Lecture 8: Social Cognition and Moral Development Flashcards
social cognition
thinking about perceptions, thoughts, emotions, motives and behaviors of oneself, other people, groups, and even entire social systems
false belief task
investigates the beliefs of a person and how they influence their behavior. used to measure theory of mind in children
theory of mind (TOM)
understanding that people have feelings, beliefs and intentions, and that this influences behavior
shared/joint attention
at around 9 months old, babies develop shared attention, where they can look the same object at the same time as the caregiver
understanding of intentions
in the first month after birth, babies understand that other people have intentions, set goals, and want to achieve them
pretending
between ages 1 and 2, children show the difference between pretending and reality
imitation
in the first year of life when they understand and imitate the actions of others
emotional understanding
in the second year of life, children show an understanding of other people’s emotions
TOM nature
having a TOM has been adaptive to natural selection. developing a TOM requires neurological and cognitive development
mirror neurons
needed for social cognition, through which we observe and imitate the behaviors of others. this stimulates observational learning and imitation, in children with autism, the mirror neurons are less active
TOM nurture
interactions with others is necessary for developing social cognitive skills such as TOM
language experience
deaf children who can communicate in sign language develop TOM at the same rate as hearing children
mind-mindedness
parents who provide a secure attachment to the child and are sensitive to their needs, together with parents who show mind mindedness, have children with better TOM skills. mind-mindedness is talking about mental states in comprehensive ways
interaction with siblings and peers
these children develop TOM earlier than children without siblings
cultural diferences
most children develop TOM skills around the same age, except cultures where there is little talk about mental states
morality
ability to distinguish right from wrong, and to experience such emotions as pride when we do something right and regret or shame when we do something wrong. there are 3 components of morality
emotional component of morality
contains the feelings that accompany right or wrong actions and that influence moral actions and thoughts
cognitive component of morality
focuses on how we think about right and wrong and how we make choices about our behavior based on social cognitive skills such as perspective taking
behavioral component of morality
is about how we behave when, for example, we see a person in need
moral reasoning
this is the thinking process that deals with deciding whether something is right or wrong
stages of moral development (Kohlberg)
1 - pre-conventional morality
2 - conventional morality
3 - post-conventional morality
pre-conventional morality
the rules are external and not internalised. there is an authority figure who sets the rules.
- stage 1: punishment and obedience orientation
- stage 2: instrumental hedonism; a person follows the rules to satisfy personal needs
conventional morality
the individual has internalised moral values. they show respect for rules set by others in order to adhere to social norms. the perspective of others is important
- stage 3: good child morality; something is good if approved by others. it is mainly about reciprocity
- stage 4: authority and social order morality; something is good if it conforms to rules and helps society
post-conventional morality
the individual judges what is good in terms of principles of justice, this is independent of authority figure. there may be a distinction between what is morally right and against the law.
- stage 5: morality of contract, individual rights and democratic laws
- stage 6: morality of individual principles and consciousness
main influences on moral development
cognitive growth and social interactions with peers. includes understanding moral standards, taking perspectives, and being able to solve conflict
moral identity
teenagers develop moral identity, seeing themselves as moral person who is honest and cares for others
juvenille delinqucy
occurs when adolescents are still minors and commit criminal offence
conduct disorder
involves a pattern of breaking rules and violating other people’s rights
callous-unemotional traits
predictor of antisocial behavior. CU traits mean that adolescents experience less empathy, regret, distress and concern for others
dodge’s social information processing model
offers an explanation for aggressive behavior. there are 6 steps to how information is processed when someone is provoked
encoding cues
you start looking at cues in the situation and register them. an aggressive young person often has a hostile attribution bias and will interpret cues more quickly as hostile
interpretation of cues
interpreting the situation and the motives of others. aggressive young people with hostile attribution bias, will assume that the other person wants to hurt them
clarify goals
you formulate goals in the situation
searching for responses
you are going to think of different responses to the situation
choosing a response
from all the different responses you have thought of, choose the best one
behavioral assessment
carrying out the chosen reaction
coercive family environments
where family members seek power, and control and use negative and coercive tactics
Positive Youth Development (PYD)
is an approach that emphasizes the strength of young people and it highlights the 5 C’s: competence (academic), confidence, character, connection and caring
three levels of thought, from low to high
- pre-conventional thinking: the person operates according to a punish or reward mentality, there is no moral reasoning
- conventional thinking: morality revolves around the need to follow the rules of society
- post-conventional thinking: the personal moral code transcends the rules of society
empathy
- affective empathy: being sensitive to the feelings of others (i understand and feel what you feel)
- cognitive empathy: empathising with the perspective of another person/TOM (i understand how you feel)
instrumental helping
12-14 months, helping with a goal oriented action
empathetic helping
18-24 months, responding prosocially to another person’s grief or pain
basis of prosocial behavior
1 - early interest in people (social motivation)
2 - development of the ability to distinguish one’s own emotions from those of others
3 - inborn biological basis for empathy and prosocial behavior
proactive aggression (instrumental)
aggressive behavior is shown to achieve a certain goal
active aggression (impulsive)
aggression in response to pain caused by another person
direct aggression
physical violence and shouting, peaks around 2.5 years of age
relational aggression
forms of aggression that seek to cause damage to a relationship, peaks in early adolescence
two types of antisocial behavior (Moffit)
1 - life course persistent;
- small minority of male population
- high long-term stability
- growing up in difficult families and neighborhoods
2 - adolescence limited
- the majority of adolescence show antisocial behavior which disappears after puberty
- seems to imitate the life-cycle persistent category
