A2 AQA PSY-B3 Moral Development Mindmap

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  • Moral Development
    • Damon's Distributive Justice
      • The "sharing" theory
        • How should the money raised from selling the drawings be distributed?
          • Age 4-5: "we should have more because we are girls"
          • Age 5-7: "equal share of profits"
          • Age 7+:  responses showed  consideration  of an individual merit and individual need
      • Level 0-a, <5 years. Simple self interest. Children understand that it is important to share but only as it may involve some personal gain
        • Level 0-b, <5  years. Self interest to some justification of observable characteristics - older or bigger children should get more of a share
          • Level 1-a, 5-7 years. Strict equality. Inflexible stage where everyone should have an equal share no matter what. There is a clear rule about distribution and it's inflexible.
            • Level 1-b. Distributive calculations. Ideas of distributive justice are based around notions of merit, so those who worked the hardest or longest should get more of the share.
              • Level 2-b, 8-9 years.  Compromises about  distributions so there is an attempt to balance  different sorts of claims and to take accounts of need. Based upon  benevolance. Some  individuals should have special considerations, perhaps because of their disadvantage
      • In 1980, Damon conducted a longitudinal study over two years to examine development. He fount that approximately 85% of the children showed  progress to a higher level during this period.
        • McGillicuddy-De Lisa (1994) tested the predictions that young children were more likely to be more inflexible than older children when applying the rules of distributive justice. In conclusion, this supported Damon's levels of distributive  justice
          • Damon took Piaget's work further and provided a clearer basis for the description of distributive justice
            • Damon's findings and conclusions about stages have been supported by Enright et al. using different  methodology and a cross-cultural sample
              • Damon's work can be placed within Piaget's broader theory of cognitive development. This means that some of the criticisms of Piaget's theory and research can also be made about Damon's work
    • Kholburg's Theory of Moral Development
      • Used the Moral Dilemma Technique
        • Heinz dilemma
          • Kohlberg et al (1983) identified three levels of moral reasoning, each of which was subdivided into two further stages
            • Level 1: Preconventional morality
              • Stage 1: Heteronomous morality. Avoid breaking rules  associated  with punishment, obedience for it's own sake
                • Nucci (1996) found that by age 3, children   could  understand  that  moral  transgressions  are more serious than breaches of moral convention
              • Stage 2: Individualism. Acting to meet one's own immediate interests and needs and letting others do the same
            • Level 2: Conventional morality
              • Stage 3: Mutual interpersonal expectations. Living up to what others expect
              • Stage 4: Social system and conscience.  Fulfilling the duties to which one has agreed. Upholding laws. Contributing to society, group or institution
            • Level 3: Postconventional morality
              • Stage 5: Individual rights. Being aware that people hold a variety of values and opinions; often these are relative to the group that holds them and should be upheld as part of a social contract between people
              • Stage 6: Universal ethical principals  Following self- chosen    universal  principals of justice  the equality of human rights and respect for dignity, Judging laws in relation to these principles
                • Critics argued that Stage 6 is so rarely applied that it might not exist. Stage 6 was abandoned in 1975 and does not feature in the scoring manual (Colby et al, 1987)
                  • Kohlberg's scoring system had been criticised as reflecting Western values of individual freedom and choice (individualistic culture). As a result, where the social group is seen as more important than the individual (collectivist culture) those individuals score lower on the stages
                    • Tietjen and Walker (1985) found that participants in New Guinea blamed the Heinz problem on the whole community who had not helped rather than on the individual.
                      • Regardless of all the negatives, Kohlberg has given us a stage theory which is used univerally
    • Gilligan's Ethic of Care
      • Gilligan argued that there are differences between males and females in moral reasoning
        • She believed that Kohlberg's theory was more concerned with an ethic of justice in his sample of males, whereas she suggests that females are more concerned with an ethic of care
          • On the basis of a study of women who were considering having abortions, Gilligan identified three levels of care
            • Level 1, Self focused: making  decisions  according to what is best for the individual
            • Level 2, Self-sacrifice: putting others' interests before one's own
            • Level 3, Non-violence: avoiding harm and hurt to others. Exceptions can be made, but universal laws are in everyone's best interest
            • Initially Gilligan believed the levels formed a developmental sequence, but research disproved her notion. This led her to believe that personal experiences around morality would enable progress to higher levels of reasoning. However, how and when this happens is unclear
          • Gilligan did not interview men during her research, so as much as Gilligan complained that Kohlberg's theory was male orientated, it can be suggested that her theory is female orientated.
            • Walker found thatthe type of reasoning was dependant upon the type of dilemma, rather than being distinctly  male or female reasoning. Walker found that both men and women can use justice based and care based reasoning in different situations. This means that perhaps Gilligan's views on morality and ethic of care and ethic of justice were perhaps oversimplified.
    • Piaget's Theory of Moral Development
      • Used the Moral Comparison Technique
        • (1932) He just a variety of stories involving moral comparisons such as the John and Henry story and found that children up to the age of 10 either focus on consequences or intention. Average age for intention was 9 and average age focusing on consequences was 7
          • Developed 3 stages: pre-moral, moral realism and moral relativism
            • The pre-moral stage: up to age 5. Before the age of 5, a child is unaware of moral issues and so can not make meaningful judgements. By the age of 4-5, a child starts to adhere to rules, but they are set by someone different
