Adolescence Chapter 7: The Development of Moral Values

moral rules

( social cognitive domain model) - social rules that are concerned with how people behave toward one another (i.e. it's not okay to hurt one another)

personal preferences

(part of social-cognitive domain model)- aspects of behavior that involve independent choices with which other have no right to interfere - governs behaviors that are in private sphere Children can distinguish from the 3 rules at an early age

social conventions

(social-cognitive domain model) - social rules that dictate what is appropriate and expected - a rule that everyone has agreed on by everyone and helps ensure that society runs smoothly - it guarantees that people know what to expect from one another (less universal than moral rules) * it's worse to transgress a moral rule than a social convention

Criticisms of Kohlberg's approach

1. Is his theory culturally biased? - some aspects of moral development vary among societies - cultural beliefs define morality 2. Is Kohlberg's theory gender biased? - morality of justice for males, versus morality of caring for females - not supported by research (also not what Carol Gilligan argued)

Which psychologists developed cognitive-socialization theories of moral development?

1. Jean Piaget 2. Lawrence Kohlberg 3. Carol Gilligan

What are Gilligan's Levels of Moral Reasoning?

1. Level I - Preconventional Morality - women are preoccupied with self-interest and survival, which requires obeying restrictions placed on them - learning differences between what they want (selfishness) and what they ought to do (responsibility) 2. Level II - Conventional Morality - women develop concern for being responsible/caring for others - need to please others takes precedence over self-interest - she begins to wonder whether she can fulfill the needs of others while still remaining true to herself (she still doesn't give full equality to her needs compared to then needs of others) 3. Level III - Postconventional Morality - (Many never attain) - concern for self and others is interdependent - woman develops universal perspective, in which she no longer sees herself as submissive and powerless but active in decision making - she becomes concerned about the consequences for all - herself included.

Piaget's Theory of Morality

1. Morality of Constraint 2. Morality of Cooperation Also... 1. Objective Judgments then.. (in younger individuals) 2. Subjective Judgments (older) 1. Moral Realism (incorporates immanent justice) 2. Moral Relativism (develop sense of reciprocity)

What are the 10 major factors that influence adolescents' tendencies to perform prosocial and moral behaviors?

1. Pubertal Status 2. Perspective Taking 3. Moral reasoning 4. empathy 5. personality 6. high self-esteem 7. family relationships 8. peer relationships 9. schooling 10. culture and ethnicity

What do proponents of inculcation see as universally agreed upon values? (Six Pillars of Morality - Josephson Institute of Ethics)

1. Trustworthiness - includes honesty, integrity, reliability, loyalty 2. Respect - treating others with dignity, civility, courtesy, tolerance 3. Responsibility - assumes that one is accountable for one's actions, perseveres, is diligent and shows self-restraint 4. fairness - involves following due process, being impartial, and refusing to take unfair advantage of others 5. Caring - or concern for others' welfare 6. Citizenship - giving to the community and obeying its rules

Role of morality for an adolescent

1. central to one's sense of self 2. regulates the way we behave toward others and how we expect them to behave towards us

How did Piaget believe morality progresses?

1. children move from morality of constraint (or obedience) to a morality of cooperation (reciprocity) & they move from objective to subjective responsibility 2. The second stage of moral development gradually supersedes the first as children grow older, by early adolescent - firmly in moral relativism

What is the family's role in moral learning?

1. degree of parental warmth, acceptance, mutual esteem and trust show to the child 2. the frequency and intensity of parent-teen interaction and communication 3. the type and degree of discipline used 4. the role model parents offer the child 5. the independence opportunities the parents provide

What are the 5 approaches to Moral Educaiton?

1. inculcation 2. Moral Development 3. Values Clarification 4. Analysis 5. Service Learning

Support for Kohlberg's Theory

1. individuals do proceed through stages in order 2. stages are not skipped 3. Stage 3 or 4 is the highest level for most people 4. Moral development correlated with cognitive development

What is the Evaluation of Piaget's Theory?

1. it's DISORGANIZED 2. results are cross-culturally replicated ONLY if his methods are used - so not really 3. underestimated moral capacities of preschool and grade-school children (difference between moral rules and social conventional rules 4. Parents can retard moral development, but most foster growth

What are the three types of rules according to the social-cognitive domain model?

