PSYC200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Moral Development, Joint Attention, Communication

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8 May 2018

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Week 9: Social Cognition & Moral Development

!Australian Catholic University, Brisbane !

[email protected]

Overview

!Theory of Mind

!Social perspective taking

!Theories of moral development

!Kohlberg

!Gilligan

!Fowler

!Moral development across the lifespan

!Gender, spirituality and moral reasoning

Social Cognition

Social Cognition False Belief Task

!Does the child know what Sally believes?

https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=8hLubg pY2_w

Theory of Mind

!The understanding that people have mental states such as desires,

beliefs and intentions, and that these mental states guide behaviour + an

understanding that others have mental states that are different from one’s

own

Theory of Mind: Autism

!85% of 4-year-olds with normal intelligence and older children with

Downs Syndrome pass the false belief task

!Despite mental ages greater than those of the children with Downs

Syndrome, 80% of children with autism fail

!'Mind Blindness' - congnitve deficits where an individual is unaware of

others thoughts and mental states.

!Egocentrism - what I think is a fact

!Deficits in self and social understanding - don't understand why

people do what they do

!Self-control deficits

!Joint attention difficulties - Cant understand why two people

need to look at something (like a bottle)

!Social communication deficits: literal understanding of

language; failure to recognise sarcasm

Sally and Anna test above with autism people - not understanding

Sally's point of view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjkTQtggLH

Egocentrism example

Tom is an autistic child who lives with his parents but complains about

having to fit in with their rules. When his mother had to go to hospital, he

was angry that his daily routine was ruined. On the other hand, when one

day she had a gastric upset and could only sip weak tea, Tom brought her a

big bag of fish and chips - to cheer her up. His mother accepts his blatant

egocentrism is a part of his condition and she takes it with a sense of

humour. She laughingly related that Tom’s greatest wish is to live alone in a

big house served by a large number of robots

Early signs of theory of mind

!Theory of mind starts to develop in the first 2 years of life

!Early signs:

!Joint attention and pointing: 9 months: alerting another persons

attention to something, eg. pointing. Helps develop social skills and

emotional.

!Pretend play: 1-2 years; use knowledge to manipute objects for

their imagination (banana turns into telephone).

!Imitation and modelling: 6 months onwards; model things that

you are doing. Developing motor skills and social cognitive.

!Understanding intentions: 6 months onwards

!Emotional understanding: 2 years+; understanding that other

peopole have feelings and they might be different to own

Theory of mind: Desire-based reasoning

!Theory of mind starts to develop when children refer to mental states in

their speech

!It develops in two phases:

!Desire psychology: Toddlers talk about what they want and

explain their own behaviour and that of others in terms of wants or

desires (around 2 years of age) - predict the acts of characters even if

its not what they want to do.

!Belief-desire psychology: An appreciation that people do what

they do because they desire certain things and because they believe

that certain actions will help them fulfill their desires (around 4 years

of age)

Social perspective taking

!The ability to adopt another person's perspective and understand their

thoughts and feelings in relation to your own

!Represents theory of mind in action

Social perspective taking example

Scenario: Laura is an 8-year-old girl who likes to climb trees. She is the best

tree climber in the neighbourhood. One day while climbing down from a tall

tree, she falls...but does not hurt herself. Her father sees her fall. He is upset

and asks her to promise not to climb trees anymore. Laura agrees. Later that

day, Laura and her friends meet Shaun. Shaun’s kitten is caught in a tree and

can’t get down. Something has to be done right away or the kitten may fall.

Laura is the only one who climbs trees well enough to reach the kitten and

get down but she remembers the promise to her father.

!If Laura climbs the tree, should she be punished?

!Will her father understand if she climbs the tree?

!Will Sean understand why Laura has trouble deciding what to do?

Social perspective taking

!Social perspective-taking abilities develop in stages:

!3-6 years: Undifferentiated perspective-taking

!E.g., Laura & Dad feel same

!5-9 years: Social-information perspective-taking

!E.g., Know he will be angry, but might change his mind if he

sees the kitten

!7-12 years: Self-reflective perspective-taking

!E.g., Dad be able to ‘step inside her shoes” & see why she did

!10-15 years: Third-party perspective- taking

!E.g., Both perspectives simultaneously + need to get dad to

understand her position

!14-Adult: Societal perspective-taking

!E.g., Value of humane treatment justifies Laura’s actions and

hence her father will value this and not punish her

Social perspective taking

!Advances in social cognition are more likely if parents are good role

models of social perspective taking, consider their children’s feelings and

thoughts, and rely on explanations rather than punishment in disciplining

their children

Social perspective taking in adulthood

!Middle-aged adults

!best to see both sides of an issue and

!to integrate different perspectives,

!Thus supporting social cognitive skills of adults continue to

improve after adolescence

!Explanations:

!Accumulated expertise

!Cortical areas for support social cognition and emotional

understanding mature more slowly that non-social cognition

!Older adults tend to rely more than younger adults on simple

rules of thumb and strongly held beliefs about people

!Practice, practice, practice!