            • The moral realism stage: 5-9 years. A child's moral understanding is based upon moral rules of right and wrong and governed by parental control. The judgement is based on consequences and not intention. Children see the rules as absolute. Moral realism comes from the children believing that wrong and right is objective and real at this stage rather than down to subjective opinion
              • Belief in imminent justice: where  there is automatic punishment for wrongdoing. Example, a child does something wrong and then falls into a stream when a small bridge breaks; children believe this wouldn't have happened if he had been good
              • Belief in expiatory punishment: where the amount of punishment reflects the seriousness of the wrongdoing, but no account is taken of intentions
            • The moral relativism stage: 10+ years. A child's moral judgement is no longer governed by constraints of others but rather based on an internalisation of moral code. A child can see things from another's personal view - they become less egocentric - and can consider both intention and  consequences  when judging wrong doing. They also understand that rules can be changed by common consent. Moral relativism comes from a realisation that moral judgement is a matter of subjective opinion
              • Belief in reciprocal  punishment  where the person feels guilt for harming others and punishments are made to suit the wrongdoing. Example, mending something that is broken
      • Smetana (1981) found that, in terms of the punishment that should be given, young children aged 2-9 could distinguish between behaviours that were 'wrong because of social conventions' (eg putting a toy in the wrong place) and moral conventions (eg hitting another child)
        • Laupa and turiel (1986) gave 6-11 year old's hypothetical stories involving comparisons concerning issues about whom should be obeyed. The children took account  whether the person giving the command was a teacher or a peer and also took into account the nature of the commands
          • Much evidence   supports Piaget's general view that moral   development becomes more subtle with age (Burk, 2003)
            • Piaget's sample was small and based on his friends children. The results should  therefore be generalised with caution
              • Social  psychological research into attribution suggests that even adults tend to assume that a person is somehow to blame if his/her actions result in a negative  consequence  (Walster, 1966)
    • Psychodynamic Explanation
      • Believed that the ego is responsible for the final decision about behaviour, after being influenced by the id and superego
      • The Oedipus complex: when aged around 3-6, boys are sexually attracted to their mothers which sparks conflict and rivalry between him and his father
        • Boys experience two incompatible fears: sexual desire for his mother together with a fear that the father will punish them for the desire and cut off their penis
          • This is resolved by the boy wishing to become like his father (identification) and suppressing his desire for his mother. As a result of this, boys imitate the moral behaviour of the father, internalising these behaviours in the superego
      • Freud's theory was developed from the explanations of patients about heir own experiences and was not based on careful observations of children; this has been a significant criticism made by later researchers
        • The focus of Freud's theory is on two-parent families
          • It is generally accepted that a child's moral development is influenced by factors beyond the family; such as friends, schools and the media
            • Observations and investigations by Piaget and Kohlberg suggest that the process of moral development carries on beyond the age of 4-6 years
              • In a review of previous research, Hoffman (1975) concluded that there is very little difference between boys and girls in terms of whether or not they would break the rules
                • If anything, girls are less likely to break the rules and therefore could be considered to have a stronger superego
                  • Gilligan (1982) pointed out that Freud's work contained Victorian stereotypes about differences between males and females
    • Eisenburg's  Model of Pro-social Reasoning
      • Pro-social reasoning: the principles involved when deciding whether or not to help another person
        • Eisenberg  emphasised that her model involves empathy and the influence of feelings in relation to making  decisions  about moral issues, whereas  Kohlberg  stressed the influence of cognitive processes (Eisenberg et al., 2001)
          • Eisenberg used methods similar to Kohlberg and presented young people with dilemmas. However, in this case, the dilemmas involved reasoning about whether to carry out a positive behaviour when there would be a cost to the individual.
            • Example of Mary missing the birthday party, cake and games to help someone who has fallen down and needs medical attention
              • Eisenberg uses the term "level" instead of "stage" reflecting her belief that development is less clear cut and more complicated than stage theories would suggest
                • She  acknowledged  that pro-social behaviour varies with culture and will be higher in cultures where such behaviour is rewarded or valued (less  Americanized)
                  • Level  1: Hedonistic (self-centred).   Approx. up to 7 years. Helping takes place when it benefits the helper
                    • Level 2: Needs oriented. Approx. 7-11 years. Helping depends on how much the person needs help, and usually there has to be obvious distress. There is little guilt if help is not given
                      • Level 3: Approval Oriented. Approx. 11-14 years. Helping is motivated by being praised for carrying out the action
                        • Level 4: Empathic/self-reflective. Approx. age 12 and over. There is sympathy for others and guilt for not carrying out the action
                          • Level 5: Transitional level. There is partial awareness of duties and principles
                            • Level 6: Strongly internalised, personal values. Approx. age 16 and over. Internal values such as responsibility  and self-respect are used to justify giving help
                  • Despite Eisenberg's rejection of universality, similar levels were identified by Boehnke et al. (1989) who collected information from German, Italian and Polish children
                • Because Eisenberg has not put forward a precise stage theory and  acknowledged  that there will be variation in development, her levels are more descriptive than theortical
          • Although Eisenberg's theory considers a different dimension of moral reasoning from the one studied by Kohlberg  her theory is in many respects similar to his and the research methods are also similar. Looking at Kohlberg's stages and Eisenberg's levels, one can see that there are some similarities in what is being described

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Tracey Steele

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Brill work Katy Loo!

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