PSY 2105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Reciprocal Altruism, Moral Relativism, Moral Realism

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2105
• Professor: Julie Desjardins

Document Summary

You"re a clinical psychologist and a patient discloses that he has raped women in the past. Your husband (or wife) is dying and the medication he (or she) needs is not covered. You"re in a relationship and you fall in love with someone else. Morality involves issues of right and wrong. Rules used by society to maintain order. Thought processes that underlie morality are assessed in moral reasoning studies. Behaviours governed by morality are assessed in studies of moral conduct. Used moral dilemmas to assess children"s thoughts on morality. Children have no true conception of morality. Children understand and use rules, but are not flexible in rule use (stage of moral realism) Children evaluate moral situations on the basis of amount of damage. Children realize that rules are conventions and can be altered. Children in this stage now consider intention in their evaluations of morality (stage of moral relativism)