Language and Moral Development

Question 1

Language acquisition

Answer 1

• A complex interaction between the child’s innate capacities and the cognitive, linguistic, and social supports provided in the environment
• Language is a fundamental part of the human experience, and a prime example of the relationship between nature and nurture

Question 2

Cognitive supports

Answer 2

• Things in our environment that help us know what we are talking about

Question 3

Linguistic supports

Answer 3

• How we learn to speak a specific language
• We have to put the words together using customary patterns and specific rules
• Babies are born ready to learn any language

Question 4

Social supports

Answer 4

• How we use language to communicate
• The whole point of language is to be able to share what is in out head with others
• Cultural and environmental expectations around how we do that

Question 5

What evidence do we have for the interplay between nature and nurture in the social development of language?

Answer 5

• Before kids learn vocab, they engage in babble conversations
  
  • seems to help shape what the child does innately (make sounds) into a learned pattern of speech
  • back and forth
• SES
  
  • In the US, children in lower socio-economic status households are exposed to many fewer words than children in high SES households
  • High SES children hear many more encouraging words instead of discouraging words
  • Cultural difference impact patterns of speech that persist over long periods of time

Question 6

What evidence do we have for the interplay between nature and nurture in the linguistic development of language?

Answer 6

• Phonemes
  
  • We know this because they can distinguish between all the different phonemes
  • Babies quickly lose that ability (by 12 months only hear sounds relevant to native language)
• Motherese
  
  • High pitched, exaggerated way of speaking that we use when we talk to babies
  • Babies seem to prefer it, which suggests that it is an adaptive pattern
  • Slows down our speaking so that babies can learn phrasing, etc
• Grammar
  
  • Most grammatical mistakes go uncorrected in young children, but they clearly internalize the rules
    
    • eated, runned, etc

Question 7

What evidence do we have for the interplay between nature and nurture in the cognitive development of language?

Answer 7

• We know that kids know what words mean because as soon as they start talking they use language creatively
• They apply words to new situations and put words together correctly in combinations they have not heard before
• Early vocab is mostly nouns, kids are thinking/coding environment (not complex subjects like emotions/ideas)
• Language is about cognition not just imitation (children don’t say “the” or “and”)

Question 8

Cognitive growth

Answer 8

• Early and explosive
• Start talking between 10-20 months
• On average, kids know 25 words at about 15 months
• By age 5 kids know between 8000-10000 words
• Words we learn are dependent on context, but our ability to learn this much vocab is innate and time sensitive

Question 9

Preconventional Morality

Answer 9

• Stage one: the child understands authority figures are in control, and therefore it is important for everyone to follow the rules
  
  • “stealing is against the law”
• Stage two: the child wants to do what’s best for themselves
  
  • “I wouldn’t want my wife to die, so I think he should steal the drug”

Question 10

Conventional Morality

Answer 10

• Stage three: teenager is most interested in being seen as a “good person” and wants to do goof deeds that support other people
  
  • “the druggist was being greedy” or “a good husband would want to save his wife”
• Stage four: teenager is aware of society as a whole, and knows that laws and rules are in place to keep society functioning
  
  • “what would happen if everyone started breaking the law to save the life of the person they love?”

Question 11

Postconventional Morality

Answer 11

• Stage five: the adult is focused on the reasoning behind the laws, and whether the rationale is applicable in that particular case
  
  • ex: “yes, stealing is wrong, but it’s unethical to let someone die who could possibly be saved”
• Stage six: there is an individual ethical hierarchy that guides decision-making

Question 12

What are some critiques of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?

Answer 12

• Biased towards men
• Deals with reasoning instead of actual behavior
• Not representative