Piaget’s Stages of moral development
PREMORAL STAGE (2-4 YEARS)
- Moral sensibility not yet developed
MORAL REALISM (5-7 YEARS)
- Rules must be followed; cannot be changed
- Immanent Justice: breaking a rule always leads to punishment
- Severity of punishment = importance of rule
- Heteronomous morality: others determine rules and punishment
MORAL RELATIVISM (8-10 YEARS AND BEYOND)
- Rules = arbitrary guidelines created by people to help people get along
- Autonomous morality: morality based on free will
View of piagets theory of moral development today
- Underestimate young children’s ability
- moral reasoning progresses through stages through concurrent cognitive development
Development of Kohlberg’s theory
Uses moral dilemmas to analyze how moral reasoning changes with age
Moral dilemma
situations in which any action leads to a negative consequence
Levels of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
LEVEL 1: PRECONVENTIONAL
Stage 1: Obedience orientation
- follow the rules, punished if you break them
Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation
- Naively egocentric; ok to act to satisfy a need
LEVEL 2: CONVENTIONAL
Stage 3: Interpersonal Norms
- Good-boy-good-girl orientation; act according to other people’s expectations
Stage 4: Social system morality
- Law & order exists for the good of everyone
LEVEL 3: POST CONVENTIONAL
Stage 5: Social contract orientation
- Balance individuals need with society’s needs
Stage 3: Universal ethical principles orientation
- Personal morality based on justice, compassion, equality
Evaluation on Kohlbergs theory
- Variability within individuals depending on the context
- Culture specific (Judeo-Christian)
Cultural differences in social lies
“What should you do if your friend is a horrible speller, but wants to join the spelling team?”
- In Canada, children 7-11 lie for friend
- In china, children 7-11 lie for the collective
Gilligan’s Ethic of Caring
Women have a “care” orientation
-Value relationship among people instead of justice
Prosocial Behaviour in infancy
- Newborns cry in response to hearing other babies crying
- By 3 months, infants prefer prosocial characters over antisocial characters
In the inanimate object prosocial behaviour test, do infants like the helpers or dislike the hinderers?
- 6 month old infants like prosocial characters and dislike antisocial characters
Is a preference for helpers true prosocial behaviour
By 18 months, infants help others to achieve their goals
Prosocial behaviour in children
- More understanding of other’s intentions and more complex ways to help
Empathy
ability to experience another person’s feelings
Perspective-talking
Ability to understand another person’s thoughts
Moral reasoning
Reward and punishment
Social influences on prosocial behaviour
- Vygotsky: learning occurs in the social plane
- Modelling: observe adults behaving altruistically
- Disciplinary practices: responsive parents
- Opportunities: are children asked to help around the house
Cultural Differences in the development of prosocial behaviour
18 month olds retrieve objects out of reach in India more than Germany
- Autonomy encouraged
Temptation resistance paradigm
- Playing guessing game: “what do you think it is”
- Adult leaves the room: “Don’t peek while I’m gone”
- Upon returning ask: “did you peak?”
RESUTLS
- Most children peek
- Children older than 4 lied
Can adults tell if children are lying
Adults cannot detect liars
- ability to detect improves when children engage in moral reasoning tasks or “promise to tell the truth”
- Cannot detect liars in mock testimonies
Truth bias
Prosocial behaviour in animals
at 5 to 8 human years chimps will retrieve objects for humans
-limited in more complex situations
Evolutionary explanation of prosocial behaviour
Prosocial behaviours provide a survival advantage
-epigenetic mechanism
Biological factors of prosocial behaviour
Genetic Influence: MZ twins are more similar in prosocial behaviours than DZ twins
- Indirect genetic influences include temperament and imitation
Biological mechanisms: oxytocin associated with empathy, nurturance, affiliation, cooperation
How do we increase oxytocin
Intranasal spray
- increased empathy and trust
- decreases symptoms of anxiety, depression, autism
Listening to music
Interacting with animals
Social interactions: breastfeeding in moms, touch and warm temps
Prosocial behaviour in children
- More understanding of other’s intentions & complex ways to help
- empathy
- Perspective taking
- moral reasoning
