Moral Development Flashcards
Final Exam (76 cards)
moral development
all about the question of right and wrong
2 areas of moral development
cognitive: how do children and adolescents come to understand right and wrong?
behavioral: how do children and adolescents act in morally bad and morally good ways?
piaget’s moral development theory: stages
- premoral reasoning - <4 years
- heternomous mortality - 4-7 years
transition period - autonomous morality - >11/12
premoral reasoning stage (piaget)
- Until age 4
- Kids aren’t engaged in thinking about right and wrong; they’re not doing a lot of perspective taking, thinking about other people
- Pre-social: not engaging in true social thinking/interactions
heternomous morality stage (piaget)
- 4-7 years
- rules from authority (parents)
- focus on consequences
- moral realism; imminent justice
What’s right and wrong is shaped by what’s a rule to you
iii. Heavy focus on consequences
1) Idea of what’s wrong is based on who had the worse outcome/consequences
moral realism (piaget’s concept)
kids have a notion of rules and consequences; they believe that rules and the consequences are real; they emanate from doing something wrong
1) The consequence/punishment emanates from doing something wrong
autonomous morality stage (piaget)
ages 11/12 and up
- rules as a social agreement
- sensitive to fairness and equality
- focus on motives and intentions
- moral relativism
ii. Rules are set by society and other people iii. Consequences aren't real, they're relative 1) They're decided by us based on cooperation and society iv. You might start caring about if rules are fair
what drives changes in moral development (piaget)
- Cognitive development: lets us move away from concrete representation and thinking more abstractly
- Time with peers: active experience with good and bad, with right and wrong
strengths/support of piaget’s theory
- moral reasoning correlated w/ performance on tests of cognitive development
- children do increasingly consider intentions and motives
shortcomings of Piaget’s theory
underestimating children
- Using complex verbal scenarios that are challenging for children to keep track of
- If you test children in simpler ways, young children do seem to consider intentions
○ Even at 8 months: seem to perceive intentions
§ Someone who tries to help you is good
- young children do consider intentions in thinking about good vs bad behavior
kohlberg’s theory on moral development
posed moral dilemma –> focus on children’s reasoning, not on specific answers
Stage 1: punishment and obedience orientation (Kohlberg)
right = obeying authority, avoiding punishment
- people answer as if right and wrong is obeying authority and avoiding punishment
- What is right is what doesn’t get me punished, what is wrong is what gets me punished
- Obedience and consequences
Stage 2: Instrumental and Exchange Orientation
right = what will result in reward
- start to consider other people’s wants, but only reciprocal (“tit for tat”/”quid pro quo”)
- concern over what’s good for you
stage 3: mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity orientation (Kohlberg)
right = what’s expected by people/society, what other people expect as good
- importance of being “good”, social acceptance
- “Good girl-good boy” stage
- Doing what’s seen as right by other people; doing what’s not seen as wrong by other people
stage 4: social system and conscience orientation (kohlberg)
right = doing one’s duty, adhering to authority, upholding social order
- law and order
- Right and wrong is what’s set by the legal system
difference between kohlberg’s stage 1 and 4
○ Stage 4 goes deeper: there’s a reason for the rules
§ Social contract; a reasoning why there’s rules
§ Not just purely following the rules, but the ‘why’ behind it
stage 5: social contract of individual rights orientation
(combined w/ stage 6)
right = uphold rules in the best interest of the group or those agreed upon by the group
- emphasis on law, but distinction between legal right and moral right; gets deeper into the laws are written/agreed upon by a group (society)
- Laws are meant to help society function, but there can be problems with the law
○ The law doesn’t overweight the right to life
- Rights that outweigh others: you can go against the law if you think there’s a deeper moral principle
- Moral principles may not be in alignment with the law
stage 6: universal ethical principles
(combined w/ stage 5)
right = self-chosen ethical principles that reflect universal principles of justice
- civil disobedience
specific universal principles of life, liberty, and justice that are seen to overweigh everything else
- moral exemplars and civil disobedience
moral exemplars
individuals that are seen to adhere to deeper moral principles
civil disobedience
you’re willing to defy laws in order to adhere to moral principles
kohlberg’s stages 5 and 6
eventually became combined
- not expected to know the difference between these laws
age timeline for kohlberg’s development
Early adolescence: stage 1-2 is common
Later adolescence into young adulthood: stage 3
Young adulthood: stage 4 starts to increase
kohlberg’s theory: maturation and individuality
- not maturation: moral development is not directly taught
- based on advances in cognition
–> own thinking
–> discussions with others - individual differences: influences of family, school, peers
similarities between piaget and kohlberg’s theories of moral development
the development is based on cognition/our own thinking/our own active experiences