Child Psychology,A Canadian Perspective

Third Edition

Younger, Adler, Vasta

Chapter 14Moral Development

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 2

Learning Objectives

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 3

• Learning Objective 14.1:

• Understand four theoretical approaches to the study of moral

development.

• Learning Objective 14.2:

• Understand what research has found concerning children’s

moral reasoning.

• Learning Objective 14.3:

• Understand the development of prosocial behaviour and

identify its determinants.

• Learning Objective 14.4:

• Describe the factors that contribute to aggressive behaviour,

and discuss ways of reducing aggression in children.

Morality Issues

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 4

• Morality involves issues of right and wrong

• Moral rules:

• Broad issues of fairness and justice

• Social conventions:

• Rules used by society to maintain order

• Morality has different components

• Thought processes that underlie morality are assessed in moral reasoning studies

• Behaviours governed by morality are assessed in studies of moral conduct

Theories of Moral Development

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 5

• Piaget’s stage theory:

• Used moral dilemmas to assess children’s thoughts on morality

• Stage 1 (2–4 yrs)

• Children have no true conception of morality

• Stage 2 (5–7 yrs)

• Children understand and use rules, but are not flexible in rule use (stage of moral realism)

• Objective responsibility

• Children evaluate moral situations on the basis of amount of damage

• Immanent justice

• Inherent justice

Theories of Moral Development

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 6

• Piaget’s stage theory (cont’d)

• Stage 3 (8–11 yrs)

• Children realize that rules are conventions and can be altered

• Children in this stage now consider intention in their evaluations of morality (stage of moral relativism)

• Stage 4

• Children develop rules as needed and extend moral reasoning beyond their personal level

• Moral reasoning develops as the cognitive structures of the child develop

Theories of Moral Development

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 7

• Kohlberg’s model

• Presented children with moral dilemmas and asked them to explain their reasoning

• Kohlberg’s three levels of reasoning

• Preconventional

• A person must meet his/her own needs

• Conventional

• Social systems must be based on laws and regulations

• Postconventional

• The value, dignity, and rights of each person must be maintained

Theories of Moral Development

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 8

• Evaluating Kohlberg’s Model

• Invariant sequence is generally supported

• Cultural critique

• The universality of Kohlberg’s stages

• The applicability of some moral dilemmas

• Gender critique

• Justice versus care

Theories of Moral Development

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 9

• Turiel’s model

• Children’s moral reasoning involves several different domains

• Moral domain is concerned with people’s rights and welfare

• Prohibitions against lying, cheating, stealing

• Societal domain involves rules that guide social relations

• Being polite, wearing appropriate clothing

• Children’s understanding of moral and societal issues is influenced by context

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 10

Evolutionary and Biological Approaches• The evolutionary view focuses on processes that promote

survival and reproduction

• Altruism

• Behaviours that benefit another but that may cost the person

• Kin selection

• A person will act to aid persons who share their genes (Mother is more likely to act to save her child than her husband; child has more of her genes)

• Reciprocal altruism

• Members of a group reciprocate in their altruism so that all members are more likely to survive and pass on their genes

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 11

Evolutionary and Biological Approaches

• Aggression is another focus of the evolutionary approaches• Aggression is involved in predation, defending the nest

(home) against intruders, and defending valuable territory• The evolutionary view is that aggression is an inevitable

part of human nature• Aggression may lead to dominance hierarchies

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 12

Environmental/Learning Approaches

• Environmental/Learning approaches

• Reinforcement and observational processes are involved in moral development

• As children develop, they internalize what they have learned to regulate their own behaviour

• Sociocultural approaches

• Moral development is a process of socialization

• Through interactions with family and cultural institutions, children are assisted by other people in structuring and interpreting situations for themselves

Social and Family Influences on Moral Reasoning

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 13

• Peer interactions force children to wrestle with moral issues

• Interaction with a peer whose level of moral reasoning is higher (usually by one level) can improve moral reasoning in a child

• Social learning theory suggests that moral reasoning can be influenced by modeling and imitation

Social and Family Influences on Moral Reasoning

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 14

• Parents’ disciplinary practices

• Power assertion

• Involves the use of commands, threats, physical force

• Love withdrawal

• Involves the use of disapproval and withholding of affection

• Induction

• Refers to reasoning with the child to explain why certain behaviours are prohibited

• The induction approach leads to higher moral reasoning, power assertion leads to lower levels of moral reasoning

Prosocial Behaviour

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 15

• Prosocial behaviours are socially desirable and include helping, sharing, and conflict resolution

• Moral emotions, such as empathy and sympathy are the roots of prosocial behaviors

• Hoffman’s six stages

• Empathy can be observed in infants (cry when hearing another infant cry)

• Development of sympathy is related to children’s ability to understand others’ mental states

Prosocial Behaviour

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 16

Hoffman’s Six Stages

Stage 1: Global empathic distress

Stage 2: Egocentric empathic distress

Stage 3: Quasi-egocentric empathic distress

Stage 4: Veridical empathy

Stage 5: Empathic distress beyond the situation

Stage 6: Empathy for distressed groups

Development of Prosocial Behaviour

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 17

• Helping

• Toddlers comfort those in distress

• Increases with age

• Sharing

• Emerges by the end of the first year

• Children are more likely to share with friends and those who have given them help in the past

• Conflict resolution

• From coercion to negotiation

• Resolve conflict both verbally and nonverbally

Determinants of Prosocial Behaviour

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 18

• Biology• Genes influence prosocial development through temperament

• Affect• Empathetic distress

• Cognition• Prosocial reasoning, and children’s mental state understanding

• Socialization• Parents contribute to children’s prosocial development by

• providing opportunities to practice prosocial behaviurs• communicating prosocial values using inductive techniques• modelling and reinforcing prosocial behaviors.

Aggression

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 19

• Aggression: behaviour that is intended to harm persons or property and that is not socially justified

Source: From Table 12.1 in Parke, R. & Clarke-Stewart, A. (2011). Social Development. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., p. 395.

Determinants of Aggression

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 20

• Biological

• Level of testosterone

• Genetically mediated

• Related to early difficult temperament

• Social influences

• Family processes and peer interactions

• TV and video game violence

• Violent environments

• Cognitive and affective influences

• Development of social cognition and empathy

Controlling Aggression

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 21

• Different interventions for treating antisocial behaviour are employed

• Catharsis

• The belief that aggression can be reduced by viewing aggression or by engaging in high-energy activities

• Targeting parents’ child-rearing methods

• Teaching children problem-solving strategies, empathy, and perspective taking and rethinking the attributions they make of others

• Education

Controlling Aggression

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14 22

• Sequence of steps in the processing of social information

• Many aggressive children show deficits at each step in the process

Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 14

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