What are two big questions about children’s moral development?
- How do children and adolescents come to understand right and wrong? (Cognitive)
- How do children and adolescents act in morally bad and morally good ways? (Behavior)
What are the stages of moral development according to Piaget’s theory?
- Before age 4, Premoral Reasoning: not thinking about right and wrong yet
- Starting at age 4–7, Heteronomous morality (comes from external standards):
- rules from authority (parents)
- focus on consequences (the child who broke 10 cups accidentally would be considered naughti er than 1 forbidden cup broken at this stage)
- moral realism (children believe that rules are real things within the universe)
- imminent justice (consequences are automatic, it come from the action) They believe that a boy would not have fallen through the bridge if he hadn’t stolen the apples. - Transition Period
- Age greater than 11/12
Autonomous Morality (morality of cooperation):
- Rules as social agreement (society has agreed upon punishing people who steal)
- Sensitive to fairness and equality
- Focus on motives and intentions (1 intentional break of cup is worse than 10 accidental ones now)
- Moral relativism (morality is set by society, not a physical thing)
What shaped children’s understanding of right and wrong, according to Piaget’s theory?
- Cognitive development
Moving away from egocentrism over the years - Time with peers
Through playing games and consequences in childhood, e.g., cheating or stealing in the games and how children navigated through them
What are some supports and challenges of Piaget’s theory?
Support: Moral reasoning correlated with performance on tests of cognitive development
Children do increasingly consider intentions and motives
Challenge: may underestimate children, children younger than 4 years do think about morality, children as young as 1-year-old do consider intentions
How does Kohlberg study children’s Moral Development?
- Posed moral dilemmas: focus on children’s reasoning, not on specific answers
Typical example: Heinz stealing drug for his wife
What is the first level of moral reasoning, according to Kohlberg?
Level 1: preconventional moral reasoning
Focus on external consequences
Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience orientation
- right = obeying authority, avoiding punishment (don’t steal the drug to avoid jail)
Stage 2: Instrumental and Exchange Orientation
Focus on awards (interpersonal and intrapersonal)
- Right = what will result in rewards
- “Tit for tat”/ “quid pro quo” (steal the drug to save his wife if he loves her, they both get the rewards) (don’t steal if he doesn’t love her)
What is the second level of moral reasoning, according to Kohlberg?
Social connections (by your duty to other people, rules shaped in the society)
Stage 3: Mutual interpersonal Expectations, Relationships, and Interpersonal Conformity Orientation
Right = what is expected by people/society
Importance of being “good”, social acceptance (steal the drug because that is what a good husband looks like)
Stage 4: Social System and Conscience Orientation
- Right = doing one’s duty, adhering to authority, upholding social order (don’t steal the drug because we need to adhere to the laws that - keep social order
“Law and Order”
What is the third level of moral reasoning, according to Kohlberg?
Level 3: Postconventional moral reasoning, focus on deeper moral principles, quite rare in adulthood even
Stage 5: Social Contract of Individual Rights Orientation
- Right = uphold rules in the best interest of the group or those agreed upon by the group
- Right = universal values of life, liberty (should steal because life is greater than law)
- Emphasis on law, but willingness to change with rational considerations
Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles
- Right = self-chosen ethical principles that reflect universal principles of justice
- Civil disobedience
Eventually stage 5 and 6 combined, they are the same thing now
How does moral development evolve, according to Piaget?
- Not maturation, not directly taught
- Based on advances in cognition (own thinking and discussions with others/peers)
- Individual differences: influences of family, school, and peers
What are some challenges to Kohlberg’s theory?
Role of gender? - his study only based on boys and men, girls may have a more morality of care? But research found no big difference
Role of culture?
- similar sequence of stages across cultures
- But, different rates and end stages
- Bias in how moral reasoning is assessed
- May be differences in moral principles? (ethic of autonomy vs. community?)
What is antisocial behavior? What are the different forms of aggression?
- Instrumental aggression: motivated by a desire to obtain goal
e.g., wanting to get other kid’s homework so you shout at them - Reactive aggression: in response to other’s behavior
e.g., shout at people who attacked you verbally
Physical aggression: intent to physically harm
Verbal aggression: threats, name-calling, yelling
Social/relational aggression: directed towards damaging reputation and/or relationships
What do forms of aggression develop over the ages?
- Physical aggression: high in toddlerhood/early childhood, then decreases
- Social/relational aggression: increases in middle childhood/adolescence (more for girls)
What role does cheating play in development?
- Intentionally doing forbidden things to achieve benefits
- Can take many forms
- Is common in youth: 80%-90% report cheating during high school
- Appears lower in childhood, rapid increases in adolescence, strikes at university level
Why do kids and teens cheat?
- Pressure for performance, high grades
- Social comparison
- Not enough time to prepare/study
- Lack of interest
- Perceive teacher to be unfair or uncaring
What are the various influences on cheating?
- Situation: more common when not being monitored
- Peers: more common when observe/perceive others to be cheating
- Mindset: more common for fixed mindset about intelligence
- Praise: more common when told you are “smart” (ability praise) vs. you are “working hard”
Study result from Zhao et al., 2017: more motivated to cheat if told “smart” to maintain the reputation
For five-year-olds, cheating increases if you hear that someone else is praised for their ability
No effect on 3-year-olds.
Maybe due to egocentrism, 5-year-olds may become more sensitive towards other people’s opinions
How to define prosocial behavior?
Actions intended to help or benefit other people
The motivation behind prosocial behavior is altruism.
Altruistic motives - helping others not for external benefits
Is prosocial behavior innate?
Nature vs. Nurture debate
Nature: behavior genetics analyses have shown that heritable, genetic influences strongly contribute to prosocial characteristics
How does prosocial behavior change over time?
Both young children (14-months-old) and chimpanzees naturally help others struggling with a problem - suggesting a biological predisposition with shared evolutionary roots
Increases with age
- rapid increases in the toddler and preschooler period
- similar overtone of selfishness at 3 years
- self-interest reduces between 3-5 years
(self-horading behavior of candies reduces from 3-year-olds to 5-year-olds, but there are cultural differences)
What is socialization?
- Process through which we learn the norms, values, and social skills that are essential for competent participation in society
Culture is the backdrop against which socialization happens
Family…?
Children with Active Agents
What are some cultural differences in prosocial behaviors?
- repeated evidence suggests that children in more collectivist cultures are more altruistic, helpful, or cooperative than children in individualistic cultures
- Asian children shared more frequently than American children. shared more food than American children. showed more spontaneous sharing than American children
- Asian children showed less elicited sharing than did American children
- Chinese showed more spontaneous sharing (passive sharing) than Indian
