L15: Moral development Flashcards
(13 cards)
What are the three components of morality?
Cognitive: reasoning about right and wrong
Emotional: feeling right or wrong about one’s actions
Behavioral: acting right or wrong
What are Piaget’s stages of moral development?
Pre-moral Stage (preschool): No rules
Moral realism (5-10 yrs): Outcomes > intentions; rules absolute
Moral relativism (10+ yrs): Intentions matter; rules flexible
What are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development?
Pre-conventional (5+ yrs): External rules (punishment, reward)
Conventional (10+ yrs): Social norms, based on ethics
What did Halin, Wynn, and Bloom (2007) find about infant morality?
6-10 month-olds prefer helpful characters over hinderers
What did Schmidt and Sommerville (2011) discover about infants’ expectations?
15-month-olds show surprise when expectations about morality are violated
What is a counterargument regarding infant morality?
Some argue that intent responses are driven by perceptual preferences, not moral understanding
What is Moral Emotion related to Empathy?
Emotional contagion, such as crying at others’ cries.
Newborns exhibit emotional contagion.
What did Lahn-Waxler et al (1992) find about sympathy and helping behaviors?
Sympathy and helping behaviors increase from 13 to 25 months.
The ability to regulate empathy emerges, and helping others reduces one’s own distress.
What are complex moral emotions?
Guilt, shame, and pride.
What is the role of guilt in moral development?
Guilt motivates reparative behavior and emerges around 2 years.
Kochanska et al (2002) found that children show guilt/shame in lab mishap situations as early as 2 months.
What does stronger guilt predict according to Kochanska et al (2002)?
Stronger guilt predicts less future misbehavior at 56 months.
What is the timeline for moral development according to Birch?
Emotional contagion (basic empathy) occurs at 6 months, preference for helpful individuals at 1 year, instrumental helping at 2 years, and guilt/shame at 2 years.
More explicit moral reasoning about intentions develops by 3 years.
What is the summary of moral development findings?
Morality involves reasoning and emotional behavior, with early signs of moral sensitivity occurring before age 2. Cognitive complexity in moral reasoning develops gradually through childhood.
