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