Chapter 12: Moral Understanding Flashcards
what is moral development?
Involves changes in thoughts, feelings, and behaviours regarding standards of right and wrong
- How do people reason or think about moral decisions?
- How do people behave when they must make a moral decision?
- How do children and adolescents feel about moral matters (i.e. empathy, guilt, shame or pride)?
self-control in moral behaviour
- Self-control is one of the first steps toward moral behaviour because children must learn that they cannot constantly do whatever tempts them in the moment
- An important index of morality is the extent to which an individual is able to resist violating moral norms, even when detection and punishment is unlikely
what is self-control
- Self-control is the ability to control one’s behaviour and to inhibit impulsive responding to temptations
- Not born with it, it develops over time
- develops gradually during elementary school
self-control at 1 year
aware that others impose demands on us. Others set limits on what they can do, limits reflect concern for safety and early socialization efforts
self-control at 2 years
have internalized some controls, capable for some self-control in parent’s absence
self-control at 3 years
capable of self-regulation, can devise ways to control own behaviour
Delay gratification test
Marshmallow experiment
- can you engage in one behaviour to get reward at later time
- youngsters not willing to delay gratification (4 year olds willing to wait)
early self-control linked to later outcomes
study shows that wait time at age 4 was correlated with different things in adolescence: SAT scores, cope with frustration, planfulness
- being able to exert self-control as early as age 4 associated with executive functions at later age
other study showed that shorter delayed time at 2.5 years leads to increase risk taking in adolescence
- has to do with novelty seeking, impulse control, and also parental control/influences
Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study
self control was measured
- from 3-11 years
- controlling for parents SES
- controlling for IQ
Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study led to… (6)
Adolescents
- smoking
- school drop out
- pregnancy
age 32
- health
- wealth
- crime
parental discipline style influence on self-control
Warm and loving with well-defined limits have best self control
Inductive reasoning
influences on self-control
- Explaining the situation to the child
- Encouraging them to think through on their own
- Form of discipline more likely to lead to moral development
strict parents influence on child self-control
Very strict parents hinder the development of self-control
- Don’t internalize reasons for not engaging in behaviour, make choices based on external components, because everything is controlled by parents (e.g shouldn’t speed because might get stopped by cops, not because it is unsafe/dangerous)
- Lower self-control when parents are strict with them
temperament influence self-control
- Fearful and anxious= compliance
- Temperamentally fearless children comply out of positive feelings for a loved one NOT distress caused by fear of misdeeds
culture influence on self-control
In cultures where cooperation and self-restraint and more highly valued (e.g. Chinese) children may internalize self-control more readily and earlier.
3 ways to improve children’s self-control
- Remind children of the need to resist temptation (e.g. long-term goals more important than short-term goals), reasoning with them and giving them explanations
- Make tempting events less attractive
- Children who have concrete way of handling tempting situations are better at resisting
effective plans at handling tempting situations
- avoid looking at tempting object
- reminders of rules against toughing object
- activities designed to divert attention from tempting object
Piaget’s views about moral issues- 3 stages
1) Premoral
2) moral realism
3) moral relativism
Premoral stage
Piaget views about moral issues
- Until about 4 years old
- no consistent understanding of morality
- no moral sensibility
Moral realism stage
Piaget views about moral issues
between 5-7 years
- rules must be followed and cannot be changed
- heteronomous morality (absolute rules handed down by another)
- immanent justice
what is immanent justice
moral realism stage
- belief that breaking a rule always leads to punishment
- also that if someone was punished they must have done something wrong, don’t understand that people can get punished for something they didn’t do
Moral relativism stage
Piaget views about moral issues
around 8 years
- understanding that rules are created by people to help them get along
- understand that because people agree to set rules, tey can also change them if they see need
- autonomous morality
what is autonomous morality
moral relativism stage
- many people work together to create rules
- based on free will
Piaget’s major contribution
moral reasoning progresses through stages that are driven by cognitive development and social interaction
Kohlberg’s theory
used dilemmas to examine moral reasoning, he made it difficult to reach a decision in his stories because every alternative involved some undesirable consequences
- Heinz dilemma best known
3 levels in Kohlbergs theory
1) preconventional level
2) conventional level
3) postconventional level
6 stages in Kohlberg’s theory
Preconventional
1) obedience to authority
2) nice behaviour in exchange for future favours
Conventional
3) live up to others expectations
4) follow rules to maintain social order
Postconventional
5) adhere to social contract when it is valid
6) personal morality based on abstract principles
what is the preconventional level of Kohlberg’s theory
most children, many adolescents, some adults- moral reasoning is controlled almost solely by obedience to authority and by rewards and punishments
- heinz should not steal the drug as this would be breaking the law
stage 1 of Kohlberg’s theory
obedience to authority
- people believe adults know what is right/wrong. Person should do what adults say is right to avoid being punished.
