Lecture 8: Social Cognition and Moral Development

Question 1

social cognition

Answer 1

thinking about perceptions, thoughts, emotions, motives and behaviors of oneself, other people, groups, and even entire social systems

Question 2

false belief task

Answer 2

investigates the beliefs of a person and how they influence their behavior. used to measure theory of mind in children

Question 3

theory of mind (TOM)

Answer 3

understanding that people have feelings, beliefs and intentions, and that this influences behavior

Question 4

shared/joint attention

Answer 4

at around 9 months old, babies develop shared attention, where they can look the same object at the same time as the caregiver

Question 5

understanding of intentions

Answer 5

in the first month after birth, babies understand that other people have intentions, set goals, and want to achieve them

Question 6

pretending

Answer 6

between ages 1 and 2, children show the difference between pretending and reality

Question 7

imitation

Answer 7

in the first year of life when they understand and imitate the actions of others

Question 8

emotional understanding

Answer 8

in the second year of life, children show an understanding of other people’s emotions

Question 9

TOM nature

Answer 9

having a TOM has been adaptive to natural selection. developing a TOM requires neurological and cognitive development

Question 10

mirror neurons

Answer 10

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

Question 11

TOM nurture

Answer 11

interactions with others is necessary for developing social cognitive skills such as TOM

Question 12

language experience

Answer 12

deaf children who can communicate in sign language develop TOM at the same rate as hearing children

Question 13

mind-mindedness

Answer 13

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

Question 14

interaction with siblings and peers

Answer 14

these children develop TOM earlier than children without siblings

Question 15

cultural diferences

Answer 15

most children develop TOM skills around the same age, except cultures where there is little talk about mental states

Question 16

morality

Answer 16

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

Question 17

emotional component of morality

Answer 17

contains the feelings that accompany right or wrong actions and that influence moral actions and thoughts

Question 18

cognitive component of morality

Answer 18

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

Question 19

behavioral component of morality

Answer 19

is about how we behave when, for example, we see a person in need

Question 20

moral reasoning

Answer 20

this is the thinking process that deals with deciding whether something is right or wrong

Question 21

stages of moral development (Kohlberg)

Answer 21

1 - pre-conventional morality
2 - conventional morality
3 - post-conventional morality

Question 22

pre-conventional morality

Answer 22

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

Question 23

conventional morality

Answer 23

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

Question 24

post-conventional morality

Answer 24

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

Question 25

main influences on moral development

Answer 25

cognitive growth and social interactions with peers. includes understanding moral standards, taking perspectives, and being able to solve conflict

Question 26

moral identity

Answer 26

teenagers develop moral identity, seeing themselves as moral person who is honest and cares for others

Question 27

juvenille delinqucy

Answer 27

occurs when adolescents are still minors and commit criminal offence

Question 28

conduct disorder

Answer 28

involves a pattern of breaking rules and violating other people's rights

Question 29

callous-unemotional traits

Answer 29

predictor of antisocial behavior. CU traits mean that adolescents experience less empathy, regret, distress and concern for others

Question 30

dodge's social information processing model

Answer 30

offers an explanation for aggressive behavior. there are 6 steps to how information is processed when someone is provoked

Question 31

encoding cues

Answer 31

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

Question 32

interpretation of cues

Answer 32

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

Question 33

clarify goals

Answer 33

you formulate goals in the situation

Question 34

searching for responses

Answer 34

you are going to think of different responses to the situation

Question 35

choosing a response

Answer 35

from all the different responses you have thought of, choose the best one

Question 36

behavioral assessment

Answer 36

carrying out the chosen reaction

Question 37

coercive family environments

Answer 37

where family members seek power, and control and use negative and coercive tactics

Question 38

Positive Youth Development (PYD)

Answer 38

is an approach that emphasizes the strength of young people and it highlights the 5 C's: competence (academic), confidence, character, connection and caring

Question 39

three levels of thought, from low to high

Answer 39

- 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

Question 40

empathy

Answer 40

- 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)

Question 41

instrumental helping

Answer 41

12-14 months, helping with a goal oriented action

Question 42

empathetic helping

Answer 42

18-24 months, responding prosocially to another person's grief or pain

Question 43

basis of prosocial behavior

Answer 43

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

Question 44

proactive aggression (instrumental)

Answer 44

aggressive behavior is shown to achieve a certain goal

Question 45

active aggression (impulsive)

Answer 45

aggression in response to pain caused by another person

Question 46

direct aggression

Answer 46

physical violence and shouting, peaks around 2.5 years of age

Question 47

relational aggression

Answer 47

forms of aggression that seek to cause damage to a relationship, peaks in early adolescence

Question 48

two types of antisocial behavior (Moffit)

Answer 48

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