Chapter 12 - Social Cognition and Moral Development Flashcards
SOCIAL COGNITION
Thinking about the thoughts, feelings, motives, and behavior of the self, other people, groups, and even whole social systems
false-belief task
A research paradigm used to assess an important aspect of a theory of mind, mainly the understanding that people can hold incorrect beliefs and be influenced by them.
The false-belief task was used in a pioneering study by Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues (1985) to determine…
whether young children, children with Down syndrome, and children with autism have a theory of mind
How many 4-year-olds of average intelligence and older children with Down syndrome passed the false-belief task about Sally and her marble?
about 85%
How many children with autism failed the false-belief task about Sally and her marble?
80%
theory of mind
The understanding that people have mental states (feelings, desires, beliefs, intentions) and that these states underlie and help explain their behavior.
theory of mind is also called what?
mind-reading skills
We all rely on a theory of mind to…
predict and explain human behavior
At what age do children normally start to pass the false-belief task?
age 4
What evidence is there that theory of mind starts to develop in infancy? (6 things)
Joint attention
Understanding intentions
Pretend play
Imitation
Emotional understanding
Implicit theory of mind
When does joint attention begin?
Starting around 9 months
By what age do infants prefer a “helper” puppet to a “hinderer” puppet?
What is this evidence of?
by 6 months of age
evidence of understanding intentions
At what age to infants engage in simple pretend play?
between 1 and 2 years
When do infants begin teasing or comforting others?
What does this demonstrate?
in the second year of life
emotional understanding - understanding that other people have emotions and that these emotions can be influenced for bad or good
At what age do infants show surprise (as indicated by looking longer) when an actor does not look for a toy where she should believe it was hidden?
What does this demonstrate?
15 months
implicit theory of mind
Wellman’s two main phases of children’s development of theory of mind
desire psychology
belief–desire psychology
What is desire psychology?
When does it develop?
The earliest theory of mind; an understanding that desires guide behavior (e.g., that people seek things they like and avoid things they hate)
Toddlers talk about what they want and explain their own behavior and that of others in terms of wants or desires
Develops around age 1.5 - 2
What is belief-desire psychology?
By what age is it evident?
The theory of mind reflecting an understanding that people’s desires and beliefs guide their behavior and that their beliefs are not always an accurate reflection of reality - They now pass false-belief tasks
evident by age 4
which theory of mind skills continue to improve from age 5 on and develop in later childhood/adolescence?
understanding sarcasm and complex second-order belief statements (in which people have beliefs about other people’s beliefs)
What is some evidence that having a theory of mind and other social cognitive skills proved adaptive for our ancestors and became part of our biological endowment as a species through natural selection?
Figuring out other people’s intentions would be useful in deciding whether to trust them or be wary of them
Social behaviors such as bargaining, conflict resolution, cooperation, and competition all depend on understanding other people and predicting their behavior accurately
human children have more advanced social cognitive skills than chimps and distinguish themselves by being more able to cooperate with others to achieve a goal
What is some evidence that developing a theory of mind and other social cognition requires brain development?
developing a theory of mind requires neurological and cognitive maturation
children everywhere develop a theory of mind and progress from a desire psychology to a belief–desire psychology and mastering various theory-of-mind tasks in about the same sequence and at about the same ages
atypical brain development in children with autism seems to be behind their great difficulty passing theory-of-mind tasks
what is the “social brain”?
what brain areas does it include?
a network of areas in the brain that specializes in thinking about the social world of self and others
areas in the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction of the brain that are highly active when we are thinking about people’s beliefs
what are mirror neurons and how do they relate to social cognition?
Neural cells in several brain areas that are activated not only when we perform an action but also when we observe someone else performing it. Implicated in imitation, theory-of-mind skills, empathy, and language.
may also be critical in allowing us to quickly infer another person’s mental state based on our own experiences of the same actions and facial expressions and of corresponding internal states
what help explain the social cognitive difficulties of individuals with autism?
mirror neuron deficits
acquiring a theory of mind and other social cognitive skills, much like acquiring language, requires not only a normal human brain but also experience interacting with other humans—participating in a “community of minds”
What 4 things provide evidence for this?