1. moral rule 2. social convention 3. personal preference

What are the stages of Development according to Kohlberg?

Level 1: Preconventional Moral Reasoning - Stage 1: Punishment Orientation - Stage 2: Instrumental Hedonism Orientation Level 2: Conventional Moral Reasoning - Stage 3: Good girl-good boy orientaiton -Stage 4: Law and order orientation Level 3: Postconventional moral reasoning - Stage 5: Social contract orientation - Stage 6: Universal Principled Orientation

How does sexual content on TV affect teen moral development?

average teen exposed to almost 15,000 sexual references or behaviors each year - only 1% of the sexual incidents portrayed on television deal with issues such as the risk of pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases, birth control and abstinense - even watching programs in which sex is merely discussed, not portrayed has been shown to influence adolescent's beliefs as to what constitiutes normal sexual behavior

moral reasoning

ability to make correct moral decisions

How religious is the average adolescent?

about 60% say that religion is "very" or "pretty" important to them 80% pray at least some of the time 40% pray daily only 10% say churches are doing poor job serving nation only 20% would like to see religion exert less influence on society - as people more into early twenties and leave home, their religious participation tends to decline and doubts increase (this lapse is temporary for most) - and it increases once again when they marry, have children and become part of a permanent community

prosocial behavior

actions that benefit, help, and bolster others - opposite of antisocial behavior ex. complimenting a friend, doing a favor for a neighbor, helping parent wash dishes, etc

What are the concerns about teens watching so much tv and its effects on morality?

adolescents spend about 4.5 hrs/day watching video - 20,000 hrs by the time they graduate high school (vs. 14,000 hours in the classroom) 1. the effects of viewing televised violence 2. effects of being exposed to sexually provocative stimuli 3. the effects of advertising on adolescents material desires

Service Learning

an appraoch to moral education that emphasizes community service (newest) - gives students opportunity to participate in community service projects, thus bridging gap between moral reasoning and moral action - goal: teens will come to value moral, caring behavior and develop enhanced social consciousness if they observe social problems and get firshnand experience and self-satisfaction from knowing they have helped community

Social-Cognitive Domain Model to Moral Reasoning

an approach to moral development that stresses the contextual nature of moral decisions and distinguishes social conventions from moral rules

Analysis

an approach to moral education that emphasizes using logical reasoning to solve social dilemmas - they focus on broad social values rather than personal dilemmas

inculcation

an early approach to moral education that teaches students to accept specific moral values, such as honesty and trustworthiness - BUT in a pluralistic society the question becomes: whose values do you teach?

How does religion affect moral development?

avenue through which adolescents can learn a moral code

What is the role of parents as role models for moral learning?

children, even adolescent children, have natural tendency to copy their parents' behavior - adolescents are much more likely than children to recognize and be affected by adult hypocrisy, so its even more important for parents to model moral behavior - they can encourage positive, prosocial actions in their children by behaving in caring generous ways - TALK IS NOT ENOUGH

Perspective Taking

cognitive maturation, combined with new kids of experiences, allows adolescents to better understand others' points of view

Stage 5 (Level III): Social Contract Orientation

one believes that individual actions should serve the greater good - define morality in terms of general principles such as individual rights, human dignity, equality and mutual obligation (if law doesn't further these aims, it should be changed) belief in *Extenuating Circumstances* - factors that allow one to violate a rule for valid moral grounds ex. "stealing is wrong, but allowing someone to die over a medicine being too expensive is worse" (listening to the majority: "laws should express will of majority and further human welfare if not, challenge them" - what do most people want?

