Professional Documents
Culture Documents
March 29 – April 3
How do
children learn
right from
wrong? Morality has three
components:
Emotional, cognitive, and
behavioral
• Evolutionary, genetic heritage
Biological
• Brain areas
Cognitive-
Children as active thinkers about social rules
Developmental
Evolutionary/Biological
Approach to
Understanding Morality
Altruism, reciprocity seen in other species
Bases for morality: empathy, caring, self-
Evidence for sacrifice
the Biased to help family groups, communities
Evolutionary Social exchange aids group function, survival
Approach Natural selection fostered altruism
Prewired emotional reactions, like empathy
Ventromedial and orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex
Evolutionary
Approach:
Altruism
Psychoanalytic Approach
to Understanding
Morality: Role of Guilt
Freud’s Oedipal and Electra
Complexes
Fear of punishment/loss of parental
love competition with same sex
parent
Superego (conscience) develops
Role of Guilt Internalize norms of same-sex parents
Hostility that was directed at same-sex
parent becomes directed inward (guilt)
when they disobey the superego
Maintaining Norms
Doing one’s duty and showing respect for authority
Conventional Maintaining social order for its own sake. Is there a law
that prohibits the action?
Level: Stage 4
If everyone followed their base desires, we would
have chaos. There’s a reason the laws exist.
What if everyone stole what they wanted or needed?
What if everyone marked up necessary items so that
they could make a profit?
Level 4
Rarely seen before college
Self-Accepted Moral Principles
Norms of right and wrong have influence
Post- from laws and rules, but have a rational
basis
Conventional: Conflict between individual needs and laws
Stage 5 laws must prevail because they provide
for the majority will and welfare
Does stealing have benefit for more
people than just Heinz?
Age range?
Self-Accepted Moral Principles
Social rules BUT conscience as a directing
agent
Principles of moral choice because of universal
Post- human rights (human rights, justice, equality)
Conventional: May go against laws or rest of society in the
Stage 6 process
Few people reach this stage
It’s not even included on many measures
What is more important: profit or human
life?
Reasoning vs. Behavior
Can a person think this way?
Will he/see act that way in a real life dilemma?
Bias against women (Carol Gilligan)
Kohlberg doesn’t say anything about gender
differences
Criticisms of Women: base explanations on caring and personal
Kohlberg relationships (Stage 3)
Men: base explanations on justice and equity
(Stage 5)
Does Stage 6 exist?
Domain Specific
Cultural Differences
Open-mindedness
Child-rearing
practices
Influences on Caring, supportive
Moral Discuss moral
concerns
Reasoning
Schooling
Peer interaction
Culture
Trends in Morality cannot be only cognition – there
Moral is an emotional component.
Development
What comes first – emotion or cognition?
(still cognitive)
There are specific innate, universally available moral foundations
Intuitive – automatic, rapid, affective, and non-rational
Haidt Also studied moral decision making and emotions with vignettes
E.g., family dog is killed by a car. Family cooks and eats the dog.
E.g., man buys a dead chicken at the store and masturbates with it.
E.g., woman doesn’t want flag anymore, so she cuts it into pieces and uses the
rags to clean her bathroom
Care/harm
Feel (and dislike) pain of others
Attachment
Fairness/Cheating
Justice, rights, autonomy
Proportionality/Equality (Conservative/Liberal)
Haidt’s Model Loyalty/Betrayal
– Foundations Patriotism, self-sacrifice
Authority/Subversions
Leaders & Followers
Respect for legitimate authority and traditions
Sanctity/Degradation
Disgust/contamination
“Body as a temple”
Haidt’s Model
Social Domain Theory
A little bit learning, a little bit cognition.
Children develop the capacity to
distinguish between moral imperatives,
social conventions, and matters of
choice
Social Domain From social experiences
Theory Develop relatively early, by 3-4 years
By school-age, children distinguish between
conventions that have purpose and those
that do not AND take into account
intentions, context, knowledge, and beliefs
Moral Imperatives Social Conventions
Protect people’s
Customs such as
rights and welfare
table manners or
Social Domain Victims and other dress styles
Theory children react
Peers seldom react
strongly to moral
to violations of social
offenses
convention.
Adults explain rights
Adults explain less,
and feelings of
demand obedience.
victims
Personal Choice
Choices that do
not violate others
Social Domain rights are up to
Theory the individual
Challenges to
authority occur
most within this
domain