Language experience
-deaf children of hearing parents, who usually do not have an opportunity to converse in sign language from an early age, achieve milestones in social cognitive development slowly, sometimes struggling with false-belief tasks even at ages 8–10
Parent mental state talk
-Parents who talk with their children in elaborated ways about mental states (“You were probably sad because you thought Grandma would stay longer”) tend to have children with advanced theory-of-mind skills and good emotion understanding
Interactions with siblings and peers
-Children with siblings seem to grasp the elements of a theory of mind earlier than children without siblings
Cultural differences
-children are slow to develop theory-of-mind skills in cultures where there is not much talk about mental states (e.g., In Samoa, for example, others’ minds are considered unknowable, so mental states are not discussed much)
Children who have acquired theory of mind are more likely to (positive effects):
behave more prosocially than children with weak skills—cooperating, helping, and comforting others more often
have more advanced social skills and better peer relations and social adjustment
Children who have acquired theory of mind are more likely to (negative effects):
bullies and liars often prove to be very adept at “mind reading” too
training 3-year-olds in theory-of-mind skills actually makes them more likely than untrained children to lie when they are given the opportunity to deceive someone
Trait perception: Young children perceive others primarily in terms of…
When they use psychological terms, they tend to be…
their physical appearance, possessions, and activities
global, evaluative ones such as “nice” or “mean,” “good” or “bad,” rather than specific personality-trait labels
Preschool children have difficulty inferring a trait from past behavior and then…
using it to predict future behavior
At what age do children’s descriptions of people show that they think about others in terms of enduring psychological traits?
Around age 7 or 8
At what age do children make more use of psychological traits to explain why people behave as they do, saying, for instance, that Mike pulled the dog’s tail because he is cruel?
age 11 or 12
At what stage are people able to create more integrated personality profiles, analyzing how an individual’s often inconsistent traits fit together and make sense as a whole personality?
adolescence - Some adolescents spend hours “psychoanalyzing” people, trying to figure out what makes them tick
perspective-taking skills
The ability to assume other people’s perspectives and understand their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; role-taking skills.
what did Selman conclude about perspective-taking skills?
perspective-taking abilities develop in a stage-like manner as children progress through Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
What are Selman’s 3 stages of developing perspective-taking abilities?
3–6 years old tend to respond egocentrically, assuming that others share their point of view
age 8–10, children appreciate that two people can have different points of view even when they have access to the same information. Children are able to think about their own thoughts and about the thoughts of another person simultaneously.
around age 12, adolescents become capable of mentally juggling multiple perspectives—their own, that of another person, and even that of the “generalized other,” or a broader social group such as children or fathers.
What happens to social cognition in adulthood?
Social cognitive skills strengthen during adulthood and seem to hold up better in later life than nonsocial cognitive skills
improvement in social cognition with age occurred despite a decline in fluid intelligence with age
studies of social cognition in later life:
Poor performance is especially likely if…
tasks overload adults’ basic cognitive capacities by requiring fast information processing or high levels of executive control or by making major demands on memory
studies of social cognition in later life:
Sharpest performance is especially likely if…
those older adults tend to be socially active and involved in meaningful social roles such as grandparent, church member, or worker, whereas those whose skills have become dull tend to be socially isolated
Morality
The ability to distinguish right from wrong, to act on this distinction, and to experience pride when doing something right and to experience guilt or shame when doing something wrong
Morality involves which three components?
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components (thinking, feeling, and acting)
moral reasoning - what is it and what developmental theory is it part of?
The cognitive component of morality; the thinking that occurs when people decide whether acts are right or wrong.
Cognitive Developmental Theory
theorists assume that moral development depends on…
cognitive development, particularly perspective-taking skills that allow us to picture how our victims might react to our misdeeds or how people in distress must feel
moral reasoning is said to progress through…
universal stages, each of which represents a consistent way of thinking about moral issues
what is of interest in studying moral reasoning?
how we decide what to do, not what we decide or what we actually do
Jean Piaget paved the way for the influential cognitive-developmental theory of moral development put forth by…
Lawrence Kohlberg
How did Piaget study moral development?
What did he conclude about preschool children?
asking Swiss children about their games of marbles and explored children’s concepts of right and wrong by presenting them with moral dilemmas to ponder
concluded that preschool children do not truly understand rules and are best thought of as “premoral.”
