ana-floyd moral dev final

7/29/2019 Ana-Floyd Moral Dev Final

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The Development of Morality

Anna Floyd

2004


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Presentation Overview

Theory

Definition

A history of perspectives on moral development

Current debates What Develops?

Moral Judgment: a closer look at Piaget and Kohlberg

Childrens behavior and moral development

Observations

Moral Understanding


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Definition

Morality - the distinguishing of right fromwrong

(However, what is considered right and what is considered

wrong is undeniably subjective)


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History of Theories

Freud (1920s)

Self-desires vs. social norms

Piaget (1932)

Moral development stems fromindividual/ environmentinteractions

Child moves from heteronomous

to autonomous orientationregarding rules

(We will return to Piaget shortly) Piaget


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History of Theories

Durkheim (1920s)

Morality based on attachment to a group (learnedrespect for group rules and symbols)

1950s/1960

- Guilt and anxiety seen to be childs

motives to adhere to moral principles- Moral development result of

society controlling individuals

interests/needs/impulses


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History of Theories

Kohlberg (1981, 1984)

Disagreed with moral development research of thetime, designed new measures (well return to

Kohlberg shortly)

1970s/1980s

Shift from 50s and 60s thinking and to belief that

love, sympathy, empathy, bonding, and attachmentare motivations for ones moral growth


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History of Theories

1970s/1980s (cont) Children show emotions and bond with others

Show altruistic behavior by age 2

Show empathic behavior by age 3

NOTE: these behaviors are exhibited even when children do notfear punishment, contradicting 1950/1960 views

Preschoolers exhibit helping behavior (Bar-Tal, Raviv, & Goldberg,1982)


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History of Theories

Kagan (1981, 1984)

Believed that feelings play important role in makingjudgments

Noted that a societys moral issues are decided byhow intensely people react to them (ex: abortion)

How can we be certain of causality here?

Hoffman (1984) Empathy is key in moral motivation


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History of Theories

Hoffman (cont)

Four Stages (development of empathy): Global distressinfants (confusing ones emotions with

those of others)

Egocentric empathyage 1 (still unaware that others havefeelings, but no longer consumed by others feelings)

Empathy for anothers feelings age 2 or 3

Empathy for anothers life conditions after toddlerhood

(awareness that others have life histories separate fromyours)


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Current Debates

1. What is the role of Emotion? Perhaps moral judgment is not rational at all

Still being debated, though not new issue

Philosophers Hume (1700s) Smith (1700s), as well as Freud,considered the role of emotion in decision making)

2. Is moral development linear? (Following stages)?

3. How is morality tied to context/culture? Where does

morality surface? In character traits? In valuing a community?

In ones personal habits?


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Current Debates

Perspective: Morality currently big issue forAmerican society

The perceived declining of American morals

- Has put pressure on schools to upliftchildrens moral standards through

adult control (as opposed topeer-led problem solving)

- Emphasis preferred on how one acts,not on ones state of mind


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What Develops?

Moral development is the process oftransfiguring cognitive structures, dependent oncognitive development and experiencing social

environment

It is NOT the imprinting of rules and virtues, aswas previously thought

(Duska & Whelan, 1975)


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Measuring Moral Development

Two foci

Moral judgment Decision making

Understanding of social rules/norms Kohlberg, Piaget, Gilligan

Moral understanding Understanding of standards in the world

Ability to understand others feelings

Lamb, Dunn, Kagan


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Moral Judgment: Piaget

Piagets Marbles Game Observation Observed children at various ages playing marbles to

understand how children perceive rules

Age (years) Play type Rule understanding

Up to 2 Motor activity only No concept

2-6 Egocentric play- imitate play of

others, but not socially

Rules are like objects, not

adjustable; came from

Authority or God

7-10 Cooperative play playing with

others

Rules come from mutual

agreement; can be changed

11-12 Codification play play

preparation

Making the rules are what

play is about


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Moral Judgment: Kohlberg

Developed new method for measuring moraldevelopment

Kohlberg Believed children more interested and more thoughtful

than did other current psychologistsof the time

The child as a moral philosopher

Thought childrens ways of thinking develop out of social experiences

(similar to Piaget)

Focus on how children make life judgments

Created hypothetical story pitting one or more moral dilemmasagainst each other


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Kohlberg

Heinzs Dilemma

"In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was onedrug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggistin the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but thedruggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 forthe radium and charged $4000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick womanshusband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legalmeans, but he could only get together about $2000, which is half of what it cost. Hetold the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let himpay later. But the druggist said, No, I discovered the drug and Im going to makemoney from it. So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate andconsiders breaking into the mans store to steal the drug for his wife." (cited from

website: http://www.petalk.com/humanist/behavior-morality.html )

Question: Did Heinz do the right thing? Why or why not?


