Social Cognition and Moral Development

Flashcards covering key vocabulary related to social cognition and moral development.

Social Cognition

Thinking about the perceptions, thoughts, emotions, motives, and behaviors of self, other people, groups, and even whole social systems.

Theory of Mind

Understanding that people have mental states such as desires, beliefs, and intentions and these mental states guide their behavior.

False Belief Task

A test that assesses the understanding that people can hold incorrect beliefs and these beliefs, even though incorrect, can influence their behavior.

Mirror Neurons

Neurons that are activated both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else perform the same action and Influence imitation abilities and action understanding.

Desire Psychology

Adopting the {desire -> behavior} relation.

Belief-Desire Psychology

Both desires and beliefs (even false ones) determine behavior.

Nature Role in ToM

Evolutionary advantage, Universal norm of development, and Neurological blueprints.

Nurture Role in ToM

Experience, Bonding with parents, and Settling conflicts with siblings and peers.

Perspective Taking

Ability to adopt another person’s perspective and understand others’ thoughts and feelings.

Emotional Component of Morality

Feelings regarding right or wrong actions that motivate moral thoughts.

Cognitive Component of Morality

How we think about right and wrong and make decisions about how to behave.

Behavioral Component of Morality

How we behave when we experience the temptation to cheat or are called upon to help a needy person.

Empathy

Vicarious experiencing of another person’s feelings, Important for moral development, and Can motivate prosocial behavior.

Prosocial Behavior

Positive social acts, that reflect concern for the welfare of others.

Antisocial Behavior

Behavior that violates social norms, rules, laws, etc.

Moral Reasoning

Thinking process is involved in deciding whether an act is right or wrong.

Preconventional Morality

Rules are external to the self rather than internalized.

Conventional Morality

Individual has internalized various moral values.

Postconventional Morality

Individual defines what is right in terms of broad principles of justice.

Social Learning Theory on Moral Behavior

Moral behavior learned through observational learning and reinforcement and punishment principles.

Self-Regulatory Mechanisms

Involve monitoring and evaluating our own actions and Avoid negative feelings.

Moral Emotions

Associating negative emotions with violating rules and learning to empathize with people who are in distress.

Self-Control

Being able to inhibit one’s impulses when tempted to violate internalized rules.

Moral Rules

Standards that focus on the welfare and basic rights of individuals, Only moral rules as absolute, sacred, and unchangeable.

Social-Conventional Rules

Standards determined by social consensus that tell us what is appropriate in particular social settings.

Proactive Parenting Strategies

Tactics designed to prevent misbehavior, reducing the need for discipline.

Mutually Responsive Orientation

Close, emotionally positive, and cooperative relationship in which child and caregiver care about each other.

Juvenile Delinquency

Law breaking by a minor.

Conduct Disorder

Persistent pattern of violating the rights of others or age-appropriate societal norms.

Social Information-Processing

Our reactions to frustration, anger, or provocation depend on the ways in which we process and interpret cues in situations.

Coercive Family Environments

Family members are locked in power struggles and Trying to control the others through negative, coercive tactics.

Ethic of Autonomy

Concern with individual rights and not harming or violating the rights of others.

Ethic of Community

Emphasis on duty, loyalty, and concern for the welfare of family members and larger social group.

Ethic of Divinity

Emphasis on divine law or authority, individual is to follow God’s laws and strive for spiritual purity.

Dual-Process Model of Morality

Deliberate thought and intuition/emotion play distinct roles.

Religiousness

Sharing the beliefs and participating in the practices of an organized religion.

Spirituality

Involves a quest for ultimate meaning and for a connection with something greater than oneself.