Moral development

Question 1

What are the different perspectives on the development of moral values and behaviours?

Answer 1

Sociobiological perspectives: innate basis for morality
Psychoanalytic perspectives (Freud)
Social learning perspectives (Bandura)

Question 2

What is Piaget’s theory of moral development?

Answer 2

Developmental change in morality

Heteronomous morality (around 5-10 years) = morality of constraint: understanding of rules and that they should be followed

Autonomous morality (around 10 years +) = morality of cooperation: negotiating + finding compromising rules

Driven by cognitive changes (e.g., decline of
egocentrism) = associated w/ peer interaction. Can be seen in children’s reasoning about rules

Looked at children’s judgements about moral dilemmas = Asked them who was naughtier. Children @ the heteronormative stage, they were more focused on the outcome than the intention.

Question 3

What are the difficulties of studying Piaget’s theory of moral development?

Answer 3

Driven by cognitive changes (e.g., a decline of egocentrism) = associated with peer interaction

Difficulties:
Underestimated certain abilities in young children= Understanding of intention + Reasoning about authority figures
Task demands = needs to become more precise on identifying what is changing
Lack of clarity about exactly what is developing - not a controlled study

Question 4

What is Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?

Answer 4

Tried to build on Piaget’s work but make it more refined. Looked at reasoning about hypothetical dilemmas, categorised responses w/:
6 stages of development in 3 levels:
Preconventional = 1. punishment; 2. instrumental

conventional = 3. good boy-good girl; 4. social order (thinks about society, individualised- how will I be perceived?)

postconventional = 5. social contract; 6. ethical principle (thinking about social order)

Question 5

Where do people progress on Kholberg’s stages of development?

Answer 5

Stages 1 + 2 = declined with age
Stages 3 = increases during adolescence then plateaus after
Stage 4 = modal response for adults
Stage 5 and 6 = rare + rarer

Question 6

What is the conception of morality?

Answer 6

the activity of care centers moral development around the understanding of responsibility and relationships

Question 7

what is the role of perspective-taking?

Answer 7

Role of perspective-taking = comes from interaction with peers (Benefits of peer interaction)

Question 8

What is the conception of morality fairness?

Answer 8

This is stage 3 and 4. This means the understanding of rights and rules.

Question 9

How does gender and culture affect moral development

Answer 9

Gilligan = stage 3 is less mature than stage 4. Conceptual model is biased + discriminatory = suggests women are less advanced than men. Not a lot of evidence that supports this.

Miller & Bersoff (1992)
8, 12, and 21-year-old Americans and Indians
Dilemmas involving conflicting interpersonal and justice
obligations. Results = big difference in how nationalities responded. Indians 84% used interpersonal justification vs 39% Americans.

Question 10

What are the domains of moral violations in social judgement?

Answer 10

Understanding there were different types of rules
moral = violations of others’ rights, leading to damage to others’ welfare
social-conventional = violations of social norms or conventions, leading to disrupted social order and social attention/ridicule
(e.g., Turiel, 2006)

Defining what is moral varies by social class and culture (Haidt et al., 1993)

Question 11

How is domains of social judgement differentiated?

Answer 11

Not always the same process, everywhere

Differentiation in terms of:
 how serious?
 what if no one sees it?
 what if there is no rule against it?
 what if an adult says you can?
(e.g., Smetana, 1993; Turiel, 2006)

Young children can understand there are different types of roles

Question 12

What is the role of social experience in moral development?

Answer 12

Where is the audience’s attention focused when you have committed a transgression?
 social-conventional violations = self-focused attention
 moral violations = focus on consequences for the victim

Where do they get the rules from? This can drive the changes in moral development.

Role of early family experience= Hughes, 2011
 intense, affective interpersonal relationships (e.g., sibling conflicts)
 parent responses: e.g., “how would you feel?” vs. “say the magic word!”

Social-conventional violations elicit ridicule and require the restoration of social order
 moral violations = reparation to the victim (e.g., apologising/helping)

Question 13

Do children recognise the differentiated social responses?

Answer 13

Banerjee, Bennett, & Luke (2010a)
Do children in fact associate different types of rule violation with self-focused vs. other-focused outcomes?
N = 40 8-year-olds + 40 10-year-olds

 Presented w/ four illustrated social outcomes:
other-focused
 having to apologise to others
 upsetting others’ feelings

self-focused
 being stared at
 being made fun of

Asked to generate rule violations =led to each given outcome, from their own experience

Results = two major categories of responses detected
 personal deviation from norms (‘standing out’)
 e.g., someone who played with “girls’ toys”
 e.g., someone giving “a silly answer in class”
 violation of others’ rights
 e.g., when a child “pushed someone”
 e.g., when a child “said someone can’t play”