week 9 - moral development Flashcards
What did Hamlin, Wynn, & Bloom (2007) discover about preverbal infants’ social evaluations?
- Animated Climber + Helper (left) / Hinderer (right)
- Looking time test events: Climber sits with Helper vs Hinder
- Inanimated object
- Neutral habituation events: the neutral character does not interact with Climber, no interaction between the neutral character and helper/hinderer
Measuring infants’ toy choice and looking times
- 6 and 10 month old infants
- prefer helper to hinderer
- prefer a neutral individual to a hinderer
- perverbal infants assess individuals on the basis of their behaviour towards others
What did Hamlin & Wynn (2011) find in their studies with young infants?
- five and nine month old infants: opening a box task (2 puppets open a box)
- three and five month old infants: giving and taking task (puppets give and take)
- to ensure that infants’ preferences were based on the social aspects of the characters’ behaviour, a matched “inanimate control” condition was included - an inanimate pincer performed the same physical actions on the box as the protagonist
infants preferred the prosocial puppet who helped versus the antisocial puppet who hindered the goal
What is the main conclusion from research on infants’ preferences for helpers over hinderers?
social evaluation is fundamental to perceiving the world, with infants showing a significant preference for prosocial actors
According to Kanakogi et al. (2013), how do 10 month olds react to physical harm?
- 10 month old infants preferentially reached for the victim over the aggressor and also preferred the victim over a neutral bystander, but the bystander over the aggressor
What did Hamlin et al. (2011) discover about toddlers’ behaviour towards helpers and hinderers in the “opening a box” game?
Using the same “opening a box” game, Hamlin et al. (2011) showed that before 2 years of age, toddlers direct their positive behaviours (e.g., giving a treat) toward Helper and negative behaviours (e.g., taking a treat away) toward Hinderer.
What did Hamlin (2013) suggest about human morality based on research findings with infants?
hamlin suggested that some aspects of human morality are innate
According to Tomasello & Vaish (2013), what is the difference between toddlers’ and preschoolers’ morality?
Toddlers’ second-personal morality
- young children before about 3 years of age may not really understand social norms
- their cooperative and prosocial behaviour are based on interactions with specific individuals
preschoolers norm based morality
- 4 and 5 year old children operate with an agent-neutral, norm-based morality in which all individuals are equal players
- they become truly moral agents, understanding that social norms apply to everyone
evolutionary stand point: morality is a form of cooperation
What are the two stages of moral development according to Piaget’s theory?
- first stage: Heteronomous morality: where children (usually under 7) view rules as unchangeable givens, and consequences, not intentions, determine if an action is good or bad
- second stage: Autonomous morality: where children (usually 11+) understand that rules are products of social agreement, and motives and intentions are considered when evaluating behaviour
What are some critiques of Piaget’s theory of moral development?
- although it has some empirical support, piagets theory is criticised for underestimating children’s ability to appreciate the role of intentionality in morality
What did Rochat et al. (2009) find about fairnedd in distributing candies across different cultures?
found that 3-year-olds optimize their own gain, while 5-year-olds generally show more fairness in sharing
What did Blake & McAuliffe (2011) discover about inequity aversion in children?
found that 4-7 year olds rejected disadvantageous offers, but accepted advantageous offers, while 8 year olds rejected both forms of inequity
Briefly describe Kohlberg’s three levels (six stages) of moral reasoning
- preconventional: focuses on avoiding punishment and getting rewards
- obedience and punishment stage
- instrumental & exchange stage
- conventional: focuses on compliance with social duties and laws
- interpersonal and relationships stage
- social order and conscience stage
- postconventional: focuses on ideals and moral principles
- social contract and individual rights stage
- universal principles
What is stage 1 of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and what is its focus?
- Obedience and punishment orientation
- moral actions are motivated by avoidance of punishment
- obedience to authorities is seen as right
What is stage 2 of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and what is its focus?
- Instrumental & Exchange orientation
- what is right is what is in the child’s own best interest
- they understand equal exchange, but this reciprocity is self-serving
What is stage 3 of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and what is its focus?
- Relationships and interpersonal orientation
- good behaviour is doing what’s expected by people who are close or what’s expected from a given role, to maintain approval and good relations with others
What is stage 4 of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and what is its focus?
- social order and conscience orientation
- good behaviour involves fulfilling one’s duties, upholding laws, and contributing to one’s group or society
- to maintain social order and keep the social system going
What is stage 5 of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and what is its focus?
- social contract and individual rights orientation
- upholding rules that are in the best interest of the group, impartial, or were mutually agreed upon by the group
- unjust laws should be changed
What is stage 6 of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, and what is its focus?
- universal ethical principles
- this stage involves a commitment to self-chosen ethical principles that reflect universal principles, such as life, basic human rights, justice and equality
What is a criticism of Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning?
it overlooks cultural differences, people’s reasoning is often inconsistent across situations, and it does not recognize gender differences
According to social domain theory, what are the three different domains of social knowledge?
- personal domain: knowledge related to actions where individual preferences are the main consideration, no right or wrong choices
- societal domain: knowledge of rules and conventions that maintain societal order
- moral domain: knowledge of right and wrong, fairness, justice, and individual rights
How do children differentiate between moral and conventional issues, according to Turiel (1987)?
children view moral violations as inherently wrong, while conventional issues are based on rules or authority
What is a challenge to social domain theory?
the distinction between moral and conventional domains is not always clear cut. it pays little attention to starting states, and moral cognition is not always conscious
What are the two main features of a moral emotion, according to Haidt (2003)?
disinterested elicitors and prosocial action tendencies
What are the self-conscious emotions?
guilt, shame, and embarrassment
what are the other-condemning emotions?
anger, disgust, and contempt
What did Kochanska et al., (2002) study regarding guilt in young children?
- they studied childrens behaviour (e.g. avoiding gaze, bodily tension, distress) when they believe they broke a valuable object and found that the behavioural and affective components of children’s guilt cohered significantly
How does anger change as children develop?
young children are likely to feel anger when harmed, whether intentional or not, whereas older children are less likely to be angered by unintentional harm
What did Danovitch & Bloom (2009) investigate about disgust and morality?
they investigated whether children consider “being mean to someone” as disgusting. found that they do, especially when the meanness is severe
What did Rottman et al. (2017) find about the role of anger/disgust in moral acquisition?
found that adults’ expression of anger and disgust facilitate children’s acquisition of moral beliefs
When do children start showing prosocial behaviour?
around age 2, children being to provide comfort and assistance to those in emotional distress
When does physical aggression typically emerge in children?
occurs around 18 months, increasing until age 2 or 3
name and define the four types of aggression
- instrumental aggression: motivated by the desire to achieve a goal
- relational aggression: excluding others from a social group
- reactive aggression: emotionally driven aggression sparked by perception of others’ hostility
- proactive aggression: unemotional aggression aimed at fulfilling a need or desire
What are other-condemning emotions?
sympathy, empathy, compassion
What are other-praising emotions:
gratitude, awe, elevation