Moral Development

Moral reasoning

!What is moral?

!Able to 1. distinguish between right & wrong

!2. act on that distinction

!3. experience pride when one does the right thing & guilt or

shame when one does not.

!Moral reasoning – process of applying reasoning to situations &

decisions that involve right and wrong

!Moral rules – used by society to protect individuals & guarantee their

rights e.g., stealing, lying

!Social conventions: society ‘rules’ to govern everyday behaviour

Moral development

!Moral development - moral reasoning changes with development

!Different responses depending upon individual’s age (e.g., child,

adolescent, adult)

!Gradual development of an individual's concept of right & wrong

!Development of conscience, spiritual values, social attitudes etc.

!Morals learned from experience

Moral Development

!Affective component - how we feel about the situation; emotions.

Social analytic (ego and consious) pride or shame. Internalisation of parents

models

!Cognitive component - how we think about the situation & decide to act

!Behavioural component - reflecting how we actually behave

!Ethical complexity - Complex dilemmas with difficult choices

Piaget’s Moral Development (TUT SLIDES)

Morality is the development of a sense of justice and respect for social

order.

!Pre-moral or amoral period (babies to pre-schoolers)

!Heteronomous morality (age 6 – 10 years)

!Morality subject to external controls

!Autonomous morality (from age 10)

!Less pre-occupation with rigid rules established by authorities

Lawrence Kohlberg 1927 – 1987 “How do we develop as moral beings?”

Kohlberg’s Heinz Dilemma

wA woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one

drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a

druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive

to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to

produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose

of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to

borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which is

half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked

him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later.

Heinz’s dilemma

wBut the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make

money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to

steal the drug for his wife.

wShould Heinz have broken into the store to steal the drug for his

wife?

wWhy or why not?

wHow does your response fit with Kohlbergs Moral Stages?

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development

Kohlberg’s Moral Development

!Preconventional Level: Punishment and reward: Egocentric

!Emphasis on avoiding punishments & getting awards

!External authorities important

!Shares first stage with Piaget's heteronomous morality

Preconventional Level: Punishment and reward: Egocentric

!Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment (obedience): common in young

children but adults are capable of expressing this type of reasoning. At this

stage, children see rules as fixed and absolute. Obeying rules is important

because in following the rules one avoids punishment.

!Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange (self interest): children account for

individual points of view and judge actions based on how they serve

individual needs (what’s best for me!).

!Conventional Morality Level: emphasis on social rules/norms

!Greater degree of internalisation, but internalised standards still

reflect the conventions of others such as family or wider society

!Motivation to follow rules less about punishment or rewards but

to gain approval of others

!Stage 3: Interpersonal Relationships (conformity): Often referred to as

‘good boy-good girl’ orientation, this stage is focused on living up to social

expectations and roles. Emphasis on conformity, being ‘nice’ and

consideration of how choices influence relationships. People judged by their

intentions.

!Stage 4: Maintaining Social Order/Authority orientation (Law and

order). At this stage, people begin to consider society as a whole when

making judgments. Focus on maintaining law and order by following the

rules, doing one’s duty and respecting authority.

!Postconventional Level:

!Guided entirely by an internalised personal moral code

!Morally right vs. legally right

!Emphasis on moral principles

!Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights (Human Rights): People

begin to account for differing values, opinions, beliefs of others. Rules of law

are important for maintaining a society, but members should agree upon the

standards and rules are open to question: democratic process.

!Stage 6: Universal Principles/Self chosen ethical principles (Universal

human ethics). Kohlberg’s final level is based on universal ethics, principles

and abstract reasoning. Here people follow internalised principles of justice,

even if they conflict with laws and rules and emphasis is placed on dignity

and equality. Kohlberg dropped this level as rarely seen!