What did Piaget observe about children ages 6-10 in judging the wrongness of acts? About what they tend to believe about rules?
emphasize consequences more than intentions in judging the wrongness of acts (e.g., they judge a boy who accidentally broke 15 cups while obeying his mother naughtier than a boy who broke only one cup while trying to sneak jam from the kitchen)
tend to believe that rules are handed down by parents and other authorities and are unalterable
At what age did Piaget find that children weigh more heavily whether a person’s intentions were good or bad in judging his actions and begin to appreciate that rules are agreements among individuals—agreements that can be changed through a consensus of those individuals?
At age 10 or 11
How did Kohlberg formulate his own, highly influential cognitive-developmental theory of moral development?
by asking boys questions about various moral dilemmas to assess how they thought about these issues and repeatedly assessing their moral thinking into adulthood
What did Kohlberg conclude about the development of morals?
concluded that moral growth progresses through a universal and invariant sequence of three broad moral levels, each of which is composed of two distinct stages
What are Kohlberg’s Levels and Stages of moral development?
Level 1: Preconventional morality
-Stage 1: Punishment-and-Obedience Orientation
-Stage 2: Instrumental Hedonism
Level 2: Conventional morality
-Stage 3: “Good Boy” or “Good Girl” Morality
-Stage 4: Authority and Social Order–Maintaining Morality
Level 3: Postconventional morality
-Stage 5: Morality of Contract, Individual Rights, and Democratically Accepted Law
-Stage 6: Morality of Individual Principles of Conscience
Explain Kohlberg’s Level 1 and its stages
Level 1: Preconventional morality - society’s rules are not yet internalized and judgments are based on the punishing or rewarding consequences of an act
Stage 1: Punishment-and-Obedience Orientation. The goodness or badness of an act depends on its consequences. The child will obey authorities to avoid punishment but may not consider an act wrong if it will not be punished. The greater the harm done or the more severe the punishment, the more “bad” the act is.
Stage 2: Instrumental Hedonism. A person at the second stage of moral development conforms to rules to gain rewards or satisfy personal needs. There is some concern for the perspectives of others, but it is motivated by the hope of benefit in return. “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” and “an eye for an eye” are the guiding philosophies.
Explain Kohlberg’s Level 2 and its stages
Level 2: Conventional morality - societal values are internalized and judgments are based on a desire to gain approval or uphold law and social order
Stage 3: “Good Boy” or “Good Girl” Morality. What is right is now what pleases, helps, or is approved by others. People are often judged by their intentions; “meaning well” is valued, and being “nice” is important. Other people’s feelings, not just one’s own, should be considered. At its best, Stage 3 thinking involves reciprocity, or mutual give-and-take in relationships, leading to a simple Golden Rule morality of doing unto someone else what you would want done unto you
Stage 4: Authority and Social Order–Maintaining Morality. Now what is right is what conforms to the rules of legitimate authorities and is good for society as a whole. The reason for conforming is now a belief that rules and laws maintain a social order worth preserving. Doing one’s duty and respecting law and order are valued
Explain Kohlberg’s Level 3 and its stages
Level 3: Postconventional morality - moral judgments are based on a more abstract understanding of democratic social contracts or on universal principles of justice that have validity apart from the views of particular authority figures
Stage 5: Morality of Contract, Individual Rights, and Democratically Accepted Law. At this “social contract” stage, there is an understanding of the underlying purposes of laws and a concern that rules should be arrived at through a democratic consensus so that they express the will of the majority and maximize social welfare. Whereas the person at Stage 4 is unlikely to challenge an established law, the moral reasoner at Stage 5 might call for democratic change in a law that compromises basic human rights or is fundamentally unfair
Stage 6: Morality of Individual Principles of Conscience. Stage 6 is Kohlberg’s vision of ideal moral reasoning, but he so rarely observed it that he stopped attempting to measure its existence. At this “highest” stage of moral reasoning, the individual defines right and wrong on the basis of self-generated principles that are broad and universal in application. The Stage 6 thinker does not just make up whatever principles she chooses. She embraces abstract principles of respect for fundamental human rights—principles that all religious and moral authorities would view as moral. Kohlberg (1981) described Stage 6 thinking as a kind of “moral musical chairs” in which the person facing a moral dilemma is able to take the “chair,” or perspective, of each person and group and social system, present or future, that could potentially be affected by a decision and to arrive at a solution that would be regarded as just from every chair
What did Kohlberg believe are the two main influences on moral development?
cognitive growth and social interactions—but with peers more than with parents
moral growth is facilitated by what three things?
