Determining Your Ethics IQ

The follwing results correspond to the "What’s Your Ethics IQ?" sidebar in the August 2005's "Ethics: Why it's important" article.

Note the point values assigned to the choices you made in the What would you do quiz, add them up, and then find your score below.

If you scored...

10-15
You demonstrate a tendency to take the easy path, which is not necessarily the best path. Ethics is about taking the interests of others at least as seriously as we take our own interests, but a score in this range suggests a preference for your own needs and wants. Ironically, in the long run you are likely to thwart your own goals by acting selfishly. Taking the high road isn't just the right thing to do; it is beneficial for us. The reason to be ethical isn't personal gain, but it is a nice side effect.

16-25
Sometimes you choose to do the right thing, and sometimes you don't. It's understandable that you occasionally lack the courage to take the high road - no one is perfect but ethics demands consistency. It is not OK to be a saint at work and a sinner at home. If we aspire to be the best person we can be, it is in our own interests, as we shall see, to strive for doing the right thing in all of our interactions with people.

26-30
You are to be commended for taking the high road time and time again, even when it would be easier in the short run to do otherwise. Whether you make the right choices because you were raised to act responsibly, or because you have learned through experience that everyone wins when we do the right thing, or because of some other reason, you are a virtuous person. May others be fortunate enough to learn from the example you set.

Best Responses to Ethics IQ Quiz

1. After leaving a grocery store, you notice a six-pack of soda sitting in an otherwise empty shopping cart in the parking lot. Would you:
A) Leave the soda where it is
B) Take it and keep it
C) Bring it back to the store

"A" leaves open the possibility that someone else will take what doesn't belong to them. "B" is stealing. "C" allows the rightful owner to claim the soda, which he or she almost certainly will after noticing that the item is missing. By going a little bit out of your way, another person will get back what rightfully belongs to them. Perhaps someone else will do the same for you one day.
Score: A=2, B=1, C=3

2. One evening while watching TV you discover that you are now receiving a premium cable channel, which you have not ordered. After doing some research, you learn that the cable company has made a mistake; it is unwittingly providing the service without charging you for it. Would you:
A) Enjoy the service without notifying the cable company
B) Contact the cable company and tell them of the error
C) Wait a few weeks to see if you really watch the station that often; if not, call the cable company and have them remove it
Score: A=1, B=3, C=2

3. You are at a party and one of your friends has become intoxicated. As she prepares to leave the party and drive home, you tell her that she has had too much to drink and that you will take her home. She tells you rudely to mind your own business. Would you:
A) Do as she says
B) Take her keys away from her and arrange for a way for her to get home
C) Call the police when she gets on the road and tell them that an inebriated person is on the loose

As we saw in our discussion of Life Principle #1, it is not enough to "do no harm"; we must also take care to prevent harm to others, particularly harm that is reasonably foreseeable. We would violate this moral obligation if we chose "A." Choice "C" appears to fulfill our obligation to respect the right of our friend to make her own decision, but that right is not an absolute one, since none of us has the right to cause injury to other people. Only "B" will prevent foreseeable harm to other people, even if it requires restricting another person's freedom. By drinking too much, the woman in question has temporarily waived her right to do as she pleases, for she is not entitled to turn her car into a killing machine. If the fallout is a loss of the friendship, one can justifiably say, "Goodbye, and good riddance!"
Score: A=1, B=3, C=2