Social Cognition and Moral Development

Question 1

Social Cognition

Answer 1

the ability to understand other people’s perceptions, thoughts, emotions and behaviour

Question 2

Theory of mind

Answer 2

the understanding that people have mental states such as desires, beliefs, and intentions and that these mental states guide our behaviour

Question 3

first 5 years, children come to understand …(6 things)

Answer 3

1. perceptions
2. emotions
3. intentions
4. pretence
5. desires
6. beliefs

Question 4

Perception

Answer 4

from about 9 months, infants engage in joint attention

Question 5

Emotions timeline

Answer 5

-3 months: can distinguish between emotions posed by adults in photos
-7-10 months: infants use social referencing to guide their own behaviour
2 yrs: talk about emotions and have some understanding of what will comfort and hurt others
4-5 yrs: can correctly infer whether a person is happy,sad,angry, scared or supposed from facial expression and can identify situations that will cause these emotions

Question 6

Intentions

Answer 6

In the first months of life, infants understand that others have intentions – that actions are directed toward `particular goals

Question 7

Pretence

Answer 7

• age 1-2: pretend play emerges

- age 3: children know the difference between real and imagined objects

Question 8

Desires

Answer 8

by age 2 children have a “desire psychology” - they understand that people gave desires and that these desires guide their behaviour

Question 9

Beliefs

Answer 9

-age 3-4: children have a “belief-desire psychology” -The idea is that ordinary people understand other ordinary people in terms of the assumption that other peoples’ behavior is the result of their cognitive insides – their psychology.

Question 10

False belief task

Answer 10

assess the understanding that people can hold incorrect beliefs and be influenced by these beliefs, even if they are wrong

Question 11

Deception

Answer 11

by about age 4, ,most children understand that by telling something that is false, they can change the beliefs that another person has

Question 12

How do we explain the development of a theory of mind?

Answer 12

1. neurological maturation
2. advances in cognition and language
3. social experiences that require understanding other people’s mental states

Question 13

Selman

Answer 13

showed that the ability to consider a social situation from the point of view of another person improves greatly during the school years.

Question 14

Social Perspective Taking (Role Taking Skills) - preschoolers

Answer 14

assume that whatever they feel, others do too.

Question 15

Social Perspective Taking (Role Taking Skills) - primary school age

Answer 15

better at putting themselves in another person’s shoes

Question 16

Social Perspective Taking (Role Taking Skills) - adolescents

Answer 16

can examine two points of view simultaneously.

Question 17

Adolescent egocentrism: imaginary audeince

Answer 17

an inability to distinguish between one’s own thoughts and feelings and those of others (individual imagines and believes that multitudes of people are enthusiastically listening to or watching him or her.)

Question 18

Adolescent egocentrism: personal fable

Answer 18

a tendency to think you are unique

Question 19

What is morality

Answer 19

the ability to distinguish between right from wrong and to act on this distinction

Question 20

Kohlberg’s Theory: Level 1

Answer 20

Preconventional Morality:

Personal consequences of action determine where it is judged good or bad

Question 21

Kohlberg’s Theory: level 1, stage 1

Answer 21

Punishment and obedience orientation:

-obeys rules in order to avoid punishment

Question 22

Kohlberg’s Theory: level 1, stage 2

Answer 22

instrumental hedonism:

-obeys rules in order to gain rewards or satisfy personal needs

Question 23

Kohlberg’s Theory: Level 2

Answer 23

Conventional morality

-moral reasoning is guided by doing what family, society or people in power expect

Question 24

Kohlberg’s Theory: level 2, stage 3

Answer 24

Good boy/girl mentality:

-what is right is that which pleases, helps or is approved by others

Question 25

Kohlberg’s Theory: level 2, stage 4

Answer 25

Authority and social order maintaining morality:

-what is right is what upholds “law and order”

Question 26

Kohlberg’s Theory: Level 3

Answer 26

Postconventional morality:

-individual defines what is right in terms of broad principles of justice

Question 27

Kohlberg’s Theory: level 3, stage 5

Answer 27

Morality of contract, individual rights, and democratically accepted law:
-person is still guided by the general consensus about right and wrong, but believes that society must also fulfill its part in the bargain.

Question 28

Kohlberg’s Theory: level 3, stage 6

Answer 28

Morality of individual principles of conscience:

-person follows a self-chosen ethical code based on principles of justice.

Question 29

Critiques of Kohlberg’s theory

Answer 29

1. stage model is too rigid
2. cultural bias
3. gender bias (Giligan)
4. overlooks nonlegalistic forms of moral reasoning
5. fails to explain relationships between moral reasoning and behaviour

Question 30

“justice” perspective:

Answer 30

moral reasoning is based on a set of abstract universal principles

Question 31

“care” perspective:

Answer 31

moral reasoning is tied to specific situations with an emphasis on caring for others.

Question 32

Prosocial moral reasoning

Answer 32

(Eisenberg): deciding whether to share with, help or take care of other people when doing so involves a cost to oneself.

Question 33

Aggression

Answer 33

committing an act of intended to hurt another

Question 34

Instrumental aggression

Answer 34

directed at getting something (means to an end)

Question 35

Hostile aggression

Answer 35

specifically aimed at hurting another person

Question 36

Causes of aggressive behaviour: Individual factors- genes

Answer 36

-genes: Influence aggression indirectly through their effects on children’s temperaments and physiologically based characteristics

Question 37

Causes of aggressive behaviour: Individual factors- Social information-processing

Answer 37

• Dodge
• The individual’s reactions to frustration, anger or provocation depend on the ways in which the person processes and interprets the social cues present in the situation.
• Highly aggressive individuals -tend to show faulty or biased information processing (e.g. quickly attributing hostile intentions to other people), or to respond impulsively “without thinking”.

Question 38

Causes of aggressive behaviour: interpersonal factors- Social learning perspective:

Answer 38

people learn to behave aggressively through reinforcement and modelling.

Question 39

Causes of aggressive behaviour: interpersonal factors- Patterson’s coercive family environments:

Answer 39

Family members are locked in power struggles, each trying to control the others through coercive tactics like threatening, shouting and hitting, and parents gradually lose control of children’s behaviour.

Question 40

Causes of aggressive behaviour: broader contextual factors

Answer 40

• Poverty, inequality and social stress
• Community violence
• Peer influences
• Cultural context

Question 41

Violence prevention

Answer 41

Should start in infancy or toddlerhood with an emphasis on positive parenting, followed by programs to improve the social skills and impulse control of young children at risk

Question 42

Discipline

Answer 42

refers to methods of teaching children self-control, moral values and appropriate behaviour.

Question 43

What are effective ways of disciplining children?

Answer 43

-Induction
-Punishment
—Time out
-Positive discipline
Note: parents will need to adjust their discipline strategies according to the child’s age and temperament.