Moral Development

Question 1

how did piaget assess morality

Answer 1

with short stories, interested in explanations for why an action is viewed as right or wrong. based on answers, child falls into 1 of 3 categories

Question 2

3 stages of Piaget’s theory of moral reasoning

Answer 2

1) Premoral Stage (0-5 yo): no judgments about right or wrong
2) Heteronomous Stage (5-10 yo):
-rules are fixed and can never be broken
-morality = obeying
-outcome is more important than intention
3) Autonomous Stage (10+)
-rules are not absolute and can be changed
-intentions matter

Question 3

3 levels of moral reasoning according to Kohlberg’s

Answer 3

1) Pre-conventional (3-7 yo)
2) Conventional (8-13 yo)
3) Post-conventional (13+)

Question 4

what is an example of a story that Kohlberg used to evaluate moral reasoning?

Answer 4

Heinz Dilemma

Question 5

Describe pre-conventional moral reasoning

Answer 5

driven by
-avoiding punishment and getting rewards
-rules are fixed and absolute

Question 6

what would someone in the pre-conventional level respond to the Heinz dilemma?

Answer 6

“Heinz should not steal the drug because stealing is illegal and he could get caught”

focus on law and getting punished.

Question 7

Describe conventional moral reasoning

Answer 7

focus on
-compliance with social expectations, conventions, and duties
-upholding one’s duty to follow the rules and laws of society

Question 8

what would someone in the conventional level respond to the Heinz dilemma?

Answer 8

“It’s wrong for Heinz to steal because it’s against the law. If everyone was stealing, society would fall apart”

or

“It’s right because he means well” (socially approved)

Question 9

Describe post-conventional moral reasoning

Answer 9

focus on
-what is in the best interest of society or based on maintaining universal ethical principles
-rules = social contracts. can be changed to meet the needs of society

Question 10

what would someone in the post-conventional level respond to the Heinz dilemma?

Answer 10

“It’s not wrong to steal because human life must be preserved and life is worth more than money or personal propert

Question 11

in the study where 2 yo have the option to help an adult that cant reach toy, do they help more if
-positive intention (adult wants to give them toy) + positive outcome (child gets toy)
compared to
-positive intention (adult wants to give them toy) + negative outcome (child doesn’t end up getting the toy)

Answer 11

2 years old helped the adults equally if positive or negative outcome, suggesting that infants care more about intentions than outcomes of actions

Question 12

whats the link with development of theory of mind and appreciating intentions

Answer 12

children who fail standard false beliefs tasks (what would this person that isn’t you think/say) interpret character’s intention on moral false belief task as negative, more likely to recommend punishing them.
-attributions of positive intentions increases with age

-suggests that maturing of theory of mind enables children to give others the benefit of the doubt when they act out of ignorance

Question 13

What is the current theory of moral development

Answer 13

Social Domain Theory of Moral Development

Question 14

What does the Social Domain Theory of Moral Development say

Answer 14

-As they age, children are simultaneously developping knowledge about moral, societal, and personal domain
-They can distinguish between moral, societal and personal domains from a young age

Question 15

what are the three social domains of the Social Domain Theory of Moral Development

Answer 15

1) Moral domain (justice, rights, fairness)
2) Societal domain (social conventions, can be changed)
3) Personal domain (no right or wrong choices)

Question 16

True or false: 2 years old can generally distinguish between issues in 3 domains

Answer 16

False. More around 3-4 year olds, then they believe that violations of moral rules are more wrong and that they should have control in personal domain but not necessarily in moral and societal domain

Question 17

Example that there are differences across cultures in what falls within moral, societal and personal domain.

Answer 17

Helping parents in older age is a moral judgment in collectivist cultures but more of a personal judgment in individualistic cultures

Question 18

What is a prosocial behaviour

Answer 18

Voluntary behaviour intended to benefit others, like helping, sharing and comforting others

Question 19

what drives prosocial behaviours

Answer 19

Perspective taking leads to empathy (understanding and sharing emotional state), leads to sympathy (feeling of concern) which then leads to prosocial behviour

Question 20

How is an infant before 18 months old likely to react to other’s distress

Answer 20

With self-focused distress

Question 21

When does prosocial behaviour appear

Answer 21

18-24 months, increases throughout the 2nd year of life

ex study where child views an adult who steals necklace from other adult in aggressive manner: shows way more concern vs neutral condition where necklace isn’t stolen

Question 22

results from second part of the necklace study where opportunity for child to help get balloon that flew away

Answer 22

children that showed more sympathy during necklace portion of the study were more likely to help her retrieve the balloon.

-shows that sympathy motivates helping as young as 18-24 months of age

Question 23

toddlers help selectively depending on type of help of help required: which category of help is harder for toddlers

Answer 23

self-sacrifice: sharing food or stickers with adult who has none

Question 24

genetic differences in pro-social behaviour

Answer 24

-emotion regulation (better regulation = easier to help)
-behavioural inhibition (shy = harder to help)

Question 25

How can parents help their children have prosocial behaviours?

Answer 25

1. Modelling of prosocial behaviour and teacher prosocial behaviour. sympathy-inducing rationales are best for internalization.
   “let’s donate money because they need it more and it will make them happy” vs “because it’s a good thing to do”
2. Providing opportunities for child to engage in prosocial behaviour. household chores or community service