Week 9: Ch.12: Moral Development Flashcards
Care Orientation
Gilligan’s feminine mode of moral reasoning, characterized by a desire to maintain relationships and a responsibility to avoid hurting others
(p. 433)
Conventional Morality
The second level of Kohlberg’s theory
At about 9 or 10, children’s advances in cognitive development and perspective-taking ability enable them to demonstrate this reasoning.
Moral decisions tend to be socially driven. Moral reasoning entails internalizing the norms and standards of authority figures, seeking to be accepted and avoid disapproval
Stage 3: uphold rules in order to please others and gain affection and sympathy
Stage 4: individuals buy into the rules and standards because they are concerned with maintaining social order
Effective Discipline
Occurs immediately after the behavior
Consistant
Clearly connected to the behavior
Does not humiliate the child
Is private and within a warm parent-child context
Accompanied by an explanation
Gilligan
Carol Gilligan argued that although people are capable of raising both justice and care concerns in describing moral dilemmas, they tend to predominantly focus on one or the other.
Males and females could use either a justice or a care perspective, but care reasoning was thought to be used predominantly by females and justice reasoning by males
Helper-Hinderer Studies
Infants prefer helper over hinderer, but there needed to be a social context (the shapes had to have eyes)
Children also show an aversion to antisocial individuals
Induction
Strategy to control children’s behavior that relies on reasoning and discussion
–helping children find and use words to express their feelings
–provide children with choices
(p. 448)
Issues with Kohlberg
His theory of moral reasoning stemmed from research conducted with all-male samples
Justice Orientation
A male mode of moral reasoning proposed by Carol Gilligan that emphasizes the abstract principles of fairness and individualism
Kohlberg
Lawrence Kohlberg studied how people think about moral issues involving justice, fairness, and rights
Much of his research was based on longitudinal research with a group of boys over the course of three decades
He measured moral reasoning by presenting individuals with hypothetical dilemmas (Heinz dilemma)
Modeling vs. Preaching
Modeling behavior is the most effective way to teach
Moral Egocentrism
Ethical judgements are often egocentrically biased, such that moral reasoners tend to conclude that self-interested outcomes are not only desirable but morally justifiable
Morality of Constraint
A.K.A. Heteronomous Morality
A Piagetian theory of morality
Children (around 6) first become ware of rules and view them as sacred and unalterable
The morality of young children which consists of an unquestioning, unchallenging obedience to the rules laid down by parents
Natural Altruism
An inborn desire to help others, even strangers, without the need for reward
Post-Conventional Morality
Kohlberg’s third level of reasoning
Generally not until adolescence
Emphasizes autonomous decision-making based on principles such as valuing human dignity
Moral thinkers recognize that their self-chosen principles of fairness and justice may sometimes conflict with the law
Stage 5: Individuals view laws and rules as flexible and part of the social contact or agreement meant to further human interests
Stage 6: Defined by abstract ethical principles that are universal and valid for all people regardless of law (equity and respect for human dignity)
Pre-Conventional Morality
Kohlberg’s first level of reasoning
Beginning in early childhood and persisting until about age 9
Behavior is governed by self-interest, the desire to gain rewards and avoid punishments
Stage 1: Punishment as a motivator of moral judgements
Stage 2: Self-interest and concern about what others can do for them
(p.431)