Stage 3 (Level II): Good Girl- Good Boy Orientation

one acts to win approval of others (family members, friends, teachers, coworkers and other people important to the individual) ex. think about how embarrased his family must have been to see he had stolen something OR think about how his family must have thought he was so brave to do what he did for his wife

moral realism

the earlier of Piaget's two stages of moral development, in which individuals SLAVISHLY follow the rules they are given

moral metacognition

the knowledge that children have bout their own morality

moral relativism

the latter of Piaget's two stages of moral development, in which individuals make their own moral judgments rather than blindly follow rules - as a child moves toward moral relativism - conception of fairness changes - they begin to devlop a sense of reciprocity - it is both independent and cooperative

Moral Reasoning

the more advanced an adolescent's moral reasoning skills, the more likely he or she will make moral decisions

Empathy

the more and adolescent can feel empathic toward others, the more likely he or she will engage in both moral and prosocial actions

social capital

the resources available to an individual through his or her interpersonal connectins

How do adolescents view social conventions?

they have less respect for them than adults. - Early Adolescents - view them as ways for authority figures to needlessly control adolescent behavior - Late Adolescents - see them as superfluous, old-fashioned societal expectations * As an adolescent ages, he or she is more likely to believe that an issue falls into the realm of personal choice (like a girl wearing a revealing top)

what did one study find about the relationship between metamoral knowledge, moral reasoning, and moral behavior?

three age groups (7. 9 12) - older children had more accurate understanding of moral judgmental processes than did younger children - higher levels of moral metacognition were closely tied to mora advanced moral reasoning behavior - researcchers assumed and found that children who were better able to think about their moral reasoning processes were more likely ot be aware of inconsistencies in this reasoning and were more likely to try and resolve them - moral metacognition served as a correlate between moral action and moral reasoning and a prerequisite to using moral judgment to direct one's actions

What is the relationship between moral reasoning and thinking ability according to Kohlberg?

- advances in overall reasoning should lead to higher levels of moral thought (connection between cognitive level and moral reasoning) - advanced reasoning skills were necessary but NOT SUFFICIENT to ensure sophisticated moral reasoning = you must be able to think in a mature way to be a postvonventional moral reasoner, but having mature thought processes doesn't guarantee this outcome

How does parental acceptance and trust affect moral learning?

- important aid = warm, accepting relationships of mutual trust and esteem between parents and child -young children who are emotionally dependent on their parents and have strong emotional attachment to them develop strong consciences-whereas nondependent children group up more lacking in conscience - supportive parenting encourages moral beliefs and MORAL COURAGE

What are the differences between male and female moral reasoning?

- males tend to emphasize justice (preserving rights, rules and principles) - females tend to emphasize concern and care for others and sensitivity to their feelings and rights - responsibility to human beings rather than abstract principles

Does Religion influence Adolescents? and Moral Behavior?

- religion has positive effect on adolescent behavior - religious youths have been found less likely to drink or use drugs and engage less in other types of delinquent behavior (vandalism/fightin) - relgiious youths tend to be less sexually active and have fewer sexual partners than nonreligious teens - religiosity promotes positive, prosocial concerns - associated with good academic achievement, healthful lifestyle and overall thriving WHY? --> 1. being involved with an organized hcurch provides teenager with a good deal of "social capital" or other persons willing to be there for him or her 2. provides opps for helping others 3. surrounds teens with individuals who will praise and reinforce them for their good works 4. religious involvement provides opps for skill and leadership deelopment 5. many religions promote positive, proscial values such as kindness

What study's did Gilligan develop/ where did she do her moral work?

- vietnam war study - abortion study

What are the four ways that peers influence behavior/morality?

1. peer pressure 2. normative expectations 3. structuring opportunities 4. modeling - peers can encourage psotive and negative behavior - and there is a reciprocal relationship between peers and prosocial activities: peers can encourage doing good deeds, and good deeds can make one more popular with peers - peers more often encourage and facilitate prosocial rather tahn antisocial behavior/ the closer and adolescent is to his or her friends the higher her moral reasoning is likely to be

Is Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development Stage-like?

1. people do not give consistent moral responses to Kohlberg's dilemmas 2. they also don't always move upward through his sequence (many regress from stage 4 to 2 over time)

How do Kohlberg's stages progress?

1. preconventional moral reasoning (level 1) declined sharply from younger to the older age groups 2. Level 2 (conventional moral reasoning increased until age 13 then stabilized 3. Level 3 - postconventional moral reasoning was essentially absent during teenage years * development of moral thought is a gradual and continuous process as the individual passese thorugh a sequence of increasingly sophisticated moral stages

What are the two criteria for for stage-theories?

