Moral Development PDF

Moral Development PSGY1013 – Developmental Psychology Dr. Shue Ling Chong Overview Theories of moral development. The development of prosocial behaviour. The development of anti-social behaviour. Learning Outcomes By the end of this lecture you should be able to: Describe two theori...

Moral Development PSGY1013 – Developmental Psychology Dr. Shue Ling Chong Overview Theories of moral development. The development of prosocial behaviour. The development of anti-social behaviour. Learning Outcomes By the end of this lecture you should be able to: Describe two theories of moral development. Explain the developmental profile of different prosocial behaviours. Outline some influences on the development of antisocial behaviour. What is morality? An understanding of the difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. Intuition vs Reason.  Theories of moral development Piaget’s theory. Kohlberg’s stage theory. Moral realist vs moral subjectivist. Piaget’s stages of moral development Children made judgments about the relative naughtiness of two boys: Good intentions but large damage. Bad intentions but small damage. Piaget’s stages of moral development (2) MORAL REALISTS MORAL SUBJECTIVISTS Children below 7. Children above 7. Pre-operational stage. Concrete operational Judgements based on the stage. scale of the damage. Judgements based on the intention of the protagonist. Is that it? What about cases where someone intentionally damaged property? Is there a cognitive explanation? Is moral development fully developed by age 7? Is morality only based on understanding the difference between outcomes and intentions? Kohlberg’s moral dilemma A woman was near her death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a pharmacist in the town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make but the pharmacist was charging ten times what it cost him to make. He paid £2,000 for the radium and charged £20,000 for a small dose. The sick woman’s husband, Mr Lim, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money but he could only get together about £10,000, which is half what it cost. He told the pharmacist his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the pharmacist said, “No! I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” So Mr Lim got desperate and broke into the pharmacy and stole the drug for his wife.  Should Mr Lim have done that? Kohlberg’s Was it actually wrong or right? Dilemma Why? Is it a husband’s duty to steal the drug for his wife if he can get it no other way? Would a good husband do it? Did the pharmacist have the right to charge that much when there is no law actually setting a limit to the price? Why?  Kohlberg’s stages Level Stage 1. Preconventional morality 1. Punishment = wrong 2. Reward = right 2. Conventional morality 3. Consider intentions. 4. Obedience to authority. 3. Postconventional morality 5. Morally vs legally right. 6. Consider multiple views. Prosocial Altruism (costly helping). Behaviour Helping. Moral dilemmas are rare Sharing. in everyday life. When does understanding of Deciding between selfish vs selfless actions is these behaviours develop? more common.  Infants Prefer those who help Habituation: Looking Time Test: Choice: Would you like to pick a toy? (Hamlin et al, 2007) Infants prefer helpers Experiment 1: 6- and 10-month old infants preferred the helper over the hinderer. Experiment 2: Preferences disappeared when the eyes of the agent were removed. Experiment 3: Preference for helper and aversion to hinderer returned when compared to a neutral condition. Helping in toddlers 18-month-olds will help an adult: (Warneken & Tomasello, 2006) Helping summary Infants seem to understand others’ helping behaviours before they are able to help. They evaluate helpers more positively (by approaching helpers). They engage in helping behaviours already by 18 months. Is this based on understanding morality? Sharing Norms vs Actions. 3-to-8-year old children given 4 stickers. How many should you/another child share? How many will you/another child share? (Smith, Blake & Harris, 2013) Sharing (2) Sharing summary Young children understand that it is ‘right’ to share equally. Children don’t adhere to fairness principles until 7-to-8-years. Perhaps sharing is more costly than helping. Perhaps sharing requires more reasoned thought, whereas helping is based on intuition. Antisocial Are we born fundamentally Behaviour peaceful people, but learn violence and aggression? OR Are we born with the capacity for violence and aggression but learn to suppress these instincts? Genetic and environmental influences Meta-analysis of twin and adoption studies aimed to tease apart the genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behaviour: 32% variation due to genetic influence. 43% variation due to environmental influence. (Rhee & Waldman, 2002) Environmental influences: Style of parenting – coercive cycles (Patterson et al., 1992). Child attachment to parent. Peer group influences (Harris, 1995). Watching TV? Watching TV Eron (1987) Longitudinal study: 8-year-olds followed up at age 19 and age 30. Children reported: Their favourite TV shows / characters. How lifelike they thought they were. Their own violent tendencies. Their classmates' violent tendencies. Watching TV (2) Eron (1987) Initial Findings: 8 yr olds who stated that they liked violent TV programmes were rated by peers as being most aggressive. The most aggressive children rated violent programmes as being more lifelike. Watching TV (3) Eron (1987) Longitudinal Follow-ups: Watching violent programmes at age 8 correlated with ratings of aggression at age 19. Watching violent programmes at age 8 correlated with various antisocial behaviours at age 30: Drink-driving offences. Criminal convictions. Domestic violence. Does watching violent TV cause aggression? 5- 9-yr old children either watched violent TV or a similarly exciting sporting event and then played without supervision. Those who watched violent TV were more aggressive and violent in their play (Liebert & Barron, 1972) 9 yr olds watched either violent or non-violent TV and then witnessed a staged fight between 2 other children. Those who watched the violent TV responded less emotionally, suggesting they had been de- sensitized (Thomas et al, 1977) How might TV influence aggression? Social Learning Theory (imitation) (Bandura et al, 1962) Summary Children have a sense of what are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ deeds very early in development. Piaget and Kohlberg proposed theories for how moral reasoning develops. These theories don’t adequately explain early-developing moral intuition. Children readily behave in prosocial ways from an early age, although costly acts (sharing) might emerge later. Social Learning Theory may explain how children learn about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.