Lecture 9 - Pro-social and Moral Development Flashcards
What is socialisation?
The process by which children acquire the social knowledge, skills and attitudes valued by their society (Bukatko and Daehler, 2001).
What influences socialisation?
Family and cultural values.
What are the 4 agents of socialisation?
- Immediate family (primary socialisation)
- School and the media (secondary)
- Peers
- Heroes and role models.
Why study moral behaviour?
To find out how it’s acquired, to increase understanding and thus improve child rearing methods, to learn the limits of moral responsibility (can children be held accountable?)
What are Piaget’s stages of moral development?
- Moral realist (7y). Subjective factors including intentions are considered.
What are the problems with Piaget’s stages of moral development?
- Memory demands of story - hear outcome last (Parson et al., 1976)
- Failure to understand cause-effect relationship (Nicholls, 1978) - when salience of intentions increased, performance in s ability to take intentions into account.
What did Wimmer et al (1982) do?
In a fence-painting story (reduced memory demand) 4-6yos allocated awards according to outcome not effort, yet clearly understood cause-effect relationship - said that with the same size brush the smaller child would do better.
What did Kohlberg do?
- Stated that moral awareness relies on cognitive development and matures in stages.
- Investigated moral development in adolescence, formulated theory.
- Devised moral dilemmas.
What are the different levels and stages of Kohlberg’s moral development theory?
L1. Pre-conventional:
S1. Punishment and Obedience Orientation.
S2. Individualism, Instrumental Purpose and Exchange.
L2. Conventional:
S3. Mutual Interpersonal Expectations, Relationships and Interpersonal Conformity.
S4. Social System and Conscience.
L3. Post-conventional
S5. Social Contract and Individual Rights
S6. Universal Ethical Principles
What is the focus in each of Kohlberg’s stages?
S1. Punishment and Obedience Orientation = obedience
S2. Individualism, Instrumental Purpose and Exchange = reward
S3. Mutual Interpersonal Expectations, Relationships and Interpersonal Conformity = ‘good’
S4. Social System and Conscience = obedience to authority
S5. Social Contract and Individual Rights = moral/legal difference
S6. Universal Ethical Principles = conscience, all viewpoints.
What did Colby et al (1983) study?
Changes in moral reasoning over age (10-35). Stages 1 and 2 started high and decreased, 3 started middle and increased then fell again, 4 started low and increased and 5 appeared at 18 and increased slowly. No stage 6.
What are the principles behind Kohlberg’s stages?
- Hierarchical (no regression or skipping)
- Highly educated/high IQ = higher stages (Hart et al., 2003)
What did Kochanska (1991) find?
That children whose parents reasoned with them at age 2 showed more advanced moral reasoning at age 10.
What are some criticisms of Kohlberg’s stage theory?
- Moral dilemmas unfamiliar to children.
- Cultural factors not accounted for
- Response interpretation subjective - inter-rater reliability?
- Stages? Moral behaviour has changeable aspects and there’s limited evidence to support fixed stages.
What are emotions?
Complex feelings that stem from physiological and psychological arousal in response to perceived or imagined stimuli (Bukatko and Daehler, 2001).