1. stages must be finite and consistent 2. stages must emerge in an invariant progressive sequence (stage 1 must come before 2 and 2 before 3)

What are the recommendations for media to do or not do regarding sexual images/content?

1. stop portraying only physically attractive people as desirable and capable of being involved in sexual relationships 2. depict sexually abstinent teens as well as sexually active ones 3. depict typical sexual relations as nonexploitive 4. represent the typical sexual encounter as planned rather than impulsive 5. portray the use of contraceptives and display the negative consequences of failing to do so 6. depict scens of parent-child communication about sexuality

What determines how religious an adolescent is?

1. strength and quality of the relationship with his or her family - religious parents are most likely to raise religious offspring 2. harmonious homes, in which the parents are nurturing and there is little parent-child or spousal conflict, tend to produce the most relgiious children (mothers seem to influence more than fathers) 3. Gender, race/ethnicity, place of residence and denomination (girls are more religious than boys, african americans more than others, southern ppl)

What contributed to the progression of morality according to Piaget?

1. they are becoming smarter/more cognitively sophisticated - which allows for increased thinking ability to consider alternatives, recognize inconsistencies and better understand others so that they can experience empathy 2. immersed in a complicated social world - rather than just adults, they interact with peers which allow for cooperation and negotiation, and without adults they can set own standards and make own rules (autonomous morality)

Criticism's of Kohlberg's theory

1. whether his stages are universal among humans or limited to people of wester cultures 2. whether moral reasoning should be conceptualized as stage-like 3. whether his ideas are gender biased (BIASED AGAINST FEMALES)

Who did Kohlberg study?

72 boys ages 10,13, and 16 all similar IQ half of each group came from upper middle class 10 moral dilemmas presented to each boy - acts of disobedience to legal-social rules or commands of authority figures condlicted with human needs or welfare of others

Culture and Ethnicity

Adolescents are influenced by the norms and values of their cultures

What is the role of opportunities for independence in moral learning?

Adolescents need to be given chances to make decisions that affect their moral behavior and then to observe the results of their actions - parents who privide TOO much independence/failt to monitor children and provide guidance - cause their children oto look to outsiders for moral guidance - and a charismatic peer migh encourage antisocial behavior - external forces of all sorts have greater impact if a moral vacuum is created by parental neglect and indifference

High Self-Esteem

Adolescents who like themselves are more likely to behave prosocially than those who do not

Personality

Anger-prone individuals are more likely to behave antisocially

How does type of discipline affect an adolescents moral reasoning?

Discipline has the most POSITIVE AFFECT when it is... 1. consistent rather than erratic - * it's important that discipline is consistent both INTRA and INTER parent - erratic parental expectations lead to an ambiguous environment and poor moral learning, anxiety, confusion, disobedience and sometimes hostility and delinquency in the adolescent 2. accomplished primarily through clear, verbal explanations to develop internal controls rather than through external, physical means - reasoning or praise used to correct or reinforce behavior enhances learning, whereas physical means of discipline, negative verbal techniques such as belittling and nagging, or infrequent explanations are more often associated with antisocial behavior and delinquency 3. just and fair and avoids harsh, punitive measures - leads to development of an insensitive, uncaring, hostile, rebellious, unkind person, deadens their sensitivities so that they learn to fear and hate others and no longer care about them or want to please them 4. democratic rather than permissive or authoritarian - permissiveness gives the children no help in developing inner controls, without external authority, child will remain amoral - adolescents want and need some parental guidance, without it = spoiled brats that are disliked by their peers because of lack of consideration for others and lack of self-discipline, persistence and direction

Are Kohlberg's Stages Universal?

For the most part. - Stages 1-4 are, and Stage 3 typically emerges during early adolescence - Stage 5 and 6 - do not develop in preliterate village or tribal communities (only societies that have been urbanized and provide formal education are likely to have citizens that develop principled moral reasoning ALSO: - some cultures have values that put some stages into conflict with Kohlberg's hierarchy - Collectivist cultures - tend to find macro/structural explanations for Kohlberg's dilemmas and do not blame specific characters

moral development

Second appraoch to moral education (grew out of Kohlberg's theories and was popularized in 70s) - an approach to moral education that uses moral dilemmas and the like to give youths experience in higher-level reasoning in order to develop it themselves

How did Carol Gilligan contribute to the study of moral development?

