Chapter 14

Moral Development

Moral Judgment

Stage 1: Morality of Constraint (less than age 7-8)•Consequence of the action (not motive) determines if the act was good or bad•Whatever the authority figure says is right

Stage 2: Autonomous Morality (Moral Relativism) (age 11 or 12)

•Rules can be changed•Punishments should fit the crime•There is a focus on fairness and equality•Consideration of motivation and intentions

Transitional Period (ages 7-8 to 10)•Social interactions with peers•Begin to take another’s perspective

•Piaget-The Moral Judgment of the Child (1932/1965)

Increasing the Salience of Intentions Can Alter Moral

Reasoning

(Figure reprinted with permission from “Factors Influencing Young Children’s Use of Motives and Outcomes as Moral Criteria” by S.A. Nelson, 1980, Child Development, 51, pp. 823-829. Copyright © 1980 by the Society for Research in Child Development)

• Preconventional LevelStage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation

Stage 2: Instrumental and Exchange Orientation

Kohlberg’s Theory or Moral Judgment

•Conventional LevelStage 3: Mutual Interpersonal Expectations,

Relationships and Interpersonal Conformity

Stage 4: Social System and Conscience Orientation

•Postconventional or Principled LevelStage 5: Social Contract or Individual Rights

Orientation

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles

•Positives:•Negatives

Possible sex differences in moral judgment (Carol Gilligan)

Kohlberg’s Work

• Prosocial Moral Dilemmas are used to determine prosocial behavior (voluntary behavior to help others) (Eisenberg)

• Level 1: Hedonistic, self-focused orientation

• Level 2: Needs-based orientation

Prosocial Moral Judgment

•Level 3: Approval and/or stereotyped orientation

•Level 4a: Self-reflective empathic orientation

•Level 4b: Transitional level

•Level 5: Strongly internalized stage

• Moral judgments

• Social conventional judgments

• Around age 3, around age 4

Children’s Social Judgments

• Definition: internal regulatory mechanism that increase an individual’s ability to conform with standards of conduct accepted in their culture

• Influences:Parental Standards and RulesTemperament

Development of Conscience

• Early differences in positive moral behavior appear to reflect later developmental differences in children’s readiness to engage in prosocial behavior

• Altruistic MotivesEarlyLaterParts:

Empathy Sympathy

Altruism

Key Factor:Perspective taking

•Biological Factors:

Individual Differences in Prosocial Behavior

•Environmental Factors:ParentsTelevision and Video Games

Daily Violence and Children’s Art

(Figure reprinted with permission from “Coping with the Consequences of Living in Danger: The Case of PalestinianChildren and Youth” by K. Kostelny and J. Garbarino, 1994, International Journal of Behavioral Development, 17, 595-611)

• Aggression• Development of Aggressive Behavior:

Between 18 months and 2 yearsPhysical aggression increases and then decreases as

verbal skills (and verbal aggression) increase Preschool

Instrumental aggressionRelational aggression

Antisocial Behavior

Elementary School

Reactive or hostile aggressionProactive aggression

At all ages, males report enacting more violence than do females. (Adapted from Coie & Dodge,1998)

Prevalence of self-reported violence for males and females at different ages

The relation of peer-nominated aggression at age 8 to self-reported aggression at age 30

Boys and girls who were nominated as high in aggression at age 8 were higher in self-reported aggression at age 30 than were those of their peers who had been nominated aslower in aggression. (Adapted from Eron, Huesmann, Dubow, Romanoff, & Yarmel, 1987)

•Biological Factors:

Genetic Factors

Where Does Aggression Come From?

•Environmental Factors:

Parental punitivenessIneffective Discipline and Family CoercionParental ConflictSocioeconomic StatusPeer InfluencesTelevision and Video Games