend to persist into adulthood.
b. Children exhibit helping behaviors only after becoming verbal.
c. Helping behavior decreases dramatically in the adult years.
d. Children must be explicitly taught helping behaviors.
61. Altruistic behaviors are best defined as ______.
a. the deliberate pursuit of actions that will benefit the self
b. the deliberate pursuit of actions intended to benefit the interests or welfare of others
c. behaviors designed to elicit happiness and cooperation from others
d. behaviors designed to help one take on a beneficial role in the community
62. When do children show the first evidence of lying?
a. as soon as they are able to express wants or needs
b. when they are capable of recognizing unique individuals
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
c. as soon as they are capable of speech
d. when they reach the postconventional reasoning stage
63. Which scenario would cause cognitive dissonance?
a. An employee is pressured by their manager to falsify sales numbers and discovers
that the action helps the company’s bottom line.
b. A person justifies stealing based on the need to feed his family, but then he sees that
it helps his children stay healthy.
c. A person decides to lie for the first time to achieve better results at work but is caught.
d. A person believes stealing is harmless but then sees the pain it causes a victim.
64. Sam is sixteen years old. If they are part of the statistical majority, Sam reasons at
the ______ level of moral development.
a. conventional
b. preconventional
c. postconventional
d. imperative
65. A person who reasons at the postconventional level is most influenced in their
decisions by ______.
a. the laws that govern the community
b. the will of the majority
c. the need to be a good role model
d. their conscience
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
66. What is the first stage of moral development?
a. egocentric punishment avoidance
b. universal ethical principles
c. good boy–nice girl
d. law and order
67. Which statement about the cognitive development of children is accurate as
articulated by Jean Piaget?
a. Conscience forms soon after a child is capable of mental scripts.
b. Empathy usually appears by age three.
c. A child is sociocentric at about 18 months.
d. Concepts of good and bad appear at about four years of age.
68. Which general statement about early child development accurately explains infant
moral development?
a. Newborns are not yet capable of expressing their desire to experience pleasure and
avoid pain.
b. Infants are born without a sense of justice.
c. A child’s most direct role model is his or her parents.
d. Neglected infants often grow up emotionally secure.
69. Which is one general reason that good people sometimes behave unethically?
a. causing, but not intending, an unethical outcome
b. choosing not to justify an unethical behavior
c. failing to prevent an unethical behavior out of self-doubt
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
d. choosing one set of values that are self-serving
70. Which behavior qualifies as an unintended unethical behavior?
a. punching a stranger because they insulted you
b. failing to report an unwanted sexual advance for fear of being fired
c. a store manager using a waste disposal service that secretly pollutes
d. going along with a boss’s unethical request because one values loyalty
71. Ethical decisions where people must choose between competing values are also
characterized as ______.
a. right versus right
b. right versus wrong
c. justice versus loyalty
d. good versus bad
72. Which of the following is one of the four types of ethical dilemmas based on
competing values?
a. short-term versus reward
b. community versus common good
c. truth versus justice
d. truth versus loyalty
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
73. Which of the following is an example of a “justice versus mercy” ethical dilemma
based on competing values?
a. A mother wonders if she should try to restrict spending money on her young children
so that she can save for their college fund.
b. A city council has to vote on whether or not to allocate the majority of their resources
to help a few people whose property was damaged by a fire.
c. A man needs to feed his children but has no job and wonders if he should steal food
for them.
d. A police officer sees a woman accidentally break the law and wonders if he should
arrest her.
74. If an office worker sometimes takes supplies home for personal use without asking
and justifies it because others in the company do the same, what is the worker using to
justify the action?
a. organizational culture
b. avoiding pain
c. short-term gain for long-term success
d. deserved rewards
75. If a sales manager asks subordinates to falsify their sales numbers and justifies it by
saying, “The end justifies the means,” the manager is likely making an argument that
______.
a. lying is essentially a victimless crime
b. the company must do anything it can to succeed in the marketplace
c. helping her subordinates do well justifies the minor ethical issue with lying
d. loyalty is no excuse for poor work performance
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
76. The Society for Human Resource Management and the Ethics Resource Center
found the most common reason an employee was pressured to act unethically was
______.
a. schedule stress
b. wanting to help the team
c. directives from a boss
d. need for personal gain
77. Which of the following conclusions about human nature and morality can be drawn
from the Stanley Milgram experiment involving electric shocks?
a. Personal gain does not often factor into unethical behavior that harms others.
b. People will choose to harm others if they believe it makes the community healthier.
c. Good people have basic moral boundaries that almost nothing will compel them to
cross.
d. Direction from authority can convince good people to harm others.
78. What lesson is the text trying to convey by relating the example of ignition switch
malfunctions in General Motors cars?
a. Failure to report unethical behavior can be extremely costly.
b. People fail to report unethical behavior mainly out of concern for the person doing the
action.
c. Most unethical behaviors are intentional in nature.
d. Failure to report unethical behavior is usually due to valuing short-term benefits over
long-term benefits.
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
True/False
1. Small businesses are somewhat less prone to ethical challenges than larger
corporations.
2. In an action sequence, the motivation for the act is the only component that carries
ethical weight.
3. Companies can be held liable for unethical behavior even if everything they do is
legal.
4. Most Americans claim that they would not take a job from a company with an
unethical reputation even if unemployed.
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
5. Research has demonstrated a positive causal relationship between corporate social
responsibility and financial performance.
6. On the whole, people tend to respond to unfair or dishonest treatment with fair and
honest treatment.
7. All of the four broad philosophies of morality and human nature contend that humans
are born with a soul.
8. Our “moral sense” includes emotions like contempt, anger, and disgust.
9. Lawrence Kohlberg proposed that human beings go through six stages of moral
development divided into three overall levels.
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
10. One of the reasons good people engage in unethical behavior is because they don’t
know that the consequences of their actions are unethical.
Short Answer
1. Give an example of a stakeholder in an organization.
2. What is the cost of lost reputation to a business?
3. Describe the typical costs of abusive supervision to a business.
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
4. What did philosophers who espoused the “born with prior knowledge of right and
wrong” school believe of the origin of the mind?
5. List two of the four general reasons that good people behave unethically.
Essay
1. If you are a manager, what is your role in helping to create a well-managed
organization?
2. Why might a company be held liable for unethical behavior even if that behavior is
entirely legal in nature?
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
3. Compare and contrast Kohlberg’s three levels of cognitive moral reasoning.
4. How does the “born with prior knowledge of right and wrong” philosophy of human
nature differ from the “born good” philosophy?
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
5. Jaime is just six weeks old. Based on Piaget’s research into cognitive development,
what aspects of cognitive development should one expect Jaime to have accomplished
by age three?