Lecture #9

Question 1

Social Cognition

Answer 1

Thinking about the perceptions, thoughts, emotions,
motives and behaviours of self, other people, groups and
even whole social systems

Question 2

Theory of Mind

Answer 2

• A ToM is the understanding that people have
mental states such as desires, beliefs and
intentions, and that these mental states guide
their behaviour.

Question 3

ToM- autism

Answer 3

85% of 4 year olds of normal intelligence and older
children with Downs Syndrome pass the false belief task.
• Despite mental ages greater than those of the children
with Downs Syndrome, 80% of children with autism failed.

Question 4

Early signs of ToM

Answer 4

ToM starts to develop in the first 2 years of life.
Early steps:
• Imitation and modelling: first 12 months.
• Understanding intentions: first 6 months.
• Joint attention and pointing: 9 months.
• Pretend play: 1-2 years.
• Emotional understanding: 2+.

Question 5

ToM desire based reasoning ***

Answer 5

ToM starts to develop when children refer to
mental states in their speech.
• ToM develops in two phases:

• Desire psychology: toddlers talk about what they want
and explain their own behaviour and that of others in
terms of wants or desires – around 2 years of age.

• Belief-desire psychology: they appreciate that people do
what they do because they desire certain things and
because they believe that certain actions will help them
fulfill their desires – around 4 years of age.

Question 6

Social perspective learning

Answer 6

The ability to adopt
another person’s
perspective and
understand their
thoughts and feelings
in relation to your
own. 
- ToM in action

Question 7

Social perspective learning in children

Answer 7

Social perspective-taking abilities develop in a stage-like
manner:
• 3-6 years old, respond egocentrically.
• 8-10 years old, children appreciate that two people can have
different points of view even if they have access to the same
information.
• 12+ years old, become capable of mentally judging multiple
perspectives, including the perspective of the ‘generalised
other’, or the broader social group.

–> advances rely on rely on explanations rather than
punishment in disciplining their children.

Question 8

Social cognition in adulthood

Answer 8

• best at seeing both sides of the argument
• • Areas of the cortex that support social cognition and
    emotional understanding age more slowly that the areas
    that support nonsocial cognition.
    – Older adults tend to reply more than younger adults on
    simple rules of thumb and strongly held beliefs about
    people.

Question 9

Morals

Answer 9

attitudes and beliefs people use to determine what is right and wrong.

Question 10

Morality

Answer 10

knowing what is right and wrong, being motivated to take the right action and taking the
right action (i.e., cognitive emotional and
behavioural aspects).

Question 11

Moral Rules

Answer 11

used by society to protect individuals and guarantee their rights (e.g., stealing, hitting,
cheating, lying).

Question 12

Social conventions

Answer 12

rules used by society to
govern everyday behaviour; arbitrary customs
(e.g., dress style, rituals)

Question 13

moral development

Answer 13

• Moral reasoning is the process of applying
reasoning to situations and decisions that involve
right and wrong.

Question 14

moral development - piaget

Answer 14

• young children
• pass through three stages

• Premoral period (preschool): children show little awareness or
understanding of moral rules and cannot be considered moral beings.
• Heteronomous morality (6-10 years): rules handed down by
authority figures are taken seriously.
• Autonomous morality (11+): rules are seen as flexible/changeable
agreements between people. More emphasis is put on intentions.

• extended by kohlberg and gilligan

Question 15

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Answer 15

********
• 3 levels (with 2 stages each):
• Preconventional moral reasoning.
• Conventional moral reasoning.
• Postconventional moral reasoning

Question 16

Moral- infant

Answer 16

• Tend to view infants as amoral – we don’t believe they are
capable of evaluating their behaviour in relation to moral
standards, and so we don’t hold them responsible for the
wrongs they commit.
• They are predisposed to empathy and prosocial behaviour

• Helping: 14-months - will (without being asked) pick up a peg dropped
by adults when their hands are full.
• Cooperation: 14-months – can engage in cooperation games.
• Altruism: <2 – will show greater joy at providing a treat to an
appreciative puppet than when they receive them.

Question 17

moral- child

Answer 17

• Sensitivity to the intentions behind actions does increase
as children get older.

As young as 3, children can distinguish between moral
rules and social-conventional rules.

Question 18

moral- adolescent

Answer 18

• Moral identity – the integration of morality as part of
  one’s personal identity
• Conventional reasoning (stage 3 and stage 4) becomes
  the dominant mode of moral thinking.
• some have anti social development

Question 19

MoralDevelopment Transitions: Adolescence

to Adulthood

Answer 19

stage 6 reasoning is rare. might require special training in ethics

Question 20

Criticisms of Kohlberg

Answer 20

• built on subjective data from boys
• underestimates child moral sophistication
• focused solely on moral reasoning not moral emotions or gut feelings
• doesn’t take into account culture

Question 21

Gilligan theory of moral development

Answer 21

Proposed a different model rela6ng specifically to
females’ moral reasoning.
• Contains three stages of moral development focusing
on interpersonalcare and concern.

Question 22

Gilligan theory of moral development (decision making)

Answer 22

• different model relating to female’s moral reasoning
• 3 stages- focus on interpersonal care and concern

stage 1: survival orientation

stage 2: conventional care

stage 3: integrated care

Question 23

Fowlers faith knowing system

Answer 23

According to Fowler, the
growth of faith is a
universal progression
through stages of spiritual
development that is not
necessarily religious in
orientation.