- may argue that Heinz should not steal drug because against law
stage 2 kohlberg’s theory
- nice behaviour in exchange for future favours
- look at own needs, often nice to others because expect favour to be returned
- might say alright for Heinz to steal drug because wife might reward him
Conventional stage of Kolhberg’s theory
most adolescents and adults, moral decision making is based on social norms—what is expected by others
- heinz should steal the drug and accept any prison sentence
stage 3 kohlberg theory
live up to others expectations
- adolescents/adults believe they should act according to others expectations, win approval of others
- argue Heinz should not steal drug because others would see him as honest citizen who obeys law
stage 4 kohlberg theory
follow rules to maintain social order
- adolescents/adults believe that social rules, expectations, laws exist to maintain order within society and to promote good of all people
- might reason that Heinz should steal drug because husband is obligated to do all that he can do save wife’s life
- might reason not to steal drug because against law and society must prohibit theft
postconventional stage of kohlberg’s theory
some adults (older 25), moral decisions are based on personal and moral principles
- heinz should steal the drug and not go to prison as that is not fair
stage 5 kohlberg theory
adults agree that members of cultural groups adhere to social contract, because common set of expectations and laws benefits all group members
- might reason that Heinz should steal drug because social rules about property rights have no longer benefiting individuals welfare
stage 6 kohlberg’s theory
- abstract principles like justice, compassion, and equality form basis of personal moral code that may sometimes conflict with societies expectations and laws
- might argue Heinz should steal drug because life is paramount and preserving life takes precedence over all other rights
Gilligan in response to kohlbergs theory
- Gilligan questioned orientation to justice in Kohlberg’s theory and instead advanced an “ethic of care”
- Gilligan suggested that justice applies more to males’ reasoning about morality and females are more concerned with concern for others
Gilligans theory
the most advanced level of moral reasoning is based on the understanding that caring is the cornerstone of all human relationships, ranging from parent-child relationships to the relationship that exists between a homeless person and a volunteer at a shelter
morality represents ___ ___ of social judgements
ONE DOMAIN
- Social conventions are arbitrary standards of behaviour agreed to within a group to facilitate interactions
- Personal domain refers to choices about one’s own body, friends and activities
- Reasoning about the domains becomes more nuanced as children develop
(Not as clear cut, or as black and white)
much of moral development theory emphasizes what?
cognition
- focus on reasoning
- Emotions and cognition interact in the development of moral judgements
Repeated exposure to events leads children to …
form scripts about the emotional consequences of particular actions
role of emotion in moral development
Positive feelings: empathy, sympathy, admiration
Negative feelings: anger, outrage, shame, guilt
- May lead to moral behaviour even though they are negative feelings
Reasoning becomes more sophisticated after
discussions about moral issues and exposure to higher levels of reasoning
promoting moral reasoning in school curriculum
- Discussion about human rights, responsibilities, and respect are valuable components of school curriculum
- 3 R’s: rights, respect, responsibility
Adolescents moral reasoning/moral behaviour is influenced by
involvement in religion
- Adolescents more involved in their religion have greater concern for others and place more emphasis on helping them
- Religion provides moral beliefs and guidelines for adolescents
what is prosocial behaviour
actions that benefit others
- Both prosocial intentions and strategies for helping increases with age
what is altruism?
prosocial behaviors that helps others with no direct benefit to the helper, driven by feelings of responsibility for other people
development of prosocial behaviour at 18 months
simple acts of altruism can be seen
development of prosocial behaviour in preschool years
children gradually understand others needs and learn appropriate behaviour, but early altruism is limited (knowledge of what they can do to help is modest)
3 skills underlying prosocial behaviour
- perspective taking
- empathy
- moral reasoning
perspective taking
prosocial behaviour
children help when they can imagine another situation, being able to take another’s perspective increases likelihood of prosocial behaviours
empathy
prosocial behaviour
children help when they can feel as another person is feeling
- Emotionally putting yourself in other people’s shoes, in the moment with them
moral reasoning
prosocial behaviour
children become more prosocial as they mature and begin to make moral decisions on principles rather than on the basis of reward and punishment
situational influences on prosocial behaviour
- children more likely to help when.. (4)
Setting helps determine whether children are altruistically or not
1) They feel responsible for the person in need
2) They feel competent to help
3) They are in a good mood, happy or feeling successful
4) The cost of helping is modest
heredity and prosocial behaviour
- People who help others are more likely to be helped themselves and thus are more likely to survive and have offspring
- Twin studies suggest that identical twins are more alike in prosocial behaviour than are fraternal twins
How genes affect prosocial behaviour, and influence through temperament
- Genes likely affect prosocial behaviour indirectly
- Children who are less able to regulate emotions (in part due to heredity) may help less
- Another temperamental influence may be via inhibition. Children why are temperamentally shy are often reluctant to help others, particularly people they don’t know well
