Moral Psych Study guide 2

Moral Sensitivity

• Recognizing a moral issue

• “Is someone being harmed?”

Moral Judgment

• Deciding what is right

• “What should I do?”

Moral Motivation

• Prioritizing moral values

• “Do I care enough to act?”

Moral Character

• Actually doing it

• Courage, persistence

Judgement Action Gap

People know what’s right but don’t do it

The Four Component model shorten this gap

Preconventional (Orientation to Individual Survival)

Focus: Self-interest

• Person is concerned with their own needs

• Survival and self-care come first

• Morality = “What’s best for me?”

Conventional (Goodness as Self-Sacrifice)

Focus: Others first

• Emphasis on being nice and maintaining relationships

• Self-sacrifice = “good”

• Avoid hurting others at all costs

Postconventional

Focus: Balance self + others

• Recognizes BOTH:

  • Your needs matter

  • Others’ needs matter

• Goal = do no harm to anyone (including yourself)

Prosocial Behavior

Voluntary behavior designed to benefit another

Prosocial Emotions

Moral emotions that make us aware of other people’s needs and problems and enable prosocial responding

Positive justice reasoning

Engaging in a prosocial way that leads to the most fair, just, and benevolent outcomes

Conflicts in the Prosocial Domain

How to be prosocial and benefit others in the fairest way may not be an easy task

Sharing is a prototypical prosocial behavior

Sometimes unclear how best to share when there are many claimants and limited resources

Issue at the societal level (e.g., how to distribute wealth, status, power, economic opportunity)

Distributive justice

How we decide what is fair when giving out resources, rewards, or responsibilities

Who should get what—and why?

Developmental Stages of Distributive Justice Stage 1: Equality (Young children)

“Everyone gets the same”

• Fairness = equal shares

• Doesn’t consider effort or need

ex - everyone gets 3 cookies no matter what

Developmental Stages of Distributive Justice Stage 2: Self-Interest

“What benefits me?”

• Focus on personal gain

• Fair = what helps YOU

ex - I want more

Developmental Stages of Distributive Justice Stage 3: Merit / Equity

“Who worked harder?”

• Considers effort, contribution

• More mature reasoning

ex - Person who did more work gets more reward

Developmental Stages of Distributive Justice Stage 4: Need-Based Reasoning

“Who needs it most?”

• Focus on compassion and empathy

• Linked to empathy development

ex - Give more food to the hungriest person

Developmental Stages of Distributive Justice Stage 5: Integrated Reasoning

“Balance everything”

• Combines all rules:

  • Equality

  • Merit

  • Need

ex - Split money mostly by effort, but help someone struggling

Developmental Stages of Distributive Justice Stage 6: Complex / Contextual Fairness

“Depends on the situation”

• Flexible reasoning

• Considers:

  • Context

  • Long-term consequences

  • Social values

  • Adapting to the situation

ex - Pay mostly by effort

• BUT ensure no one is left struggling

3 Domains of Social Domain Theory (Moral)

Right vs wrong based on harm and fairness

Key Features:

• About justice, rights, and harm

• Universal (wrong everywhere)

• Not dependent on authority

• Hitting someone ❌

• Stealing ❌

• Bullying ❌

Even if a teacher says it’s okay → still wrong

3 Domains of Social Domain Theory (Social Conventional)

Rules made by society

Key Features:

• About order and social norms

• Depends on authority/context

• Not about harm directly

If the rule changes → it’s no longer wrong

3 Domains of Social Domain Theory (Personal)

Individual choice

Key Features:

• About preferences and autonomy

• No right or wrong

• Not harmful

Others shouldn’t control this

Augusto Blasi

He focused on moral identity and how it connects to behavior

Knowing what’s right is NOT enough, Your moral values to be part of who you are

People act in ways that are consistent with their identity

you have a moral identity, you make a judgement and then you act

Gender Debate (Coarol Gilligan)

Gilligan suggested:

• Girls are socialized to value relationships

• Boys are socialized to value independence and rules

Two Moral Voices

Justice (Kohlberg)

• Rules, fairness, rights

• “What is fair?”

Care (Gilligan)

• Relationships, empathy

• “Who will be hurt?”

What research actually shows:

• Differences between males and females are:

  • Small

  • Inconsistent

Both genders:

• Use justice AND care reasoning

Theory of Mind

Understanding that other people have their own thoughts, beliefs, and feelings

How we test it

False Belief Task

Grab a ball, put it in a basket, the person will walk away you put the ball in a car and then you ask the other person “where will he think the ball is” The correct answer is the basket.

SDT Prototypical

Prototypical = a clear, obvious example of ONE domain

SDT Mixed Domain

Mixed = involves MORE than one domain at the same time

Stage 1 Global Empathy (Infants)

“I feel what you feel”

• Babies cry when other babies cry

• No separation between self and others

Stage 2 Egocentric Empathy

“I help YOU the way I would want help”

• Still self-centered

• Doesn’t fully understand others are different

Stage 3 Empathy for Others’ Feelings

“I understand how YOU feel”

• Realizes others have different emotions

• Begins true perspective-taking

Example

Comforting a sad friend

Stage 4 Empathy for Life Conditions

“I understand your situation”

• Understands long-term struggles

• Not just emotions in the moment

Example:
Feeling bad for someone who is poor

Stage 5 Empathy for Groups

“I care about groups of people”

• Concern for categories (e.g., homeless, refugees)

• Broader social awareness

Stage 6 Abstract Empathy

“I care about humanity and justice”

• Concern for:

  • Human rights

  • Social justice

• Very advanced thinking

Moral Identity & the Judgment–Action Gap

Knowing what’s right, but not doing it

• Weak moral identity → more likely to fail to act

• Strong moral identity → more likely to act

Blasi’s Self-Model

• Make a moral judgment

• Feel personally responsible

• Act consistently with identity

FOCUSED MORE ON RESPONSIBILLITY

Moral Identity vs Moral Disengagement

Moral Identity:

• “I’m a good person → I should act”

Moral Disengagement:

• Making excuses:

  • “Not my problem”

  • “Everyone does it”

Disengagement = increases bad behavior

Moral Licensing

Doing something good → gives you permission to do something bad

Example:

“I helped earlier, so cheating once is fine”

Role of Schemas

Schemas = mental shortcuts about yourself

• If you see yourself as:

  • “honest” → you act honestly

  • “helpful” → you help

Moral identity works through these schemas

Readily available moral schemas (high moral identity) contribute to moral behavior via automatic processes

Situationism

Behavior is driven by situational factors rather than by personal qualities

Identity Diffusion

Drifting aimlessly without a clear purpose or plan

Identity Foreclosure

Adopting an identity without putting any self-exploration or thought into it

Identity Moratorium

Exploring what is important for one’s identity and self-concept

Identity Achievement

Making identity commitments after careful reflection

Moral exemplar

An individual who is a model of virtuous conduct and ethical behavior

Moral Elevation

Positive emotion when witnessing a moral act that improves the welfare of others

Virginia Durr Moment

A moment that changes your moral awareness

• Realizing injustice

• Seeing something that shifts your perspective

Moral Exemplars do what

• Provide role models

• Show moral behavior is possible

• Influence identity formation

Social Learning Theory

We learn by:

• Observing others

• Imitating behavior

Moral exemplars = models

Moral Exemplars & Negative Emotions

Seeing them can create negative feelings, not just inspiration

Envy

Inadequacy

Self-defense / Resignation