Moral Development Flashcards
Components of Morality (4)
Cognition- processing information about topic
Affect- emotions associated with a topic
Behavior- what we actually do
“Bigger Picture”- culture, belief systems, law
Piaget: preschoolers
Pre-moral; no sense of rule-following; outcome-bound (not intention-bound)
Piaget: school-aged children
Heteronomous; strictly follow rules; intention-bound (not outcome-bound)
Piaget: adolescents and adults
Autonomous; understand they’re a part of society that forms and changes rules
Heinz dilemma (used by who, what is it)
Used by Kohlberg
Is it right for a man to steal a drug necessary to save his wife’s life that he has reasonably attempted to pay and is being overcharged?
Kohlberg stages
Pre-conventional (childhood): stay out of trouble; maximize reward (instrumental hedonism)
Conventional (adolescence): strictly follow rules of society; good boy/girl orientation; authority and social order maintainence
Post-conventional (adulthood or not): evaluate current wisdom; morality of contracts, individual rights, democratically accepted law; morality of individual principles of conscience
Specific issues with Kohlberg
Ignores variations in level of reflection
Ignores disconnect between affect and behavior
Unrealistic scenarios for dilemma
Factors beyond moral thought might influence decision
General issues with Kohlberg
Culture bias- western societies stage higher
Gender bias- women have morality of care? (not true)
Liberal bias- Democrats stage higher
Trolley scenario (who, what does it prove)
Josh Greene
Moral judgement isn’t purely cognitive; emotions play a role
Motive-outcome research (childhood)
Nelson
Matching motives to outcomes in 3-4 vs 6-8 y/os
3 y/os take motive into account but have memory issues with mismatched scenarios
Fairness research (childhood)
Helwig and Kim
1st, 3rd, and 5th graders
Comparing decision-making systems
Most kids reject authority, but older kids will sometimes cede to authority in complex situations
Contract and agreement research (childhood)
Keller
3-10 y/os
Asked to reason about what happened with contract violations
All children understand people feel bad with contract violation
Older children are capable of working backwards and feel bad about receiving reward after violation
Dodge’s information processing model (adolescence)
From encoding -> enactment
Multiple opportunities exist or thought aberrations
Poor self-control
Methods to promote moral development
- Parents as role models, emphasizing kindness over success
- Frequent induction; rare power assertion; lots of affection
- Social experience
- “College effect”
Moral tale experiment
Children set up to peek after reading either George Washington Cherry Tree or Boy Who Cried Wolf
Those who heard George Washington told the truth about peeking more often