Moral development transitions: adolescence to adulthood

!During adolescence, individuals develop moral self- relevance – the

extent to which a moral approach is part of the person’s self-concept

!Longitudinal research -

!Preconventional thinking at Kohlbergs stage 2 decreases steeply

after age 16, but still persists in some (less than 5%) adults into their

twenties and thirties

!Conventional stage 3 moral reasoning peaks at around age 16,

then steadily declines in late adolescence and into the 20s and 30s à

but 30-40 % of adults still think this way as late as their mid-thirties

!Stage 4 thought increases steadily from the mid teens to the

mid thirties, with about half of individuals in their 20s to 30s displaying

this more advanced type of moral reasoning

!Stage 5 reasoning is present in less than 5% 18-20-year- olds

!Stage6postconventionalreasoningisrareàthislevel of moral

development is not typical of the general population, and might

require special training (such as ethics) in order to be established as an

everyday way of thinking about moral issues

Application of Kohlberg’s Stages to the Heinz Dilemma

Application Kohlberg stages to heinz dilemma

!Preconventional Level:

!Stage 1: He shouldn’t steal the drug because he might get caught

and punished. Or, he should steal the drug because it’s only worth

$200 and not what the druggist wanted for it - he’d even offered to

pay and was not stealing anything else.

!Stage 2: Heinz shouldn’t steal the medicine because prison is an

awful place and he’d be miserable there. Or, he should steal it because

he’ll be much happier if he saves his wife.

!Conventional Level

!Stage 3: He shouldn’t steal the drug as stealing is bad and he is not

a criminal and others will think he’s a thief. Or, he should steal it

because his wife expects it and he wants to be a good husband.

!Stage 4: Although his wife needs the drug, he should not break the

law to get it - his wife’s condition doesn’t justify his stealing. Or, he

should steal the drug but take the prescribed punishment and pay the

pharmacist - actions have consequences and criminals cannot

disregard the law.

!Postconventional Level

!Stage 5: Heinz shouldn’t steal the drug because the pharmacist

has a right to fair compensation and we need to respect the rights of

others. Even though his wife is sick, it doesn’t make his actions right.

Or, he should steal the drug because everyone has a right to choose

life, regardless of the law.

!Stage 6: He shouldn’t steal the drug because others may need the

drug just as badly, and their lives are equally significant. Or, he should

steal the drug, because saving a human life is a more fundamental

value than the property rights of another person. He will have to face a

penalty, but he has saved a human life.

Criticisms of cognitive- developmental theories of morality (Kohlberg)

!Universal theory of moral development

!Same invariant stage-based sequence of developmental steps

!Stages 1 to 4 seem universal & invariant in order

!Stage 5 only found in urban cultures & is uncommon in tribal &

village societies

!Tested only male participants in USA

!Different results when tested in different cultures

Criticisms of Kohlberg

!Methodological issues

!Data built on open-ended explanations , categorised according

to specific criteria

!scoring procedures are not objective enough

!Dilemmas too narrow –pitching family against authority

!Too abstracted from real-life dilemmas

Gilligan’s theory of moral development

!Gender bias – all Kohlberg participants were male

!Gilligan – did not adequately describe the concerns of women

!Females tend to emphasise interpersonal concerns over justice &

individual rights.

!Developed an alternative theory based on ethics of caring

Gender and moral voice

• When faced with a moral dilemma, what issues or concerns influence your

decision?

Feminine themes:

!What others would think and/or feel

!Effects on others

!Situation specifics

!Effect on self

!Gut feeling/intuition & personal guilt

Masculine themes:

!Greater societal good

!Legal issues

!General principles

!Reasoning systematically

!Religious teachings

!Personal code of ethics

!Rights of others

Gilligan’s stages of moral development

Stages Features

Stage 1

Survival orientation

Egocentric concern for self, lack of awareness of

others’ needs

‘Right’ action is what promotes emotional or

physical survival

Stage 2 Conventional

care

Lack of distinction between what others want &

what is right

“right” action is whatever pleases others best

Stage 3 Integrated

care

Coordination or integration of needs or self &

others.

“right” action takes account of self as well as others

Spiritual influences

!Fowler faith knowing system

!Faith or spirituality is another aspect of moral

development that depends on cognitive growth

!As young adults become able to understand different ethical

perspectives, they become capable of finding their own spiritual meaning, or

faith

!Growth of faith (according to Fowler, 1991) is a universal

developmental process that can occur within or outside a specifically

religious context

Week 9 Lecture

Wednesday, 2 May 2018

9:08 AM

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