Chapter 9: The Quest for Meaning

Synthetic-conventional

(starts- teenage years, may remain here for rest of life): authority found outside oneself *Have a hard time realizing that you are "inside" a belief system Ex: may not realize how growing up in a Christian neighborhood affected your beliefs

Stage 6- Individual principles of conscience (FEW REACH THIS!)

*I refuse to obey laws the allow treatment of some people as second class citizens. vey uncommon -Organize moral judgment around clearly formulated moral principle of justice and respect.

Stage 1: Punishment and obedience

*I shouldn't cheat on an exam because the professor will give me an F. (Shouldn't do something bad because of the punishment)

Stage 3- Good boy/girl

*I shouldn't drink and drive because my friends will look down on me. In turn, I'll think less of myself (behave in a way because you are worried about how others will perceive you)

Stage 4- Social order mainting

*I wanted to protest the election results last week but would never publicly protest it without the campus administration's permission. (Don't want to disobey authority)

Stage 2: Naïve hedonism

*If my roommate is nice to me, I'll be nice back. If (s)he is mean, then I'll be mean back. (Going to treat them exactly how they treat me)

Stage 5- Social contract

*It isn't right that corporations are considered people. The laws should be changed so there isn't so much business influence on politicians and policy.

Change in Private Beliefs and Practice over the lifespan

*Spirituality (internal) *Religiosity (external) -older adults participate more than younger people -increase over adulthood with a period of stability at end of life. -timing of spirituality increase related to age, gender, and prevailing cultural conditions.

Kohlberg: Measurement Procedure

-Asses level of moral reasoning through moral judgment interview -Presented hypothetical dilemma and looks at moral reasoning.

Kohlberg: The data

-Chicago sample; Turkish city sample; Turkish village sample; Israeli collective community

Criticism

-Narrowly focusing on concepts of justice and fairness -Omits concepts of care -Omits attention to gender differences

Support

-People move through fairness and morality concept stages -Up to stage 5- fixed order, cumulative, form structure as whole (can't get to stage 5 before working through stage 4) -Universal stage sequence

How does religion affect health?

-People who attend religious services life longer, but results are stronger for women than men. (Women get a bigger bump in their life expectancy then men do if they attend religious services) -Religion may promote healthy behavior, provide social support, teach coping skills, and promote positive emotions. -Religious practice and spiritual beliefs, especially forgiveness and prayer, may protect individuals from effects of stress.

How do researches study religiosity?

-Questionnaires (how many times a week you go to church) -Personal Interviews -Case studies

-what things should be considered when examining data collected using some of these methods? How would you measure religiosity in these settings?

-Review of biographies -Interview data -Naturalist observation -Standardized measures

The coming to know oneself as part of a larger whole that exist beyond the physical body and personal history is called?

-Self-transcendence

Changes in Spirituality over the lifespan

-increase in religiosity over life course. -Gender and racial/ethnic difference in religiosity. *African-American and Mexican American are higher in religiosity than groups. *Women more than men -Religious participation in US is higher than in most European countries.

Basic Points about Fowler's Stages

-sequential stages are assumed -each stage has "proper time" of ascendancy in a person's life -each stage is wider and more encompassing than preceding one No longitudinal studies have look at this

Form

-what one thinks

Content

-why one thinks a certain way

True of False; Spirituality generally increase with age

True

Stage 7

Unity with being, with life, or with God. Emerges toward end of life.

Individualize-reflective (may start- college)

authority if found internally -Adults may reject of move away from previous faith community -Key is that adult takes responsibility of new perception in a new way -Impact of college

Self-transcendence

coming to know oneself as part of a larger whole that exists beyond the physical body and personal history -It is the meaning we attach to experience that matters rather than the experience itself. -The quest for meaning is a basic human experience -Most cultures support the tradition that spirituality and wisdom increase with age.

Conjunctive faith (rare before midlife):

consider welfare of others -open and integrated perspective, but may still struggle with searching for universality while mainting individuality *Example: May go back to religious stories from youth but draw new meaning from it

Moral reasoning

deciding what is right and wrong and how to judge the rightness or wrongness of an act Distinguishes between form and content of thinking. -People move through series of invariant (i.e., the same order/structure) stages in moral reasoning -each stage reflects meaning system about right and wrong.

Gerotranscendence-

idea that meaning systems increase in quality as we age, beginning with myths and fairy tales about wise elders.

Faith

is a set of assumptions or understandings about the nature of our connections with others and with world in which we live.

Religiosity

outward signs of spirituality, such as participation in religious services or being a member of a religious organization

Universalizing faith (rare to reach):

personal lives principles of love and justice -Risk own safety to help others (Mother Teresa)

Decentering

term use by Jean Piaget to describe cognitive development more generally as a movement outward from the self

Transitions:

transformation from one stage to next -Most development psychologist who propose stages of adult development have focused more on the stages than on the transition process -Each shift from one level/stage to the next is seen as a kind of death and rebirth. (The high school you died, and the college you was born)

Level 1: Preconventional (usually children up to 9)

Stage 1: Punishment and obedience Stage 2: Naïve hedonism

Level 2: Conventional (preteen years- 18 years old)

Stage 3- Good boy/girl Stage 4- Social order mainting

Level 3: Post conventional (rarely starts before college)

Stage 5- Social contract Stage 6- Individual principles of conscience (FEW REACH THIS!)