moral development Flashcards
define aggression?
an aggressive act is any form of behaviour designed to harm or injure a living being or who is motivated to avoid such treatment. Intent defines the act of aggressive.
what is hostile aggression?
major goal is to harm or injure victim
instrumental aggression
major goal is to gain access to objects, space or privileges
what are the trends of aggression?
1 year olds do show signs of instrumental aggression, eg fighting for a toy. 2 year olds have still have these conflicts but lean to negotiate and share with the right teaching and training in these moments
Temper-tantrums become less and less common between ages 2and 3 as children began to physically retaliate by hitting kicking when playmates funstrated them. Physical aggression gradually declined between ages 3 and 5 only to be replaces by teasing, tattling, name-calling and other forms of verbal aggression. Their aggression was mostly instrumental in character.
Another study children aggression childhood 2-9 years,
70%- were rated low in aggression across entire period. 27% were moderate in physical aggression during at least some point in the study, although these children did show some decline with age.3% of children displayed high levels of physical aggression that remained stable across the entire study period.
Some level of physical aggression is relatively normal early in toddlerhood but for most children this type of aggression is relatively rare by middle childhood. Boys and men are more physically aggressive and verbally aggression on average then girls and women. There are many factors socially and culturally that influence this.
what is the social information-processing theory of aggression?
Dodge- response to a conflict is a process of 6 steps; encode social cues, interpret social cues, formulate social goals, generate problem solving stratergies, evaluate the likely effectiveness of strategies and select a response, enact a response.
Describe proactive aggressors
believe they can enhance their self-esteem by dominating other children, who generally submit to them before any serious harm has been done.
Describe reactive aggressors
display high levels of hostile retaliatory aggression, children are suspicious and wary of other people, viewing them as belligerent adversaries who deserve to be dealt with in a forceful manner.
what is the social learning approach to aggression?
this approach contends that aggression is based on observation and prior learning, to understand the causes of aggressive behaviour, then, we should look at the system of rewards and punishment that exist in a child’s environment. Emphasise that social and environmental conditions teach individual to be aggressive. Social learning also show that children who observe aggression are more likely to be aggressive. Bobo doll experiment.
Exposure to aggression on television also increases likelihood of being aggressive. Longitudinal studies have found that children’s preferences for violent television shoes at age 8 are related to the seriousness of criminal convictions by age 30.
demonstrate knowledge of the nature of bullies and their victims
Study in the US found, boys were more likely to be bullies and victims than girls were (other studies have found no differences). Boys more likely to be physically bullies girls more likely verbally ot abused psychological ways. Most frequent in early adolescence. bullies more likely to smoke, drink and be poor students. Bullies hang out with other aggressive peers. Some bullies are viewed as cool during adolescence due to their ability to convince victims it comply with their wishes.
Most victims are socially withdrawn, sedentary, physically weak, and reluctant to fight back. Some though are provocative victims, that us, oppositional and hot tempered who irritate peers and inclined to fight back.
Popularity is associated with relational aggression, popular children tend to ignore, exclude, threaten and spread rumours about other children as a means to enhance their popularity.
- Understand the role of the culture, social and home environment in the development of aggression.
Some societies and subcultures are more violent and aggressive then others. Different countries have different levels of violence and aggression, also in the US and England, children from lower socioeconomic, exhibit more aggressive behaviour (extremally urban) then the same age in middle class SES. Low SES rely more on physical punishment to discipline children. often encourage hostile behaviour in response to conflict and create high levels of hostile attribution bias.
Home environment impact aggression, if children witness fighting this causes distress and increase in aggressive behaviours, especially if the parents fight and then emotionally withdraw from the child.
what is Altruism?
a genuine concern for the welfare of other people and a willingness to act on that concern, frequently showed in prosocial behaviour, defined as any action that is intended to benefit other people, such as sharing with someone less fortunate, comforting or rescuing someone, making people feel good.
when do children show pro-social?
Before teaching moral behaviour some children can show pro-social behaviour, example offering toys to companions 12-18months. Although some toddlers often try to comfort distressed companions other rarely do so, these variations are due, in part, to temperamental variations. 2 year olds usually turn away from others distress trying to regulate their own arousal.
Parent have influence on children’s development of compassion, mothers of highly compassionate toddlers frequently disciplined harmdoing with affective explanations that may foster sympathy helping them see how they harm the other person.
2-3 year old can show some sympathy and compassion towards distressed companions they are not particualraly good at sharing and self-secrifice. These actions are more likely to occure due to adults telling them to, this is largely due to the fact that they are oblivious to others need and to the good they might do by sharing or helping their companions. 4-6 year olds perform more real helping acts, many studies find that prosocial behaviour really begins at the start of school years.
understand the social-cognitive and affective contributors to altruism
Children with well developed role-taking skills are of then found to be more helpful or compassionate than poor role-takers, largely because they are more able to infer a companions need for assistance or comforting. However, two especially important contributions are children’s level of pro social moral reasoning and their empathic reactions to the distress of other people
Understand cultural, social and parental influences on altruism
A study observed the altruistic behaviour in 3-10 year olds in six cultures Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Okinawa, India and the united states. The culture in which children were most altruistic were the less industrialized societies, cultures with big families and children routinely contribute to the family welfare by processing food, preparing meals, fetching wood and water and caring for younger brothers and sisters. Children in western societies who do chores mostly involve their own self-care routines (cleaning room). Another contributing factor to low scores of altruism is the emphasis that these societies place on competition and individual rather then group goals. Children from collectivist societies and subcultures are taught to suppress individualism and to cooperate with others for the greater good of the group.
social influences in altruism
most people in most societies endorse the norm of social responsibility- rule that one should help others who need their help.
Parents can encourage prosocial behaviour through encouraging kind acts, children who observe others being kind are more likely to be kinds.
Compassionate models who practice what they preach are especially effective at eliciting prosocial responses from young children.
