Lecture 13 - Moral Development Flashcards
Morality
- distinguish right from wrong
- act on this distinction
- feel pride in virtuous conduct
- feel guilt for conduct that violates standards
Internalization
- integration of attitudes, values and standards into own sense of self
- seen as developmental milestone
Emotional component
motivated to avoid negative emotions and experience pos emotions
Empathy
- vicarious exp of another person
- motivates prosocial behavior
Prosocial behavior
- social act that demonstrates concern/empathy
- reduces joint suffering
Antisocial behavior
- aimed at hurting another person or society
Cognitive component
- most related to moral development
- moral reasoning - thinking that occurs when people decide whether acts are right or wrong (justification)
- perspective-taking skills - putting ourselves in other’s shoes
Core knowledge of morality
- innate knowledge of beliefs
- argued that babies are able to distinguish btwn right and wrong
- even as young as 3 y.o. showed core knowledge or morality
How did Piaget test moral reasoning?
- played games with children and broke the rules to test reactions
- gave moral dilemmas through stories
Premoral period
- Piaget’s stage theory
- children in preoperational period
- not concerned with right or wrong
- inconsistent behavior
Heteronomous morality
- strong respect for rules, cannot be violated or changed
- objective responsibility - focus on outcome rather than
- immanent justice - punishment outweighs crime
- moral absolutes - either a R or a wrong answer
Autonomous morality
- all seeing entity that sees your behavior, punishment is inevitable
- rules can be changed or broken for human welfare
- subjective responsibility - intention matters
- understand that the punishment should match the crime
At what age do children transfer from the heteronomous morality to autonomous morality?
- about 10 or 11 y.o.
What were the problems with Piaget’s theory?
- rarely studies individuals over age 12 - could be that teens or adults are more morally sophisticated, but we don’t know bc he didnt study anyone over 12
- thought cognitive sophistication = moral sophistication
Kohlberg
- followed Piaget, but expanded his testing to people above 12 y.o.
- gave moral dilemmas to determine moral development
- developed 4 level theory or moral development
What was an example of one of Kohlber’s moral dilemmas?
The Heinz Dilemma
Level 1 - Preconventional
- motivated by self interests - morals are not internalized
- childhood and early teens
Stage 1 - Punishment orientation
- avoid negative consequences
- least sophisticated
Stage 2 - Instrumental hedonism
- motivated by paybacks and future gain
- Kohlberg thought this was characteristic w/ adulthood
- more sophisticated than Stage 1 bc it has a future orientation
Level 2 - Conventional
strives to obey internalized moral rules to gain the approval of others
Stage 3 - Good girl/Good boy
- do what familiar others thing is right
- Golden Rule morality
Stage 4 - Law and order
- what is good for society at large
- assumes rules exist to produce and preserve social order
- legal = good
Level 3 - Postconventional
- broad principles of justice that exist independently of the legal system
- very rare according to Kohlberg
Stage 5 - Social contract
- rules and laws should express the will of the majority and maximize social welfare
Stage 6 - Universal principled
- autonomous, universal principal; morality is greater than existing laws
- create principles that apply to mankind more broadly
