Moral

Question 1

What is moral?

Answer 1

Treating others as equals. Suppressing selfish impulses. Concern for others’ welfare and rights.

Question 2

Kohlberg’s moral stages

Answer 2

1. Pre-conventional thought (morality of constraints): rules determined by people in power. External authority.
2. Conventional thought (morality of conventions): rules and authority stabilise social order. Social norms.
3. Post-conventional thought: rules are perceived in the context of fairness and other abstract values. Internal ethics.

Moral judgement develops in a fixed order and can stop at any stage. Stage of moral judgement increased with age.

Question 3

Piaget’s 2 moral stages

Answer 3

1. Heteronomous morality (4 - 5 years): moral rules determined by authority.
2. Autonomous morality (6 - 7 years): children decide on right and wrong. Rules can be changed, provided others agree.

Question 4

Critiques of moral development in stages

Answer 4

1. Culture: favours Western elites and cultures without standardised schooling mostly reach stage 3.
2. Gender: Kohlberg’s central study was conducted with males only. Only tested justice-orientation, not general morality. Girls tend to have more caretaking-orientation.

Question 5

Social domain theory

Answer 5

Children’s understanding of morality is organised into 3 distinct domains of knowledge.

1. Moral domain: concepts of justice/rights/how individuals should treat each other.
2. Social-conventional domain: societal norms, traditions, and rules that help maintain social order.
3. Personal domain: personal choices and autonomy.

Question 6

How children respond to moral vs. conventional rules

Answer 6

Children often prioritise moral considerations.

Question 7

3 elements of a social norm

Answer 7

1. Normative force and generality: standards of correctness and serve as justifications.
2. Context-sensitivity: apply only to specific contexts in which they are valid.
3. Conventionality: shared agreement and somewhat arbitrary.

Question 8

Rakoczy and Schmidt (2012) children watching a puppet violate rules

Answer 8

Children as young as 3 years will use normative language to protest against norm violations. Unanimity matters.

Question 9

Haun and Tomasello (2011) judgement study like Asch but in children

Answer 9

Asked to identify whether the picture was mummy, daddy, or baby tiger. Children showed public but less private conformity to peer pressure.

Question 10

Hamann et al. (2011) children continuing to help after receiving

Answer 10

By 3-years-old, children will follow through with their cooperative commitments. Ensure that their partner gets the toy too. Collaboration leads to fairness.

Question 11

Gockeritz et al. (2014) establishing social norms

Answer 11

5-year-olds invent social norms to regulate their collective behaviour. They use normative language to remind each others and new group members of norms.

Question 12

Engelmann et al. (2012) sticker book with extra sticker

Answer 12

Greater levels of sharing when being watched and the recipient was part of their group. Generally more sharing when being watched.

Question 13

Vaish et al. (2010) guilt-related behaviours marble track

Answer 13

3-year-olds showed significantly more guilt-related behaviour after they caused harm compared to 2-year-olds.

Question 14

Prosocial behaviour definition

Answer 14

Behaviour that has positive consequences for others and benefits their physical and psychological wellbeing. Free-willingly with the intention to do something good.

Question 15

Warneken and Tomasello (2006) helping a stranger adult they met that day

Answer 15

18-months provided instrumental help to stranger.

Question 16

Kachel et al. (2015) infants helping adults vs. peers.

Answer 16

27-month-olds will point cooperatively for adults and peers.

Question 17

Hepach et al. (2016) helping and cooperation marble track

Answer 17

18-month-olds help peer when it is mutually beneficial and when it only helps the other (compared to no-need control).

Question 18

Social constructivism

Answer 18

Toddlers participate in household activities not to help, but to belong (so no helpful intentions).

Question 19

3 core motivations to for everyday helping

Answer 19

Ages 1 - 4.
1. Praise.
2. Social affiliation.
3. Fun.

Question 20

Biological altruism

Answer 20

Humans are biologically predisposed to genuine prosociality. Infants naturally want to help, not just for rewards.

Question 21

Why do infants help?

Answer 21

1. Social constructivism.
2. Shared adaptations (biological altruism).

Question 22

Warneken’s (2018) 2-step developmental framework

Answer 22

1. Generating benefits though cooperation (create joint value).
2. Distributing benefits and stabilising cooperation (inequity aversion).

Question 23

3 requirements for morality for cooperation

Answer 23

1. Moral goodness.
2. Moral (social) evaluation.
3. Retribution.

Question 24

Examples of infant morality

Answer 24

1. Understanding others’ needs: infants expect others to be helped; toddlers show increased physiological arousal if others are not helped.
2. Social evaluation: preferences for helpful individuals.
3. Fairness concerns: resources ought to be distributed fairly.

Question 25

Hamlin et al. (2007) social evaluation of helpers vs hinderers

Answer 25

6 months. Preferentially reached for helper (not found in controls). Meta-analysis had found a medium effect size for preference for helpers.

Question 26

3 critiques of Hamlin et al. (2007)

Answer 26

1. Responding to valence of agent's final action? 2. No replication with 9-/5- to 16-/15-month-olds. 3. No preference in 12- to 24- month-olds.

Question 27

ManyBabies4

Answer 27

5.5-10.5 month infants did not show a preference for helpers over hinderers. No replication of the original findings of a robust preference for Helpers over Hinderers, suggesting that this effect might be weaker, absent, or develop later than previously thought.