Week 3: Moral thinking and emotions Flashcards
What are two distinct areas of moral development? And briefly describe each
REASONING (Kohlberg) = 3 levels of moral reasoning (cognitive dev)
There are 3 levels of moral reasoning:
i) Pre-conventional (“what’s in it for me” / “will I be punished”)
ii) Conventional (what’s expected; situational; impact on others)
iii) Post-conventional (stage 4-6) - abstract reasoning and ethical principles - balance.
Limitations: Bias in favour of men and western culture. Not well supported as part of our cognitive development.
RELATIONAL (Gilligan) = three levels
i) Self-care (looking after own needs)
ii) Normative responsibilities (care of others)
iii) Self & other care (balanced position - understanding limits and introspection)
Summary of relational moral reasoning
- Views ethics as being embedded in relationships
- It’s a feminist perspective and cross-cultural
E.g., Confucian ethics is relational (being attuned to self and relationship; also Ubuntu - sub-saharan africa - self is an integral part of the whole)
How do emotions affect our sessions (and moral reasoning) with the client?
Theories around how emotions may affect our ethical decisions (around boundaries, autonomy, non-maleficence etc):
- System 1 thinking (Deontological thinking); an emotional ‘rule of thumb’ / heuristics) -> the amygdala and emotional processing dominates
- System 2 - prefrontal cortext, formal info-processing (people primed to question their own intuition (consequentalist thinking)
Affective Guidance
The somatic marker hypothesis shows that are emotions start before our cognitive awareness
What is the Primary Risk Management Model (Crowley & Gottlieb, 2012) - PRMM
A proactive approach to ethical DM.
Focuses on anticipating and preventing potential ethical delimmas by identifying and managing risks before they materialise.
We can prevent self-rationalising our decisions by considering some practitioner factors:
- Intuitive (fast) vs evaluative (slower) processes
- Imulsive loss aversion, coping patterns under stress, vs coping in advance
- emotion regulation
What are the 5 factors of the PRMM?
- Resource accumulation (gathering relevant info to inform DM)
- Risk detection (actively seek out potential ethical risks)
- Risk appraisal (assess nature and severity)
- Preliminary risk management - plan making (
- Elicitation and feedback - implementation of plan
What are the 3 biggest stressors for psychologists?
- Overly challenging work-life balance
- Cleints with chronic/complex mental health issues and high case loads
- Very distressed clients
What are the main maladaptive schemas for psychologists?
- Self-sacrificing
- perfectionism
What are the 5 schemas most related to burnout?
- Abandonment
- Mistrust / abuse
- Emotional inhibition
- Detached coping
- Job demands
(4 and 5 are the most predictive of burnout)
What is the most important way to prevent our emotions or cognitions from hindering our decision-making?
Awareness of our processes (emot/cog) - this is through insight and reflection.
Simultaneous awareness of our needs and those of others
=> a good relationship (including therapeutic) prevents burnout
=> boundary setting with care, or care with boundaries
What is a definition of emotions?
1) it’s a subjective experience (about the relevance of a situation to our needs/concerns)
What are the 7 main components of emotions?
Cognitive appraisal
Physiological reaction
Expression (gestures, facial motor behaviour)
Action readiness (approach, avoidance, bodiliy/cog)
Subjective experience (affective) - Pleasure/pain aspect
Linguistic representation
The concern / or the ‘need’ behind the emotion
What are the 3 main functions of emotions?
Evolutionary (flexible action, communication)
Psychological (motivates our actions)
Social (regulates our social interactions - power regulation, norm conformity, social cooperation)
Emotions in Therapy - what can assist with therapist emotions, and client emotions?
Therapist emotions
-> a moral guide
-> therapeutic guide (empathic understanding, reflection of unexpressed emotion in the client)
Client emotions
=> hint as to what the needed action/expression is
=> understand our own concerns/situation in life
=> as a perspective of both sides of a conflict or self
Prac Q:
A suicidal client asks his psychologist not to tell his wife about
his current acute suicidal ideation, saying this would make him
feel betrayed and then he might not come back to therapy. The
central ethical dilemma in this case represents a conflict
stemming from striving towards meeting the ethical principles
/ standards:
a. privacy and confidentiality
b. confidentiality and professional responsibility
c. confidentiality and authoritarianism
d. respect and informed consent
e. privacy and attachment.
b
