Prosocial and moral development in childhood and adolescence

Question 1

what is Social development?

Answer 1

• Characterised by:
  
  • Continuity: some behaviours, especially aggression, show consistency throughout development.
  • Transformation: development involves qualitative change in social behaviour, reliant on cognitive and emotional development

Question 2

What is prosocial behaviour?

Answer 2

• “voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another” (Eisenberg et al., 2006)
• “any voluntary, intentional action that produces a positive or beneficial outcome for the recipient, regardless of whether that action is costly to the donor, neutral in its impact, or beneficial” (Grusec et al., 2002)
• Distinct from altruistic behaviour: no intentional benefit to the helper, possible cost (disadvantage or danger).
• Prosocial behaviour can have selfish or non-selfish motivations.
• Prosocial behaviour can be motivated by empathy and/or sympathy.
• Prosocial can be motivated by social/cultural norms.

Question 3

what is Prosocial vs antisocial behaviour?

Answer 3

• Is ‘bad’ antisocial behaviour at the opposite end of a continuum from ‘good’ prosocial behaviour?
• Personality traits associated with one are also associated in the opposite way with the other (Krueger et al., 2001).
  
  • Higher aggressive tendencies positively correlated with antisocial behaviour and negatively correlated with prosocial behaviour

Question 4

what is the Development of prosocial behaviour?

Answer 4

• Early emergence, no gender differences
• Parental reports of sharing, helping, comforting in preschoolers
• Intention to benefit another is not always clear
  
  • May be a reaction to others
  • Praise-seeking
• Experimental research tests causes.
• Are children motivated by material or verbal rewards?
• Do children learn through modelled behaviour or teaching?
  
  • Children who observed donated more than those who were told, but not 3 weeks later.

Question 5

what type of studies are used in the Development of prosocial behaviour?

Answer 5

• Observational studies
  
  • Reveal early emergence
  • Suggest that parents reward prosocial behaviour and react to a lack of prosocial behaviour where expected.
• Self-report, e.g. Prosocial Tendencies Measure (Carlo et al., 2003)
  
  • Reveal motivations for prosocial behaviour
  • Adolescents less likely to act prosocially for approval; more likely to act according to principles/concern for others

Question 6

what are the Factors influencing development?

Answer 6

• Temperament/personality traits – e.g. empathy
• Socialization
• Parental intervention (not punishment)
• Siblings
• Schools/peers
• Cultural values/norms
• Social contexts and experiences are key to development.

Question 7

How can we study morality?

Answer 7

• Morality: set of principles or ideals that help the individual distinguish right from wrong
• Research has centered on 3 moral components:
  
  • Affective Component: the feelings that surround right or wrong actions and that motivate moral thoughts or actions.
  • Cognitive Component: the way we conceptualize right and wrong and make decisions about how to behave.
  • Behavioral Component: how we actually behave when we experience the temptation to lie, cheat, or violate other moral views.

Question 8

what are the Cognitive-developmental approaches?

Answer 8

• Moral development is linked to cognitive development.
• Global stage theories: children universally pass through different developmental stages
• Children learn to act morally through conventions then according to moral principles
• Evidenced by children’s and adolescents’ responses to moral dilemmas.

Question 9

what is Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development?

Answer 9

• The Moral Judgement of the Child (1932)
• Children’s developing moral understanding judged from their use and understanding of rules in games.
• Development from being fixed by higher authority to mutually agreed by peers.
• Linked to decline in egocentrism, increase in operational thought and peer conflict.

Question 10

what is Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development?

different ages

Answer 10

• Up to 4 or 5 years
  
  • Premoral judgement
  • Rules not understood
• From 4-5 years to 9-10 years
  
  • “Moral realism (Heteronomous morality of constraint)”
  • Rules come from higher authority and cannot be changed
  • “Evaluate actions by outcomes”
  • “Punishment as inevitable retribution”
• After 9-10 years
  
  • “Moral subjectivism (Autonomous morality of cooperation)”
  • “Rules are created by people and can be changed by mutual consent”
  • Evaluate actions by intentions
  • Punishment as chosen to fit crime

Question 11

what is Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development?

Answer 11

• Revised and extended Piaget’s theory.
• Based on interviews with 50 American males every 3 years.
• Responses categorised into 3 levels of moral reasoning;
  
  • 6 substages.
• Stages are universal and follow a fixed order, dependent on cognitive development and social role-taking.

Question 12

what is Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development?

Level 1

Answer 12

• Level 1: Pre-conventional Morality: Individual reasons in relation to himself, not conventional or societal rules and expectations.
  
  • Stage 1: Heteronomous morality: Right and wrong are determined by adults; punishment orientation.
  • Stage 2: Instrumental morality: Individual conforms to rules in order to gain rewards or satisfy personal goals.

Question 13

what is Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development?

Level 2

Answer 13

• Level 2: Conventional Morality: Moral behaviour confirms to and upholds societal rules, expectations and conventions.
  
  • Stage 3: Interpersonal normative morality “Good boy” or “Good girl” Orientation, moral behaviour which is perceived to please, aid and assist others.
  • Stage 4: Social system morality
    
    • Rules are obeyed to maintain social order, laws should be upheld.

Question 14

what is Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development?

Level 3

Answer 14

• Level 3: Post conventional Morality: Understanding of societal rules but moral judgments based on universal moral principles; judgement by principle not convention.
  
  • Stage 5: Social contract orientation Individual sees the laws as tools for expressing the will of the majority of human welfare.
  • Stage 6: Universal ethical principles Individual defines right and wrong on the basis of their self-chosen ethical principles.

Question 15

what are the Critiques of cognitive-developmental approaches?

Answer 15

• Dilemmas are unnaturalistic/not relevant to certain ages.
• Behaviour cannot be predicted by moral stage – hypothetical dilemmas are not related to actions.
• Results from male samples predominantly.
• Cross-cultural differences
• Moral stages do not explain broad social cognition

Question 16

what is the Domain approach to moral development?

Answer 16

• Moral concepts are universal but social conventions differ (Turiel, 2002).
• Distinguishes domains of morality and social conventions.
  
  • Morality: fairness, harm and rights
  • Social conventions: societal rules, etiquette, uniformities.
• Moral rules are fixed and binding, social conventions are negotiable.
• Children understand and can reason about morality and social conventions in different ways as young as 4 years.
  
  • Hitting is not right, ever.
  • Eating with your hands can be ok.
• Personal experiences underpin early moral development; reasoning becomes more abstract.
• Social experiences are important for learning.