topic 3 (moral development)

Question 1

what are two approaches to morality?

Answer 1

• evolutionary approach (there’s an evolutionary advantage to moral behaviours)
• cultural approach (different cultures have different morals, morals are instilled by culture)

Question 2

outline the debate on whether children are moral

Answer 2

1. Rosseau- children are innately moral but society corrupts
2. Golding- children have bad moral impulses that children reign in
3. Children are amoral and have no good or bad moral impulses

Question 3

Outline piagets stages of moral reasoning?

Answer 3

PREMORAL DEVELOPMENT STAGE (stage 0)

• 0-4 years old
• no awareness of rules, no use of moral principles, no notions of justice

HETERONOMOUS STAGE (stage 1)

• 4-10
• rules are seen as unchanging and external, like physical laws
• culpability is due to consequences not intentions
• little sense of what level of punishment is appropriate in situations

AUTONOMOUS STAGE (stage 2)

• 10/11+
• rules are seen as human agreement that can be changed if all parties consent
• judgement of culpability is based in part on intentions
• punishment should be appropriate to the severity of the transgression

Question 4

give an example of an experiment by piaget that outlines a difference between moral reasoning stages

Answer 4

• provided children with a scenerio where one child unintentionally breaks many cups but another child intentionally breaks 1 cup
• when asked who was naughtier younger children said the first child, but older children said the second child
• this is because older children include intentions in their judgement

Question 5

what is the difference between a social convention and a moral rule?

Answer 5

social convention = arbitrary rule defined by society e.g driving on left or right

moral rule = non arbitrary rules that dont differ across societies, e.g stealing is wrong

Question 6

what are 3 limitations to piagets theory of moral development?

Answer 6

• its too cognitive focussed, and doesnt incorporate the social and cultural factors influencing morality
• its a staged theory but real life development is much less straightforward
• it may be culturally biased as it is based on the observations of white middle class children

Question 7

Outline Kohlbergs study in moral reasoning?

Answer 7

• gave the example of a man who stole a cancer drug from a capitalist druggist who was making profits on the drugs to save his wifes life
• gave this example to 10-16 year old boys and asked if it was morally justified
• used these results to develop his own model of moral reasoning

Question 8

outline the stages in Level 1 of kohlbergs moral reasoning

Answer 8

LEVEL 1 = PRECONVENTIONAL MORALITY (arises from basic drives and needs)
- 2- 10 years old

• stage 1 = obedience and punishment orientation, moral judgements are driven by a need to avoid punishment
• stage 2= instrumental relativist orientation, moral judgements are driven by the desire to meet personal needs

Question 9

outline the stages in level 2 of kohlbergs moral reasoning

Answer 9

LEVEL 2= CONVENTIONAL MORALITY (arises from conforming to expected roles and pleasing others)
- 9+ years old

• stage 3 = good boy/good girl orientation, moral judgements are driven by a need to be accepted by others as a good person
• stage 4 = law and order orientation- moral judgements are due to the desire to adhere to the letter of the law or to authorities

Question 10

outline the stages in level 3 of kohlbergs moral reasoning

Answer 10

LEVEL 3 = POSTCONVENTIONAL MORALITY (arises from abstract principles that transcend individual circumstances and local cultural contexts)
- 12+ years

• stage 5 = social contract orientation- moral judgements arise from adherence to laws that are understood as a social contract for the common good
• stage 6= principled conscience driven orientation- moral judgements arise from adherence to personal principles

Question 11

does kohlberg believe that all people go through all stages?

Answer 11

no, he said that some people never reach the final stage even in adulthood

Question 12

what are 2 limitations of kohlbergs theory?

Answer 12

gender biases- most his work used boys

• his work valued logic and reasoning over seeking approval from others
• a lot of the characteristics of girls are the same things that led to lower scores on his morality test such as seeking approval from other

it had a cognitive focus rather than focussing on social and cultural factors

Question 13

what is Gillians 3 stages of moral reasoning?

Answer 13

Preconventional- individual survival is all that matters

Conventional- Self sacrifice is good in its own right and is driven by care for others

Postconventional- care about others and care for the self are integrated

Question 14

what are the differences in generalisabiltiy of kohlberg and gillians research?

Answer 14

Kohlberg foccused on males and Gillian focussed on females

Question 15

what was Karpmans theory of psychopathy?

Answer 15

• there are different subtypes of psycopathy, depending on whether the individual is high or low in anxiety
• in primary psychopathy the individual is low in axiety. they are cold to the core and this is hard to treat
• in secondary psychopathy the individual may also suffer from anxiety and underlying deppresion. This form of psychopothay is thought to be linked to abuse and may be ameanable to treatment