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Six stages children progress through:

1 and 2 Preconventional Judgments based on obedience and punishment

3 and 4 Conventional Judgments based on roles/stereotypes good vs. bad

people; respect for rules/authority

5 and 6 Postconventional Judgments based on agreement between groups, mutual

respect, concepts of rights/justice

Kohlbergs Measures


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Six stages (cont) Respect for rules/authority not in place until

adolescence

All cultures have similar stages at levels 1-4, but maydiffer at stages 5 and 6

Studies indicate that Conservatives and Liberalsexhibit different levels of moral reasoning:

Conservatives - Stage 4, Liberals - Stage 5(Emler, Palmer-Canton, & St. James, 1998; Emler & Stace,

1999, in Nucci, 2003)

Stage 6 no longer used very few people reached it

KohlbergsMeasures


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Began shift in psychology Old belief: children developed morality in response to social

pressures

New belief: children develop morality as result of actively

processing their own social experiences

Critique of Kohlberg Based on belief that decision making will be rational

Some people backtrack to previous stages

(Gilligan, 1980s) Morality of males/females is different;Kohlbergs method is based on male perspective

Kohlbergs Influence


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Justice vs. Care

Gilligans response to Kohlberg: males andfemales differ in their moral development Male morality based on justice

focus on rules, rights, autonomy

Female morality based on care fulfillment of responsibility, avoidance of exploitation Piaget and Freud interpreted female devotion to care as a need

for approval, not a moral practice

Critique of Gilligan No cross-culturally flexibility

Males and females typically did not differ in their responses onKohlbergs measures

Gilligan


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Moral Understanding

There are two cognitive developmentscrucial to developing an understanding ofmorality

1) Ability to understand others feelings

2)Understanding the standards of the world Illustrates the childs interest in understanding the

standards of adults How can we be sure this is a step in moral development?


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Emotional Developments

Childrens behavior and range of emotionsincrease as children grow

Psychological understandings increase

Perspective taking Ability to analyze appropriateness of behavior

Co-construction possible


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Attribution of Emotions

The happy victimizer study (Barden, Zelko, Duncan, & Masters,1980; Nunner-Winkler & Sodian, 1988, in Nucci, 2003)

Children presented with vignette: A child is debating whether or not tosteal candy from a classmates jacket pocket.

All children report that it is wrong to steal the candy, but their

attributions of the protagonists feelings differ

0

20

40

60

80

100

4 year old 8 year old

Protagonist Does Steal Candy

positive

negative

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

4 to 6year old 8 year old

Protagonist Does Not Steal Candy

positive

negative

Affectattributed Affectattributed


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Cognitive Developments

Distinguishing Morality from Authority Damon (1977): children will not obey parental suggestion toengage in immoral task

Acts gain importance over authority status (ages 4-6)

Recognize and respond prosocially to moral dilemmanarratives By three years of age (Oppenheim, et al., 1997)

Interpretation of transgression Distinguish between moral and conventional transgressions

Occurs at around age 3 Cross-culturally generalizable finding Parents discuss moral/conventional transgressions differently

Rate of transgressions increases with age


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Behavioral Changes

Changes children make in second year and howwe know they make them

Developmental

Change

External Observation

Behavior modified inanticipation of others

feelings

Gained ability to provoke/tease others

Behavior changedaccording to social rules

Children less likely to go to mother forhelp for conflict they initiate thanconflict another initiates (Dunn, 1985)

Emotional behaviorchanges

Increase in aggression, anger,agitation, redirected aggression.

Deliberate evasion begins.


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Awareness of Standards:an observational study (Lamb, in Garrod, 1993)

Study to address childrens awareness of standards Method

Four (4) children observed with mothers between ages 13-14 mo. and21-22 mo.

Observations occurred every 3-4 weeks for 2.5 hours

Noted child activities, mothers audio taped

Observations showing an awareness of standards: Achievement comments I did it! Awareness of flaws uh-oh Labels things yucky or bad or good Questions mother about standard rules Shows awareness of violation and restrains or

doesnt restrain self


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Three stage Development based on AOS observations: 1. Initial Phase

Conflicting wants

Child feels frustrated, but little other emotion expressed

2. Transitional Phase Experimentation with standards

Child feels happy to transgress; interest is shown in standards, butno interest in adhering to them

3. Later Phase

Understanding of standards Child feels a desire to uphold standards; questions mother often

about her wishes



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Development of Empathy seen through Childs response to mothers distress

Before age 2: staring, laughter, or distress

After age 2: signs of empathy: concern- hugging, kissing, sayingmommy Is this really empathy?

Main outcomes: Middle of second year is big in the emergence of morality

Awareness of standards ~ 17 mo Appearance of empathy ~ 18 mo



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Conclusion

Big shift in theory of moral development (1970) 1950s and 60s guilt and anxiety seen to be childs motives to adhere

to moral principles 1970s and 80s love, sympathy, empathy, bonding, and attachment

are motivations for ones moral growth

Two foci Moral judgment Moral understanding

Observations of children Children progress through stages of understanding rules, norms, others

feelings Awareness of standards Capacity for empathy


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References Turiel, E. (1998). The Development of morality. In W. Damon & N. Eisenberg (Eds.),

Handbook of Child Psychology(pp. 863-932). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Lamb, S. The Beginnings of Morality. In A. Garrod (Ed.)Approaches to MoralDevelopment(pp. 9-29), Teachers College Press: New York, 1993.

Dunn, J. The Beginnings of Moral Understanding: Development in the Second Year.In J. Kagan & S. Lamb (Eds.) The Emergence of Morality in Young Children (pp. 91-112) University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1987.

Bar-Tal, D., Raviv, A., & Goldberg, M. (1982). Helping behavior among preschoolchildren: an observational study. Child Development, 53, 396-402.

Nucci, L.P. (2002). The Development of moral reasoning. In U. Goswami (Ed.),Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Cognitive Development(pp.303-325). Malden:Blackwell Publishing.

Oppenheim, D., et al. (1997). Preschoolers face moral dilemmas: a longitudinal studyof acknowledging and resolving internal conflict. International Journal ofPsychoanalysis, 78, 943-957.

Duska, R., & Whelan, M. Moral Development: A Guide to Piaget and Kohlberg,Paulist Press: New York, 1975.

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