She noticed that in Kohlberg's work, females used lower levels of reasoning than males (remain in Stage 3 rather than moving on to Stage 4) - because his methods were biased against females * females approach moral reasoning differently**

How does prosocial functioning change from childhood into adolescence and then during adolescence itself?

THEY INCREASE 1. Adolescents consider selfish behavior inappropriate and immature 2. prosocial reasoning has long been linked with the ability to empathize and take another's point of view - perspective taking abilities increase during adolescence 3. cognitive development allows adolescents to increasingly empathize abstractly with those they dont know and that are different from themselves - willingness to share and display empathy increases

Values Clarification

a method of teaching values that helps students become aware of their own beliefs and values - not concerned with the content of values but with the PROCESS of valuing - the goal is to help students become aware of the beliefs and behaviors they prize and would be willing to stand up for, to learn to weight the pros and cons and consequences of vaiours alternatives - students are allowed to CHOOSE their own values (which can be seen as a strength or weakness) - critics argue that some moral choices are superior to tothers and it is irresponsible to teach adolescents that all more choices are equally valid

Heinz Dilemma

a woman was near death from special kind of cancer, there was one drug that doctors thought might save her - but very expensive. Heinz (sick woman's husband) broke into store to sell the drug - should he have stolen it?

Stage 4 (Level II): Law and Order Orientation - Social Order Maintaining

concerned with what "others" (members of society) at alarge will say about their conduct - motivated to unquestioningly obey society's rules and laws ex. Heinz - of course he shouldn't have taken the drug, it's against the law to steal. If everyone stole we would have anarchy! or ex. if one person doesn't stand up for their wife the whole institution of marriage is thrown out of whack - Kohlberg argued this is where most women fall (thinking about other people) Most adolescents and most adults are conventional moral reasoners

Morality of Constraint

conduct that is coerced by rules of authority (rules must be obeyed without question)

Morality of Cooperation

conduct that is regulated by mutual respect and consent - comes about as a result of social interaction, children learn rules are not absolute - they are socially constructed arrived at through process of free decision and consent

What is the role of a moral code?

delineates our rights and responsibilities toward those around us

Krettenauer's "Transubjectivism/ post-skeptical rationalism"

emerged gradually after 9th grade - believed that moral judgments are more or less well founded, that all views are somewhat subjective, and that one should adjust one's views according to all of the available evidence

What was one of the deficiences of Piaget's work?

exclusive concern with children up to age 12

How does violence on TV affect teen moral development?

exposure to television violence does contribute to increased aggressiveness 1. promotes violence - makes aggression seem less shocking and more acceptable/normal - presents likable attractive role models that act agressively - characters are often rewarded and admired for their aggressive behavior - this kind of action TV excites viewering and makes them more likely to act aggressively in short run if provoked 2. desensitizes people such that their arousal in the face of violence begins to decrease rather than increase - the result is less distress at the thought of violence and much less sympathy for the victims of violence 3. viewers come to believe that the world is a place in which others are out to harm them - some may have nightmares and recurring thoughts (cognitive priming can occur) **CAUSAL LINK***

How does frequency and Intensity of Parent-Teen Communication affect Moral Learning?

frequent interaction offers opportunities for communication of meaningful values and norms, especially if exchange is democratic and mutual - a one-sided form of authoritarian interaction results in poor communication and less learning for the adolescent - fathers who engage in "transactive dialogues" with their adolescents - who push their thinking by challenging their reasoning have adolescents who are more morally advanced

connection between moral reasoning and prosocial behavoir

good moral decision making is necessary, but not sufficient to promote prosocial behavior

Family relationships

having a supportive family background promotes moral development

Objective Judgments

judgments based solely on the consequences of wrong doing.

