moral development

approaches to morality

reasoning vs emotion. Fairness vs care

morality

obligatory concern with others welfare, rights, fairness, and justice, as well as reasoning, judgement, emotions, and actions that spring from those concerns

components of moral development

thinking, feeling, identity, prosocial behavior, abstaining from aggression

affect

helps guide us through our relationships and the world

moral emotions

occur in morally-relevant contexts

empathy

emotional capacity to feel the same emotion as the other

types of empathy

affective, cognitive

Stage theory of empathetic concern

four stages of empathic feeling (Hoffman)

emotion contagion

new born—1 year. Rudimentary empathetic responding, contagious feeling, not other oriented.

egocentric empathetic concern

age 1. Attend to other, stop what they are doing. Not concerned with soothing the other but themselves. Concerned facial expression

quasi-egocentric

13-14 months. Sooth the other with ones own preferences. Attempt to engage in prosocial action, but not yet fully capable

veridical empathic concern (sympathy)

24 months onward. Truly other-oriented

Davidov et al 2020

veridical empathy develops earlier. Infants do not readily experience personal distress and often show interest. Inquiry is present at 3 and 12 months, concern at 6 months

sympathy

feeling of concern for another in need. More distanced response that allows for prosocial action

how does sympathy develop

as children grow and learn to take the perspective of others and regulate their own emotions

when does sympathy peak?

5-7 years of age. Regulatory skills and perspective taking, experience with peers

psychopathy

affective empathy problem (markers observed in childhood)

psychopathy in biological theory

limited function of the amygdala

psychopathy in environmental theory

learned to temper concern due to adverse environment

moral values

beliefs and principles that guide individuals and societies in distinguishing right from wrong

moral judgements

how a behavior is labeled as right or wrong

moral reasoning

how a moral situation is rationalized

Kholberg’s cognitive theory of moral judgement

cognitive abilities determines children’s level of moral reasoning, moral thinking advances in stage-like fashion

issues with Kholberg’s model

the types of reasoning he describes don’t occur in a sequential, stage-like pattern. People move in and out of moral orders

Turiel’s Social Domain Theory

morality is one of the several strands of children’s knowledge

The Domains in Turiel’s theory

moral, social conventional, psychological/personal

moral domain

moral violation viewed as resulting in harm to another person and violating norms of justice and fairness

moral domain in preschool age

concrete and physical (pain)

moral domain in middle childhood

physical and psychological (result from unfairness and inequality)

moral domain in preadolescence

acknowledge individual differences come into play, more attention to emotional consequences of harm

moral domain in adolescence

comprehensive, multidimensional view of harm that is context sensitive

social conventional domain

are of social judgement focused on social expectations, norms, and regularities that help facilitate smooth and efficient functioning in society

psychological domain

focused on personal beliefs/choices and knowledge of self and others

psychological domain on personal issues

affects just the self. Preferences and choices about ones body, privacy, choice of friends and recreational activities

psychological domain on prudential issues

immediate physical consequences for the self. Safety, comfort and health

psychological domain on psychological issues

benefits and knowledge of self and other. Choices about revealing aspects of the self to others

judgements about complex issues in Turiel’s model

conflict between domains may lead to ambiguities and uncertainty. When faced with complex issues individuals might draw from different domains to make a decision

moral identity

extent to which being moral is central or essential to one’s self-concept

judgement-action gap

moral judgement does not predict moral behavior

moral schemas

prototypes and action scripts

moral exemplars

role models to look up to, whether its peer, community leader, teacher, or historical figure

moral pride

children recognize expressions by 3 years of age. Positively-valenced in

hubristic pride

related to narcissisms as it doesn’t always match how the person behaves (inflated). Motivated by self-perception concerns

authentic pride

relate to genuine self-esteem. Matches the person’s actions

how moral pride supports identity

motivates them to keep engaging in moral behavior (feedback loop)

guilt

remote following wrongdoing. Focused on the behavior

how guilt supports moral identity

motivates prosocial action, particularly repair and apology, helping the victim, and inhibition of future wrongdoings

importance of receiving guilt

transgressors displays of guilt appease and elicit cooperation in children 4-5 years of age

happy victimization

report of positive feeling after wrongdoing despite reporting that the behavior was wrong (stealing a candy bar). Decreases with age, change attributed to sympathy and inhibitory control

inductive reasoning

when parents explicitly point out the negative emotions of others in the contexts of a wrongdoing and explain how actions affect others

benefits of inductive reasoning

supports children’s moral development, especially sympathy and guilt

conversations

foster perspective taking, emotional processing, linking of cause and effect, self development

how conversations begin

begin early as photo-conversations and are focused on connection and learning; later, they become channels for shaping children’s moral development