- Videos
Concepts Unwrapped View All 36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles. Concepts Unwrapped: Sports Edition View All 10 short videos introduce athletes to behavioral ethics concepts. Ethics Defined (Glossary) View All 58 animated videos - 1 to 2 minutes each - define key ethics terms and concepts. Ethics in Focus View All One-of-a-kind videos highlight the ethical aspects of current and historical subjects. Giving Voice To Values View All Eight short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from Gentile's Giving Voice to Values. In It To Win View All A documentary and six short videos reveal the behavioral ethics biases in super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's story. Scandals Illustrated View All 30 videos - one minute each - introduce newsworthy scandals with ethical insights and case studies.
Video Series
Concepts Unwrapped Concepts Unwrapped: Sports Edition Ethics Defined (Glossary) Ethics in Focus Giving Voice To Values In It To Win Scandals Illustrated
Concepts Unwrapped View All
36 short illustrated videos explain behavioral ethics concepts and basic ethics principles.
- All is Not Relative
- Appropriation & Attribution
- Being Your Best Self, Part 1: Moral Awareness
- Being Your Best Self, Part 2: Moral Decision Making
- Being Your Best Self, Part 3: Moral Intent
- Being Your Best Self, Part 4: Moral Action
- Bounded Ethicality
- Causing Harm
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Conflict of Interest
- Conformity Bias
- Ethical Fading
- Ethical Leadership, Part 1: Perilous at the Top
- Ethical Leadership, Part 2: Best Practices
- Framing
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Fundamental Moral Unit
- Implicit Bias
- Incentive Gaming
- Incrementalism
- Intro to Behavioral Ethics
- Legal Rights & Ethical Responsibilities
- Loss Aversion
- Moral Agent & Subject of Moral Worth
- Moral Emotions
- Moral Equilibrium
- Moral Imagination
- Moral Muteness
- Moral Myopia
- Obedience to Authority
- Overconfidence Bias
- Representation
- Role Morality
- Self-serving Bias
- Systematic Moral Analysis
- Tangible & Abstract
Concepts Unwrapped: Sports Edition View All
10 short videos introduce athletes to behavioral ethics concepts.
- Intro to Behavioral Ethics: Sports Edition
- Conformity Bias: Sports Edition
- Framing: Sports Edition
- Incrementalism: Sports Edition
- Loss Aversion: Sports Edition
- Obedience to Authority: Sports Edition
- Overconfidence Bias: Sports Edition
- Role Morality: Sports Edition
- Self-serving Bias: Sports Edition
- Tangible & Abstract: Sports Edition
Ethics Defined (Glossary) View All
58 animated videos - 1 to 2 minutes each - define key ethics terms and concepts.
- Altruism
- Altruistic Cheating
- Applied Ethics
- Behavioral Ethics
- Bounded Ethicality
- Cognitive Bias
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Confirmation Bias
- Conflict of Interest
- Conformity Bias
- Consequentialism
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Corruption
- Deontology
- Diffusion of Responsibility
- Ethical Fading
- Ethics
- Fiduciary Duty
- Framing
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Groupthink
- Growth Mindset
- Harm Principle
- Hedonism
- In-group/Out-group
- Incrementalism
- Integrity
- Justice
- Loss Aversion
- Moral Absolutism
- Moral Agent
- Moral Cognition
- Moral Emotions
- Moral Equilibrium
- Moral Imagination
- Moral Muteness
- Moral Myopia
- Moral Philosophy
- Moral Pluralism
- Moral Psychology
- Moral Reasoning
- Moral Relativism
- Morals
- Neuroethics
- Obedience to Authority
- Overconfidence Bias
- Prosocial Behavior
- Rationalizations
- Role Morality
- Self-Serving Bias
- Social Contract Theory
- Subject of Moral Worth
- Sustainability
- Tangible & Abstract
- Utilitarianism
- Values
- Veil of Ignorance
- Virtue Ethics
Ethics in Focus View All
One-of-a-kind videos highlight the ethical aspects of current and historical subjects.
Giving Voice To Values View All
Eight short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from Gentile's Giving Voice to Values.
In It To Win View All
A documentary and six short videos reveal the behavioral ethics biases in super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's story.
Scandals Illustrated View All
30 videos - one minute each - introduce newsworthy scandals with ethical insights and case studies.
- Academic Fraud at UNC
- Armstrong’s Doping Downfall
- Baylor’s Silence on Sexual Assault
- Collapse at Rana Plaza
- College Admissions Scandal
- Compounding Illness
- Countrywide’s Subprime Scandal
- Curbing Corruption: GlaxoSmithKline in China
- Daraprim Price Hike
- EpiPen: Out of Reach
- Equifax’s Breach of Trust
- FIFA Kickbacks: World Cup Corruption
- Final Exam Heist
- Making the Grade
- Michael Flynn: Under Investigation
- OxyContin & the Opioid Epidemic
- OxyContin: Whale Watching
- Packing Peanuts for Profit
- Penn State Scandal
- Raj Rajaratnam: Insider Trader
- Research Conflicts at UT Austin
- Robert Bentley: A Campaign Affair
- Samsung’s Political Connections
- Steering Student Athletes
- Tesco Cooks the Books
- Theranos’ Bad Blood
- United Airlines: Grounded
- Volkswagen’s Emissions Evasion
- Weinstein & Hollywood’s “Open Secret”
- Wells Fargo Fraud
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- Case Studies
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Ethics Defined
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that asserts that right and wrong are best determined by focusing on outcomes of actions and choices.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. It is a form of consequentialism.
Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. It is the only moral framework that can be used to justify military force or war. It is also the most common approach to moral reasoning used in business because of the way in which it accounts for costs and benefits.
However, because we cannot predict the future, it’s difficult to know with certainty whether the consequences of our actions will be good or bad. This is one of the limitations of utilitarianism.
Utilitarianism also has trouble accounting for values such as justice and individual rights. For example, assume a hospital has four people whose lives depend upon receiving organ transplants: a heart, lungs, a kidney, and a liver. If a healthy person wanders into the hospital, his organs could be harvested to save four lives at the expense of one life. This would arguably produce the greatest good for the greatest number. But few would consider it an acceptable course of action, let alone the most ethical one.
So, although utilitarianism is arguably the most reason-based approach to determining right and wrong, it has obvious limitations.
Related Terms
![Utilitarianism - Ethics Unwrapped (1) Utilitarianism - Ethics Unwrapped (1)](https://i0.wp.com/ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Consequentialism-1-432x243.jpg)
Consequentialism
Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges an action’s moral correctness by its consequences.
![Utilitarianism - Ethics Unwrapped (2) Utilitarianism - Ethics Unwrapped (2)](https://i0.wp.com/ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Moral-Philosophy-1-432x243.jpg)
Moral Philosophy
Moral Philosophy studies what is right and wrong, and related philosophical issues.
![Utilitarianism - Ethics Unwrapped (3) Utilitarianism - Ethics Unwrapped (3)](https://i0.wp.com/ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Moral-Reasoning-1-432x243.jpg)
Moral Reasoning
Moral Reasoning is the branch of philosophy that attempts to answer questions with moral dimensions.