Subjective Judgments

judgments that take into account intentions or motives

Krettenauer's "Subjectivists/skeptics"

mostly higher schoolers - believed that moral judgments were completely subjective and that no moral position was more valid than any other

Stage 6 (Level III): Universal Principled Reasoning

one acts according to his or her abstract moral principles (of justice) so as to avoid self-condemnation. - they may break unjust civil laws because they recognize a morality higher than existing law (MLK, etc) - very few employ this level of moral reasoning

immanent justice

the child's belief that immoral behavior inevitably brings pain or punishment as a natural consequence of the transgression (part of moral realism as a RECEIVED realism)

Peer Relationships

peers can encourage either prosocial or antisocial actions

Stage 1 (Level 1): Punishment Orientation

people act so as to avoid consequences - they obey not because of guilt or desire to be nice, but because they are afraid to get in trouble

Stage 2 (Level 1): Instrumental Hedonism Orientation

people are motivated by the thought of payback and future gain (Teacher's Pet) - focus on operant conditioning - they do favors for others with the thought that favors will be returned - they obey because there is more harm than gain in doing so ex. Heinz: of course he did the right thing, think how grateful his wife will be, she'll treat him like a king forever (MOST children and most adolescents are preconventional thinkers)

Level III: Postconventional Moral Reasoning (Principle Morality)

people do what they believe is right and just (principled moral reasoning) - not necessarily what is best for themselves or what others think they should do

Pubertal Status

postpubertal adolescents are larger and stronger, and so more actions are open to them & with puberty come feelings of sexual arousal and romantic love, which might prompt prosocial or antisocial behavior

Schooling

school size, class size, and school climate can influence prosocial tendencies. Schooling encourages the development of higher levels of moral reasoning

Level II: Conventional Moral Reasoning (Morality)

second level of moral development, people act to gain others' approval - they do what they think is right based on desire to conform to social convention - focuses on relationships/individuals

Level I: Preconventional Moral Reasoning

selfishness - (premoral) - based on reward and punishment - what's good for them is good, what's bad for them is bad

What is the social-cognitive domain model approach to social decisions?

social decisions are complex and individuals must often juggle moral, social and personal concerns when making decisions - the context in which a decision is made and the weight given to each factor is what determines moral judgment, not the identiifation of a stage of reasoning * if adolescents seem to regress in moral development it's because they weigh these competing factors differently as they age

How can Piaget's findings apply to adolescents and children? (and adults)

some adults and adolescents never move out of a morality of constraint to a morality of cooperation - they never desire to do the right hting from mutual respect and concern for the feelings and welfare of others - they exist at an early stage of moral growth

How did Piaget study moral development?

studied children playing game of marbles and the need for rules, and under which circumstances rules could be changed or not

How does materialism affect moral development?

teens usually see 10-14 minuts of ads for each hour they watch - these ads encourage teenagers to want to buy them - ex. for each ad for alcohol above the average number that an adolescent saw, he or she was 1% more likely to drink alcohol - they promote the concept of "living the good life" which entails material possessions

Which Religion are adolescents likely to follow?

teens who have a close relationship with their parents usually remain in the faith in which they were raised (Parents') - rejection of parents' relgiious values is often symptomatic of a strained parent-adolescent relationship - they also may change because they believe that their current faith is not adequately helping them cope with their problems

What aspects of prosocial behavior do not improve during adolescence?

tendency to offer comfort or to actually help others - helping behavior actually declines in early twenties - sympathetic responses don't always lead to systematic changes * if you are highly selfish as a child, you will likely remain so.

moral courage

tendency to stand up for one's values in face of opposition (especially those concerning fairness)

What do other researchers think about the connection between moral reasoning and higher cognition?

that it's bidirectional - they both influence each other - children and adolescents can develop new cognitive abilities if they continually grapple with moral dilemmas

metacognition

the ability to think about one's own though processes

cognitive priming

the activation of neural pathways so that ambiguous or netural stimuli are perceived as similar to what has been previously perceived

What are the critiques of Gilligan's work?

turns out Kohlberg's work isn't biased against females - both males and females use legalistic AND caring reasoning - with women using caring somehwat more than men - any gender difference that appear are often due to the content of the dilemma, with females selecting scenarios that are more personal - it's possible that Gilligan's use of open-ended interviews (which requires some degree of interpretation on the researcher's part) - allowed her own biases to accentuate gender differences rather than similarities

Krettenauer's "intuitionists/realists"

youngest subjects - believe that moral judgments were either right or wrong and you "just know" whether something is moral or not and you should listen to experts