mcgraw-hill © 2004 the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. all rights reserved.. slide 1 14—moral...

McGraw-Hill © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved..

Slide 1

14—Moral Development

• Domains of Moral Development

• Contexts of Moral Development

• Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior

• Summary


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Domains of Moral Development

• Moral development– Age-related thoughts, behaviors, and feeling

regarding rules, principles, and values that guide what people should do.


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• Moral Thought– Piaget’s Theory

• Piaget concluded that children think in two distinct ways about morality, depending on their developmental maturity.

– Heteronomous morality—The first stage of moral development in Piaget’s theory, occurring from 4 to 7 years of age. Justice and rules are conceived of as unchangeable properties of the world, removed from the control of people.


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• Autonomous Morality—The second stage of moral development in Piaget’s theory, displayed by older children (about 10 years of age and older). The child becomes aware that rules and laws are created by people and that, in judging an action, one should consider the actor’s intentions as well as the consequences.


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• The heteronomous thinker believes in immanent justice—if a rule is broken, punishment will be meted out immediately.


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• Moral Thought– Kohlberg’s Theory

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

• Kohlberg’s Stages– Internalization—The developmental change from

behavior that is externally controlled to behavior that is controlled by internal standards and principles.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning– The lowest level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral

development. The individual shows no internalization of moral values—moral reasoning is controlled by external rewards and punishment.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 1, Stage 1. Heteronomous morality—moral thinking is often tied to punishment.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 1, Stage 2. Individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange—what is right involves an equal exchange.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 2: Conventional Reasoning– The second, or intermediate, level in Kohlberg’s theory of

moral development. 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.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 2, Stage 3. Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity—individuals value trust, caring, and loyalty to others as a basis of moral judgments.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 2, Stage 4. Social Systems morality—moral judgments are based on understanding the social order, law, justice, and duty.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning– The highest level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral

development. Morality is completely internalized.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 3, Stage 5. Social contract or utility and individual rights—individuals reason that values, rights, and principles undergird or transcend the law.


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• Kohlberg’s Level 3, Stage 6. Universal ethical principles—individuals develop a moral standard based on universal human rights.


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Kohlberg’s Three Levels and Six Stages of Moral Development

• Refer to Figure 14.1


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Moral Reasoning at Kohlberg’s Stages in Response to the “Heinz and the



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Age and the Percentage of Individuals at Each Kohlberg Stage



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– Influences on the Kohlberg Stages• Kohlberg believed that children’s moral orientation

unfolds as a consequence of their cognitive development.

• Modeling and Cognitive Conflict– Current research on modeling and cognitive conflict

reveals that moral thought can be moved to a higher level through exposure to models or discussion that is more advanced than the child’s level.


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– Influences on the Kohlberg Stages• Kohlberg believed that children’s moral orientation

unfolds as a consequence of their cognitive development.

• Peer Relations and Perspective Taking– Parents provided a more cognitively stimulating

environment than did children’s friends, while friends engaged in more simple sharing of information.


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– Kohlberg’s Critics• Moral Thought and Moral Behavior

– Kohlberg’s theory has been criticized for placing too much emphasis on moral thought and not enough emphasis on moral behavior.

• Assessment of Moral Reasoning– Some developmentalists fault the quality of Kohlberg’s

research and believe that more attention should be paid to the way moral development is assessed (Boyes, Giordano, & Galperyn, 1993).


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– Kohlberg’s Critics• Culture and Moral Development

– Some argue that Kohlberg’s view is culturally biased (Banks, 1993; Fang & others, 2003); Jensen, 1995; Miller, 1991, 1995).


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– Kohlberg’s Critics• Gender and the Care Perspective

– Gilligan believes Kohlberg’s theory does not adequately reflect relationships and concern for others.

– Justice perspective—A moral perspective that focuses on the rights of the individual; individuals independently make moral decisions.

– Care perspective—The moral perspective, emphasized by Carol Gilligan, that views people in terms of the connectedness with others and emphasizes interpersonal communication, relationships with others, and concern for others.


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– Social Conventional Reasoning• Some theorists and researchers argue that it is

important to distinguish between moral reasoning and social conventional reasoning.

– Social Convention Reasoning—Thoughts about social consensus and convention


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Actual Moral Dilemmas Generated by Adolescents



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• Moral Behavior– Basic Processes

• Behavioral views emphasize the importance of studying children’s moral behavior and its environmental determinants.


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• Moral Behavior– Resistance to Temptation and Self-Control

• A key ingredient of moral development from the social cognitive perspective is a child’s ability to resist temptation and to develop self-control (Bandura, 1986; Mischel, 1987).

• The ability to resist temptation is closely tied to delay of gratification.


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• Moral Behavior– Social Cognitive Theory

• Social Cognitive theory of morality– The theory distinguishes between moral competence (that

ability to perform moral behaviors) and moral performance (performing those behaviors in specific situations).


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The Hypocrisy of Adult Moral Models



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• Moral Feeling– Psychoanalytic Theory

• In Freud’s view, a child’s ego ideal rewards the child by conveying a sense of pride and personal value when the child acts according to moral standards.

• The conscience punishes the child for acting immorally by making the child feel guilty and worthless.


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• Moral Feeling– Empathy

• Positive feeling, such as empathy—reacting to another’s feelings with an emotional response that is similar to the other’s feelings—contribute to the child’s moral development.


