Chapter 13 Moral Development

Question 1

What is moral development?

Answer 1

Thoughts, feelings, and behaviours regarding standards of right and wrong

Question 2

What is intrapersonal dimension?

Answer 2

Regulates a person’s activities when s/he is not engaged in social interaction

Question 3

what is interpersonal dimension?

Answer 3

Regulates social interactions and arbitrates conflict

Question 4

To understand Moral Development, what four basic questions must be considered?

Answer 4

1. How do individuals reason or think about moral decisions?
2. How do individuals actually behave in moral circumstances?
3. How do individuals feel about moral matters?
4. What characterizes an individual’s moral personality?

Question 5

What two stages do children go through regarding how they think about morality according to Piaget?

Answer 5

1. Heteronomous morality 4-7 years
   Transitional Period: 7-10 years
2. Autonomous Morality 10+

Question 6

What is Piaget’s Heteronomous morality and when does it occur?

Answer 6

occurs from 4-7 years

• justice and rules are seen as unchangeable properties of the world, removed from the control of people
• immanent justice
• judges right and wrong by considering consequences not intentions

Question 7

What is Piaget’s Autonomous Morality and when does it happen?

Answer 7

Children 10+

• Become aware of that rules and laws are created by people and that, in judging action, one should consider the intentions as well as consequences
• Older children recognize that punishment occurs only if someone witnesses the wrongdoing and that, even them, punishment is not inevitable

Question 8

What is more likely to advance childrens moral development, peer relations or parent-child relations?

Answer 8

Peer relations where others have power and status similar to the child’s. Plans are negotiated and coordinated and disagreements are reasoned on whereas parents have the power and make all the rules

Question 9

What is kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 9

Kohlberg suggested there are 6 stages of moral development and that the stages are universal

• moral development is primarily based on moral reasoning and unfolds in a series of three levels of moral thinking, each characterized by 2 stages
• to progress, morality becomes more internal/mature

Question 10

What are some criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 10

• places too much emphasis on moral thought and not enough on moral behaviour
• some claim his theory is culturally biased

Question 11

Is there evidence that supports Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 11

• review of 45 studies done in 27 cultures supported the universality of Kohlberg’s first four stages
• Recent research revealed support for the qualitative shift from stage 2 to stage 3 across cultures

Question 12

Sum up the criticism/support of Kohlberg’s theory

Answer 12

Kohlberg’s approach does capture much of the moral reasoning voiced in various cultures around the world, but it does miss or miscontrue some important moral concepts in particular cultures
-stage 5/6 have not been found at all

Question 13

What does Carol Gilligan say about Kohlberg’s theory?

Answer 13

argues that kohlberg’s theory is based on a male norm that puts abstract principles above relationships and concern for others

Question 14

what is the justice perspective?

Answer 14

a moral perspective that focuses on the rights of the individual; individuals independently make moral decisions

Question 15

what is the care perspective?

Answer 15

Emphasized by Carol Gilligan
-the moral perspective in which people are assessed in terms of their connectedness with others and the quality of their interpersonal communication, relationships with others, and concern for others

Question 16

The Social Cognitive Theory: Moral Development

Answer 16

Distinguishes between moral competence (ability to perform moral behaviours) and moral performance (performing those activities
-Stresses that moral development is best understood by considering a combination of social and cognitive factors especially those involving self control

Question 17

What are moral competencies?

Answer 17

what individuals are capable of doing. The outgrowth of cognitive-sensory processes

Question 18

What is moral performance?

Answer 18

Determined by motivation and the rewards/incentives to act in a moral way

Question 19

Moral behaviour: Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 19

• In Freuds view, guilt and the desire to avoid feeling guilty are the foundations of moral behaviour
• the superego is the moral branch of personality
• children fear losing their parents love and being punished for their unacceptable sexual wishes toward the opposite-sex parent

Question 20

What is empathy?

Answer 20

Feeling empathy means reacting to another’s feelings with an emotional response that is similar to the other’s feelings
-has a cognitive component (perspective taking)

Question 21

what is Global Empathy?

Answer 21

The infant’s empathic response in which clear boundaries between feelings and needs of the self and those of others have not yet been established

Question 22

What is the role of emotion in moral development?

Answer 22

Many child developmentalists conclude that both positive feelings (ie empathy, self-esteem, admiration) and negative feelings (ie anger, shame guilt) contribute to children’s moral development

Question 23

What are three aspects of moral personality that have recently been emphasized are:

Answer 23

1. Moral identity
2. Moral character
3. Moral exemplars

Question 24

What is Social Conventional Reasoning?

Answer 24

-Focuses on conventional rules that have been established by social consensus in order to control behaviour and maintain the social system. rules themselves are arbitrary

Question 25

What is Moral reasoning?

Answer 25

focuses on ethical issues and rules of morality. Unlike conventional rules, moral rules are not arbitrary. They are obligatory, widely accepted and impersonal

Question 26

What is the social cognitive domain theory?

Answer 26

proposed by Judith Smetana.
States that there are different domains of social knowledge and reasoning, including moral, social conventional and personal domains