moral development slides

domains of moral development (list them)

• moral thought

• moral behavior

• moral feeling

• moral personality

domains of moral development meaning

• the distinction between right and wrong, what matters to people, and what people should do in their interactions with others

1. how do children reason or think about rules for ethical conduct?

2. how do children actually behave in moral circumstances?

3. how do children feel about moral matters?

moral thought

• how do children think about standards of right and wrong?

• Kohlberg crafted a major theory of how children think about right and wrong

• proposed that moral development is based primarily on moral reasoning and unfolds in a series of stages

• internalization - the developmental change from behavior that is externally controlled to behavior that is controlled by internal standards and principles

kohlberg’s stages

• 3 levels of moral development

• each level characterized by 2 stages

• internalization

1. preconventional

2. conventional

3. post conventional

kohlberg’s level 1: preconventional reasoning

• lowest level

• no internalization of moral values

• controlled by external rewards and punishment

1. heteronomous mortality - moral thinking is often ties to punishment

2. individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange - individuals pursue their own interests but also let others do the same

kohlberg’s level 2: conventional reasoning

• internalization is intermediate

• individuals abide by certain standards (internal), but they are the standards of others (external), such as parents or the laws of society

1. mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity - individuals value trust, caring, and loyalty to others

2. social systems morality - understanding the social order, law, justice, and duty

kohlberg's level 3: post conventional reasoning

• highest level

• morality is completely internalized and is not based on others’ standards

• personal moral code

1. social contract - values, rights, and principles transcend the law

2. universal ethical principles - person developed a moral standards based on universal human rights

the heinz scenario

stealing or not stealing the drug

influences on kohlberg’s stages

• cognitive development

• exposure to appropriate social experiences

• peer interaction

• parent-child experiences

why is kohlberg’s theory important for understanding moral development in children?

it tells the developmental story of people trying to understand things like society, rules and roles, and institutions and relationships

what are all of kohlberg’s critics?

1. moral thought and behavior

2. assessment of moral reasoning

3. culture and moral development

4. gender and care perspective

5. social conventional reasoning

6. moral reasoning

kohlberg’s critics: moral thought and behavior

moral reasons can always be a shelter for immoral behavior

kohlberg’s critics: assessment of moral reasoning

• more attention should be paid to the way moral development is assessed

• hypothetical moral dilemmas do not match many moral dilemmas that many children and adults face

kohlberg’s critics: culture and moral development

some important moral concepts in specific cultures that his approach misses or misconstrues

kohlberg’s critics: gender and the care perspective

• carol Gilligan argues that their theory does not adequately reflect relationships and concern for others

  • justice perspective - focuses on the rights of the individual

  • care perspective - focuses on connectedness with others

• underplay the care perspective

• most research was done on men

• no evidence that kohlberg downplayed women’s experiences

kohlberg’s critics: social conventional reasoning

• focuses on thought about social consensus and convention

• some theorists emphasize that kohlberg did not adequately do this

kohlberg’s critics: moral reasoning

• emphasizes ethical issues

• conventional rules are create to maintain social system

• they are arbitrary and subject to individual judgement

• moral rules are not arbitrary and not created by social consensus

• moral rules are obligatory, widely accepted, and somewhat impersonal

• moral judgements involve concepts of justice, whereas social conventional judgements are concepts of social organization

moral behavior

• what are the basic processes that behaviorists believe are responsible for children’s moral behavior?

• how do social cognitive theorists view children’s moral development? 

• what is the nature of prosocial behavior?

basic processes of moral behavior according to behaviorists

reinforcement, punishment, and imitation

social cognitive theory and moral behavior

• how do social cognitive theorists view children’s moral development?

• emphasizes a distinction between children’s moral competence and moral performance

  • moral competence - ability to produce moral behaviors

  • moral performance - performing those behaviors in specific situations

prosocial and moral behavior

• altruism - unselfish interest in helping another person

• forgiveness - occurs when an injured person releases the injurer from possible retaliation, an aspect of prosocial behavior

• even though children are egocentric, children’s acts of altruism are plentiful

• females view themselves as more prosocial and empathetic, and engage in more prosocial behavior than men

moral feeling

• psychoanalytic theory

  • ego ideal - component of the superego that involves standards approved by parents

  • conscience - component of the superego that involves behaviors disapproved by parents

• erik erikson outlined 3 stages of moral development

  • specific moral learning in childhood

  • ideological concerns in adolescents

  • ethical consolidation in adulthood

empathy

• experienced as an emotional state

• it often has a cognitive component - the ability to discern to discern anothers’ inner psychological states, or what has previously called perspective taking

• at about 10-12, individuals develop an empathy for people who live in unfortunate circumstances

• children’s concerns are no longer limited to the feelings of particular persons in situations they directly observe

• children’s empathetic behavior varies considerably

the contemporary perspective

both positive feelings such as empathy, sympathy, admiration, and negative emotions contribute to children’s moral development

moral personality

• thoughts, behavior, and feelings can all be involved in an individual’s moral personality

• 3 aspects of moral personality that have recently been empasized are…

1. moral identity

2. moral character

3. moral exemplar

moral identity

• individuals have a moral when moral notions and commitments are central to one’s life

• agusto blasi argued that developing a moral identity and commitment is influenced by 3 virtues: 

1. willpower (self esteem)

2. integrity

3. moral desire

moral character

• blasi’s ideas have much in common with James Rest’s view that moral character has not been adequately emphasized in moral development

• moral character presupposes that the person has set moral goals and that achieving those goals involves the commitment to act in accord with these goals

moral exemplars

• are people who have lived exemplary lives

• have moral personality, identity, character, and set of virtues that reflect moral excellence and commitment

• the moral exemplars “were more agreeable, more advanced in their faith and moral reasoning development, further along in forming an adult identity, and more willing to enter into close relationships”

parental discipline

in freud’s psychoanalytic theory…

• moral development are practices that instill the fears of punishment and the losing parental love including love withdrawal, power assertion, and induction

2 strategies parents use to parent moral children

1. cocooning - when parents protect adolescents from exposure to deviant behavior, and thus the temptation to engage in negative moral behavior

2. prearming - anticipating conflicting values and preparing adolescents to handle them

schools

• the hidden curriculum - conveyed by the moral atmosphere that is apart of every school

• character education - teaching students a basic moral literacy to prevent them from engaging in immoral behavior and doing harm to themselves or others

• values clarification - helping people to clarify what is important to them, what is worth working for, and what purpose their lives are to serve

• cognitive moral education - a concept based on the belief that students should learn to value things like democracy and justice as their moral reasoning

• service learning - a form of education that promotes social responsibility and service to the community