3 ways to socialize prosocial behaviour
1) Modelling- when children see adults helping and caring for others, often imitate such prosocial behaviour
2) Prosocial behaviour is encouraged by parents who are warm and supportive, set guidelines, and provide feedback that helps children to understand how their actions affect others
3) Children and adolescents need to routinely be given the opportunity to help and cooperate with others, which sensitizes them to needs of others and gives them the satisfaction of helping
4 main factors contributing to prosocial behaviour
1) skills
2) situational influences
3) heredity
4) parents influence
Skills: 3 types of influence contributing to prosocial behaviour
1) perspective taking
- more likely to help when they can take another persons POV
2) empathy
- more likely to help when feel another persons emotions
3) moral reasoning
- more likely to help when they base moral decisions on fairness
Situational influences: 4 types of influence contributing to prosocial behaviour
1) feelings of responsibility
- more likely to help wen feel responsible to person in need
2) feelings of competence
- more likely to help when feel competent to help
3) mood
- more likely to help when in good mood
4) cost of altruism
- more likely to help when the cost of prosocial behaviour is small
heredity: 1 type of influence contributing to prosocial behaviour
temperament
- more likely to help when they can control their emotions and are not shy
Parents influence: 3 types of influence contributing to prosocial behaviour
1) modelling
- more likely to help when parents behave prosocially themselves
2) discipline
- more likely to help when parents reason with them
3) opportunities
- more likely to help when they practise helping at home and elsewhere
aggressive VS assertive behaviour
AGGRESSIVE: may be physical or verbal, is intended to harm, damage or injure and is carried out without regard for the rights of others
ASSERTIVE: goal-directed actions to further legitimate interests of individuals or the groups they represent, while respecting the rights of other persons
what is aggression
behaviour meant to harm others
4 main types of aggression
- instrumental
- hostile
- reactive
- relational
instrumental aggression
used to achieve specific goal (e.g. getting toy, pushing to get first in line)
hostile aggression
unprovoked aggression with the goal of intimidation and harassment, emerges start of elementary school (“you’re stupid)
reactive aggression
one child’s behaviour leads to another’s aggression
- child loses game then punches child why won
relational aggression
- try to hurt others by undermining social relationships
- Adolescent girls- from insecurities, not appropriate for girls to be physically aggressive, jealously,
- As children get older—adolescents, more typical in girls
Biological contributions to aggressive behaviour
including temperament, testosterone, and neurotransmitters can make aggressive behaviour more likely under certain conditions (e.g. in the presence of abuse)
parenting factors contribute to aggressive behaviour
- Controlling or coercive parents
- Use of harsh physical punishment and threats
- Unresponsive emotionally uninvested parents
- Lack of monitoring (knowledge of where their children are, what they are doing, why they are with)
- Neglect
- Presence of conflict in the home – when parents constantly argue and fight, children more likely to be aggressive
- A cycle develops where aggressive behaviours leads to aggressive punishment and more aggressive behaviour, often escalating in intensity
Once a child is labeled as aggressive…
the child is more likely to be accused of aggression and punished
media contribution to aggressive behaviour
particularly when children identify with aggressive characters
- Exposed to media violence tend to behave more aggressively and often grow up to be aggressive and violent adults
- Exposure to a culture of violence contributes to aggressive attitudes and behaviour
3 other contributions to aggressive behaviour
1) Aggressive children often have aggressive peers (support and encourage behaviour)
2) Aggressive children often experience failure in school (uninterested and grades reflect it, aggressive behaviour interfere with learning)
3) Aggression, antisocial behaviour, and violent crime are more common where there is poverty
Hostile Attribution Bias
• Social cognitive bias demonstrated by aggressive children
Aggressive children= behaviour is hostile
nonaggressive children= behaviour is accidental
Social information procession theory
6 steps
(Dodge and Crick)
1) encoding of cues (internal/external)
2) interpretation of cues
3) clarification of goals
4) response access or construction
5) response decision
6) behavioural enactment
Social information procession theory
- cascading risks and prevention
Cascading risks: later risk factors build up on prior risks
Prevention: begin early, be maintained over childhood, involve children and their parents
what is socialized aggression?
aggression expected within a situation (e.g. hockey fight)
victims of aggression
- Chronic victims of aggression are often lonely, anxious, depressed, dislike school, and have low self-esteem
- Youngsters are more likely to be victims of aggression when they are aggressive themselves or are withdrawn, submissive, and have low self-esteem
cyberbullying
- Reaches beyond the school setting
- Continued ridicule is overwhelming
- Girls more likely to be victims
bullying in canada
- According to UNICEF, the US is ranked 12th of 29 nations in the incidence of bullying, while Canada is 21st
- We have laws and prevention programs that are in combination, that is why we are behind the states
3 ways to help victims of aggression
1) An effective strategy for victims is to be assertive
2) Adult support and assistance are important
3) The most effective solution to bullying is prevention through the creation of positive school communities