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• Moral Feeling– The Contemporary Perspective on Emotion and

Moral Development• Many child developmentalists believe that both

positive feelings and negative feelings contribute to children’s moral developments.


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Damon’s Description of Developmental Changes in Empathy



Slide 34


Changing Freshmen Life Goals, 1969-2002



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Review and Reflect: Learning Goal 1

• Discuss theories and research on moral thought, behavior, and feeling– Review

• What are Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s theories of moral development? How can Kohlberg’s theory be evaluated? What is social conventional reasoning?

• What is involved moral behavior? What is the social cognitive theory of moral development?

• How are moral feelings related to moral development?


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– Reflect• What do you think about these circumstances?

A man who had been sentenced to serve 10 years for selling a small amount of marijuana walked away from a prison camp after serving only six months of his sentence. Twenty-five years later he was caught. He is now in his fifties and is a model citizen. Should he be sent back to prison? Why or why not? At which Kohlberg stage should you response be placed? (continued)


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– Reflect (continued)A young woman who had been in a tragic accident is “brain dead” and has been kept on life-support systems for four years without ever regaining consciousness. Should the life-support systems be removed? Explain your response. At which Kohlberg stage should your response be placed?


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Contexts of Moral Development

• Parenting– Parental Discipline

• Love withdrawal– A discipline technique in which a parent withholds

attention or love from the child.


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– Parental Discipline (continued)• Power assertion

– A discipline technique in which a parent attempts to gain control over the child or the child’s resources.

• Induction– A discipline technique in which a parent uses reason and

explanation of the consequences for others of the child’s actions.


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– Parenting Moral Children• Parental discipline contributes to children’s

development, but there are other aspects of parenting that also play an important role, such as providing opportunities for perspective taking and modeling moral behavior and thinking.


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• Schools– Hidden curriculum

• The moral atmosphere that is part of every school

– Character Education• A direct approach that involves teaching students a

basic moral literacy to prevent them from engaging in immoral behavior and doing harm to themselves or others.


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• Schools– Values Clarification

• Helping people clarify what their lives are for and what is worth working for.

– Cognitive Moral Education• A concept based on the belief that students should

learn to value things like democracy and justice as their moral reasoning develops.


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• Schools– Service Learning

• A form of education that promotes social responsibility and service to the community.


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• Explain how parents and schools influence moral development– Review

• How does parental discipline affect moral development? What are some effective parenting strategies for advancing children’s moral development?

• What is the hidden curriculum? What are some contemporary approaches to moral education?


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– Reflect• What type of discipline did your parents use with

you? What effect do you think this has had on your moral development?


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Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior

• Altruism is an especially important aspect of prosocial behavior.– Altruism—Unselfish interest in helping

another person.– Reciprocity and exchange often are involved in

altruism.– Ideas that children form in early childhood set

the stage for giant strides that children make in the years that follow.


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• Juvenile Delinquency– What is Juvenile Delinquency?

• A broad range of behaviors, ranging from socially unacceptable behavior (such as acting out in school) to status offenses (such as running away) to criminal acts (such as burglary).


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– What is Juvenile Delinquency? (continued)• Index offenses

– Criminal acts, whether they are committed by juveniles or adults. They include such acts as robbery, aggravated assault, rape, and homicide.

• Status offenses– Less serious acts (than index offenses). Status offenses

include truancy, underage drinking, sexual promiscuity, and uncontrollability. They are performed by youth under a specified age, which make them juvenile offenses.


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• Juvenile Delinquency– What is Juvenile Delinquency?

• Conduct disorder– The psychiatric diagnosis category used when multiple

behaviors occur over a six-month period. These behaviors include truancy, running away, fire setting, cruelty to animals, breaking and entering, excessive fighting, and others. When three or more of these behaviors co-occur before the age of 15, and the child or adolescent is considered unmanageable or out of control, the clinical diagnosis is conduct disorder.


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• Juvenile Delinquency– Antecedents of Delinquency

• Authority conflict

• Covert

• Overt


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– Violence and Youth• These factors often are present in at-risk youths and

seem to propel them toward violent acts (Walker, 1998):

– Early involvement with drugs and alcohol

– Easy access to weapons, especially handguns

– Association with antisocial, deviant peer groups

– Pervasive exposure to violence in the media


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The Antecedents of Juvenile Delinquency



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• Describe the development of prosocial and antisocial behavior– Review

• How is altruism defined? How does children’s altruism develop?

• What is juvenile delinquency? What are the antecedents of delinquency? What are some factors that are involved in youth violence?


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– Reflect• As the head of a major government agency

responsible for reducing delinquency in the United States, what programs would you try to implement?


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Summary

• The three main domains of moral development are thought, behavior, and feeling.

• Behaviorists argue that children’s moral behavior is determined by the processes of reinforcement, punishment, and imitation.


Slide 56

Summary

• In Freud’s theory, the superego—the moral branch of personality—is one of personality’s three main structures.

• Parental discipline can involve love withdrawal, power assertion, or induction.

• Originally proposed by John Dewey, the hidden curriculum refers tot he moral atmosphere of a school


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Summary

• Altruism is an unselfish interest in helping another person.

• Delinquency includes a broad range of behaviors, including index offenses and status offences.

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