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Interactive Activities · Activity 6 of 18
Moral Dilemmas and the Importance of Emotions (Ages 13–16)
A classroom session on moral dilemmas, such as telling a small lie to protect a friend. Students compare how artificial intelligence would reason with how people decide, and discuss the role of emotions and empathy in moral choices. In Portuguese with English subtitles.
Key takeaways
- A classroom session with students aged 13–16 on moral dilemmas and the role of emotions in resolving them.
- Students compare logical reasoning with emotional reasoning, using the contrast between artificial intelligence and people.
- Everyday dilemmas are discussed, such as telling a small lie to protect a friend.
- The class concludes that emotion, feelings and empathy are what distinguish human decisions.
What is the aim of this session?
To explore moral dilemmas students meet in daily life and to understand the part emotions play in resolving them. The teacher frames it as the human side versus artificial intelligence: a comparison of logical reasoning with emotional reasoning.
How does the activity run in class?
The teacher shares everyday dilemmas, for example covering for a friend with a small lie. Students discuss how an artificial intelligence, working only with reason, would answer, and how people, who have feelings for others, actually decide. They conclude that the ability to put yourself in another person's place is what makes those decisions human. The recording is in Portuguese with English subtitles.
Video transcript
Generated automatically from the video's audio or subtitles; it may contain small errors.
As you know, we have been working on the issues of empathy. Today I will present one of the works that we are going to develop here in class, which is to explore dilemmas, moral problems, and the importance of emotions in resolving these moral problems. We all come across this in our real life: we all see problems on social networks, at home, everywhere. And we need to realise what is the best way to solve these problems. The first challenge: we have the human side, the person, versus artificial intelligence, which you all already know. What are we going to do? Let's compare logical reasoning with emotional reasoning in moral problems.
I will distribute to all of you some dilemmas, like lies to protect a friend. Simple lies to protect a friend: all of us, often, to protect someone, say “Teacher, Isabel went to the bathroom” when we know Isabel is out there somewhere. This kind of little lie, all of us commit daily. Or you know that your colleague, for example, stole something, and you say nothing. Small things we've all been through. Let's see how we can solve these moral dilemmas, and how we humans solve these problems. Artificial intelligence would most likely say: don't lie. It isn't right. But lying is a natural thing; it comes from nature.
Then we have the human side. What does the human side do? We let ourselves be moved by emotions. And because we have feelings for others, we end up covering up these little things. So on the one hand we have artificial intelligence, which only works with reason, and then we have the person, each of us, working with emotion, with feeling. And now, do you think artificial intelligence can solve problems with fairness, loyalty, with passion? No. Exactly. Why? These are characteristics that come from nature, from us; characteristics that we all have in our essence as human beings.
If I had to ask you what distinguishes the human being, it is precisely this question of emotion, of feelings, of empathy, of the ability to put myself in the other's shoes. Why do I hide a little lie about my best friend? Because I have empathy for her; I have feelings for her. On that we are all of the same opinion. I will distribute some cards with some problems, so that later we can discuss how these problems could be solved.
18 videos
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Discriminate Between Cognitive and Affective Empathy (Ages 13–16)
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Foster Empathy: What Would You Do If…? (Ages 8–12)
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Developing Empathy and Creating Scenarios
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Moral Dilemmas and the Importance of Emotions
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Moral Dilemmas and the Importance of Emotions (Ages 13–16)
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Coping Strategies for Intense Emotions (Ages 8–12)
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Strategies for Coping with Intense Emotions
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Handling Conflict Constructively (Ages 8–12)
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How Stereotypes Affect Empathy
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How Stereotypes Affect Empathy (Ages 13–16)
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Empathy and Textual Barriers in Digital Communication
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Communicating Negative Feedback Correctly
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How to Communicate Negative Feedback Properly (Ages 13–16)
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Understanding How Others Feel
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