Discussions of moral issues with peers, especially when peers challenge our ideas
Advanced schooling; going to college contributes to cognitive growth and exposes students to diverse perspectives
Participating in a complex, diverse, democratic society where people weigh various opinions and appreciate that laws reflect a consensus of the citizens
Scholars used to view __________ as getting in the way of rational moral thinking but now they are viewed as central to moral development
emotions
who deserves credit for calling attention to the role of emotions in the development of morality?
Sigmund Freud
Freud believed that the _________, or conscience, arises during the preschool period to ensure that any plans formed by the rational __________ to gratify the _________’s selfish urges are morally acceptable.
superego
ego
id
Although the particulars of Freud’s theory of moral development lack support his main themes are still taken very seriously today. Research has shown what three things in this regard?
moral emotions are an important part of morality, motivating moral behavior
early relationships with parents contribute in important ways to moral development
children must internalize moral standards if they are to behave morally even when no authority figure is present to detect and punish their misbehavior
Empathy
The vicarious experiencing of another person’s feelings. Although it is not a specific emotion, it is an emotional process involved when we not only take others’ perspectives but feel their emotions.
What can empathy motivate and dissuade?
can motivate prosocial behavior—positive social acts, such as helping or sharing, that reflect concern for the welfare of others
can also keep us from engaging in antisocial behavior—behavior that violates social norms, rules, or laws and often involves harming other people or society (e.g., lying, stealing, behaving aggressively)
Like Freud, what modern theorist places a great deal of emphasis on the motivating role of emotional processes such as empathy and guilt in moral development?
Martin Hoffman
Which theory is closely related to studying moral behaviour?
social learning theory
theorists such as ____________ have been primarily interested in the behavioral component of morality—in what we actually do when faced with temptation or with an opportunity to behave prosocially
Albert Bandura
How do social learning theorists say that moral behavior is learned?
What do they also emphasize has an influence on moral behaviour?
in the same way that other social behaviors are learned: through observational learning and reinforcement and punishment principle
also emphasize situational influences on moral behavior—for example, how closely a professor watches exam takers or whether jewelry items are on the counter or behind glass in a department store - Due to situational influences, what we do is not always consistent with our moral values and standards
Bandura went on to emphasize that moral cognition is linked to moral action through _________________________ that involve monitoring and evaluating our own actions (or anticipated actions), disapproving of ourselves when we contemplate doing wrong, and approving of ourselves when we behave responsibly or humanely
self-regulatory mechanisms
according to Bandura, we have also devised mechanisms of _________________________ that allow us to avoid condemning ourselves when we engage in immoral behavior, even though we know the difference between right and wrong - by justifying, minimizing, or blaming others for one’s actions
moral disengagement
evolutionary theorists such as Dennis Krebs, Michael Tomasello, and others say that prosocial behaviors such as cooperation and altruism may have evolved because…
our ancestors were better able to obtain food and protect themselves from harm if they worked together than if they went it alone and pursued their selfish interests
How could humans have evolved to have altruistic tendencies when true altruists, who sacrifice their lives for others, die rather than pass on their genes?
it can be in our genetic self-interest to act altruistically toward kin because they will pass on the family’s genes if we help them survive
helping nonrelatives may be adaptive if we have reason to believe that the help we give will be reciprocated
cooperating with other people to obtain resources that the
individual could not obtain alone and abiding by society’s rules in order to avoid punishment all have adaptive value
whereas Freud emphasized the dark, selfish, and aggressive side of human nature, and social learning theorists have seen us as blank slates who can be molded in a variety of directions, evolutionary theorists argue…
that humans have an evolved genetic makeup that predisposes them not only to behave antisocially at times but also to behave prosocially and morally in many situations
what evidence is there that humans may be a uniquely prosocial species?
Tomasello (2019) has concluded based on his extensive studies of young children that what makes us different from chimpanzees and other great apes is our ability to collaborate and cooperate with others
Primates are quite good at figuring out others’ goals and intentions, but their social cognitive skills likely evolved in competitive situations where they could get food, mates, and other resources by outwitting their rivals
To not only understand others’ intentions but to be able to share intentions with others in order to pursue common goals—that’s what Tomasello believes distinguishes the human species and enables us to adapt more successfully than we could if we did not collaborate with our fellow humans from an early age
We tend to view infants as what kind of moral beings?
amoral—lacking any sense of morality
