Ch. 12: Moral Understanding and Behaviour

Question 1

An important index of morality is how much someone can resist violating _____, even when detection and punishment is unlike

Answer 1

Moral norms.

Question 2

Describe the beginnings of self-control at ages 1, 2, and 3.

Answer 2

1y: aware others impose demands.
2y: internalized some controls.
3y: capable of self-regulation.

Question 3

Early self-control is linked to later outcomes. What did wait time at age 4 predict in adolescence?

Answer 3

Age 4: wait time.

Adolescence: SAT scores, coping with frustration, planfulness.

Question 4

Early self-control is linked to later outcomes. What are the effects of early self-control on adolescence? At age 32?

Answer 4

Adolescents: smoking, dropping out, pregnancy.

Age 32: health, wealth, crime.

Question 5

The ideal parental discipline style to foster healthy self-control is what?

Answer 5

Warm and loving with well-defined limits.

Question 6

Parents should use inductive reasoning with children. What does this mean?

Answer 6

Explaining the situation, encouraging child to think it through.

Question 7

Very _____ parenting hinders the development of self-control.

Answer 7

Strict.

Question 8

Fearful and anxious children tend to be what? Temperamentally fearless children comply not out of distress caused by fear of misdeeds, but what?

Answer 8

Compliant.

Positive feelings for a loved one.

Question 9

In cultures where cooperation and self-restraint are more highly valued (e.g., Chinese), how may children internalize self-control?

Answer 9

More readily and earlier.

Question 10

Describe Piaget’s 3 stages of moral development.

Answer 10

Premoral (2-4 years): no moral sense.

Moral Realism (5-8 years): heteronomous (absolute rules that must be followed, cannot be changed); immanent justice (breaking a rule always leads to punishment).

Moral Relativism (>8 years): rules created by people to help get along; autonomous morality: people work together to make rules based on free will.

Question 11

Young children focus on objective outcome, not _____.

Answer 11

Subjective intention.

Question 12

Berg-Cross (1975) found children are better at judging punishment (naughtiness) based on intention when what?

Answer 12

Presented with one story at a time.

Question 13

What is Piaget’s major contribution?

Answer 13

Moral development progresses through stages driven by cognitive development and social interaction.

Question 14

Describe the three levels in Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development and the two stages within each.

Answer 14

Preconventional Level: Punishment and Reward - stage 1: obedience to authority; 2: nice behaviour in exchange for future favours.

Conventional Level: Social Norms - 3: live up to others’ expectations; 4: follow rules to maintain social order.

Postconventional Level: Moral Codes - 5: adhere to social contract when it’s valid; 6: personal morality based on abstract principles.

Question 15

Provide three pieces of support for Kohlberg’s theory.

Answer 15

People progress through stages in sequence.

People do not regress.

Moral reasoning linked to moral behaviour.

Question 16

Provide three pieces of inconsistent evidence for Kohlberg’s theory.

Answer 16

Moral reasoning not consistent.

Moral development differs across cultures.

Emphasis on individual rights and justice reflects culture; moral reasoning may be based on different values in other cultures.

Question 17

Gilligan questioned Kohlberg’s emphasis on justice in favour of a what? According to her, what do males and what do females rely on?

Answer 17

Ethic of care.

Males rely on justice, females rely on concern for others.

Question 18

In Gilligan’s theory, the most advanced level of moral reasoning is what?

Answer 18

Based on the understanding that caring is the cornerstone of human relationships.

Question 19

Much of moral developmental theory emphasizes cognition. What is a problem with this?

Answer 19

Emotions and cognitions interact.

Question 20

Repeated exposure to events leads children to what?

Answer 20

Form scripts about emotional consequences of particular actions.

Question 21

_____ response is an important step in creating different categories of moral concepts.

Answer 21

Emotional.

Question 22

Define prosocial behaviour and altruism. At what age do children perform simple acts of altruism?

Answer 22

Prosocial: actions that benefit others.

Altruism: prosocial behaviour that helps others without personal benefit.

18 months.

Question 23

During preschool years, children begin to understand others’ needs and appropriate _____ behaviour, but it is limited.

Answer 23

Altruistic.

Question 24

What are three skills underlying prosocial behaviour?

Answer 24

Perspective-taking: children help when they can imagine another’s situation.

Empathy: children help when they can feel how someone else is feeling.

Moral reasoning: children become more prosocial as they mature and begin to make moral decisions on principles rather than reward and punishment.

Question 25

Prosocial behaviour is enhanced by parents who do what three things?

Answer 25

Are warm and supportive.

Set guidelines.

Give feedback to help understand how actions affect others.

Question 26

Children and adolescents need opportunities to help and cooperate with others. Why is this?

Answer 26

Sensitizes them to needs of others, gives the satisfaction of helping.

Question 27

Define instrumental aggression, hostile aggression, reactive aggression, and relational aggression.

Answer 27

Instrumental aggression: used to achieve goal (e.g. toy).

Hostile aggression: unprovoked aggression to intimidate, harass, or humiliate.

Reactive aggression: one child’s behaviour leads to another’s aggression.

Relational aggression: try to hurt others by undermining social relationship.

Question 28

Forms of aggression change with age, but individuals’ aggression is _____.

Answer 28

Moderately stable.

Question 29

Which theory helps explain the faulty cognitive processes underlying aggression?

Answer 29

Social-Information-Processing Theory.

Question 30

Two children, one aggressive and one nonaggressive, witness an ambiguous event with a negative outcome. What would both children say, and why does the aggressive child say what they do?

Answer 30

Nonaggressive: “behaviour is accidental.”

Aggressive: “behaviour is hostile.” Hostile attribution bias.

Question 31

Chronic victims of aggression are often what?

Answer 31

Lonely, anxious, depressed, dislike school, have low self-esteem.

Question 32

When are children more likely to be victims of aggression?

Answer 32

When aggressive themselves or withdrawn, submissive, and have low self-esteem.

Question 33

Define social conventions.

Answer 33

Arbitrary standards of behaviour agreed to by cultural group to facilitate interactions within group.

Question 34

Define personal domain.

Answer 34

Pertains to choices concerning one’s body and choices of friends or activities.

Question 35

List four situational influences on altruism.

Answer 35

Feelings of responsibility.

Feelings of competence.

Mood.

Cost of altruism.

Question 36

Which form of aggression among children is particularly common?

Answer 36

Relational.

Question 37

An aspect of parental behaviour that has been linked to aggression when not maintained is what?

Answer 37

Monitoring.

Question 38

Describe the six steps in Social-Information-Processing Theory.

Answer 38

1. Encoding of cues.
2. Interpretation of cues.
3. Clarification of goals.
4. Response access or construction.
5. Response decision.
6. Behavioural enactment.

Question 39

The six steps in the Social-Information-Processing Theory are influenced by the “database.” What is it?

Answer 39

Memory store: holds acquired rules, social schemas, social knowledge.

Question 40

What is socialized aggression? Provide an example.

Answer 40

Aggression expected within a situation.

E.g., a hockey fight.