1 Chapter 7: Moral Development, Values, and Religion Outline • • • Domains of Moral Development – Moral Thought – Moral Behavior – Moral Feeling – Moral Personality Contexts of Moral Development – Parenting – Schooling Values, Religion, and Cults – Values – Religion and Spirituality – Cults McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 Domains of Moral Development • Moral development involves the distinction between what is right and wrong, what matters to people, and what people should do in their interactions with others. • First, how do adolescents reason or think about rules for ethical conduct? • Second, how do adolescents actually behave in moral circumstances? • Third, how do adolescents feel about moral matters? McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 3 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Thought • How do adolescents think about standards of right and wrong? • Kohlberg (1958, 1976, 1986) crafted a major theory of how adolescents think about right and wrong. • He proposed that moral development is based primarily on moral reasoning and unfolds in a series of stages. • A key concept in understanding moral development is internalization, the developmental change from behavior that is externally controlled to behavior that is controlled by internal standards and principles. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Thought • Kohlberg’s Stages • Hypothesized three levels of moral development. • Each level is characterized by two stages. • A key concept in understanding moral development is internalization. • The developmental change from behavior that is externally controlled to behavior that is controlled by internal standards and principles. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 5 Domains of Moral Development Kohlberg’s Three Levels and Six Stages of Moral Development Fig. 7.1 McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 6 Domains of Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning – Lowest level. – No internalization of moral values. – Controlled by external rewards and punishments. – Stage 1. Heteronomous morality • Moral thinking is often tied to punishment. – Stage 2. Individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange • Individuals pursue their own interests but also let others do the same. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 Domains of Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Level 2: Conventional Reasoning – Internalization is intermediate. – Individuals abide by certain standards (internal), but they are the standards of others (external), such as parents or the laws of society. – Stage 3. Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity • Individuals value trust, caring, and loyalty to others. • Children and adolescents often adopt their parents’ moral standards. – Stage 4. Social systems morality • Understanding the social order, law, justice, and duty. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 8 Domains of Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning – The highest level. – Morality is completely internalized and is not based on others’ standards. – Personal moral code. – Stage 5. Social contract or utility and individual rights • Values, rights, and principles transcend the law. – Stage 6. Universal ethical principles • Highest stage. • The person has developed a moral standard based on universal human rights. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 9 Domains of Moral Development Moral Reasoning at Kohlberg’s Stages in Response to the “Heinz and the Druggist” Story Fig. 7.2 McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 10 Domains of Moral Development Age and the Percentage of Individuals at Each Kohlberg Stage Fig. 7.3 McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 11 Domains of Moral Development • Influences on Kohlberg’s Stages – – – – Cognitive development. Exposure to appropriate social experiences. Peer interaction. Parent-child experiences. • In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on the role of parenting in moral development (Thompson, 2009). • Why Is Kohlberg’s Theory Important for Understanding Moral Development in Adolescence? – It tells the developmental story of people trying to understand things like society, rules and roles, and institutions and relationships. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 12 Domains of Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Critics – Moral Thought and Moral Behavior. • Moral reasons can always be a shelter for immoral behavior. – Assessment of Moral Reasoning • Some developmentalists fault the quality of Kohlberg’s research and stress that more attention should be paid to the way moral development is assessed (Thoma, 2006). • The hypothetical moral dilemmas posed in Kohlberg’s stories do not match the moral dilemmas many children and adults face in their everyday lives (Walker, de Vries, & Trevethan, 1987; Yussen, 1977). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 13 Domains of Moral Development Actual Moral Dilemmas Generated by Adolescents Fig. 7.4 McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 14 Domains of Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Critics (Continued) – Culture and Moral Development. • Although Kohlberg’s approach does capture much of the moral reasoning voiced in various cultures around the world there are some important moral concepts in specific cultures that his approach misses or misconstrues (Miller, 2007). – Gender and the Care Perspective. • Carol Gilligan (1982, 1992, 1996; Gilligan & others, 2003) argues that Kohlberg’s theory of moral development does not adequately reflect relationships and concern for others. – A justice perspective is a moral perspective that focuses on the rights of the individual. – A care perspective views people in terms of their connectedness with others and emphasizes interpersonal communication, relationships with others, and concern for others. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 15 Domains of Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Critics (Continued) – Gender and the Care Perspective (Continued). • According to Gilligan, Kohlberg underplayed the care perspective. • Gilligan believes that this de-emphasis may be because Kohlberg was a male, most of his research was with males rather than females, and he used male responses as a model for his theory. • However, experts have now concluded that there is no evidence to support Gilligan’s claim that Kohlberg downplayed females’ moral thinking (Hyde, 2005, 2007; Walker, 2006). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 16 Domains of Moral Development • • Social Conventional Reasoning – Focuses on thoughts about social consensus and convention. – Some theorists emphasize that Kohlberg did not adequately do this (Smetana, 2006). Moral Reasoning – Emphasizes ethical issues. – Conventional rules are created to control behavioral irregularities and maintain the social system. – Conventional rules are arbitrary and subject to individual judgment. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 17 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Reasoning (Continued) – Moral rules are not arbitrary nor are they created by social consensus. – Moral rules are obligatory, widely accepted, and somewhat impersonal (Turiel, 2006). – Moral judgments involve concepts of justice, whereas social conventional judgments are concepts of social organization. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 18 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Behavior – What are the basic processes that behaviorists believe are responsible for adolescents’ moral behavior? – How do social cognitive theorists view adolescents’ moral development? – What is the nature of prosocial behavior? McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 19 Domains of Moral Development • Basic Processes and Moral Behavior. – What are the basic processes that behaviorists believe are responsible for adolescents’ moral behavior? • Reinforcement, punishment, and imitation. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 20 Domains of Moral Development • Social Cognitive Theory and Moral Behavior. – How do social cognitive theorists view adolescents’ moral development? – Emphasizes a distinction between adolescents’ moral competence and moral performance. • Moral competence: The ability to produce moral behaviors. • Moral performance: Performing those behaviors in specific situations. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 21 Domains of Moral Development • Prosocial and Moral Behavior. – What is the nature of prosocial behavior? • Altruism: Unselfish interest in helping another person. • Forgiveness: Occurs when an injured person releases the injurer from possible retaliation. • Although adolescents have often been described as egocentric and selfish, adolescent acts of altruism are plentiful (Carlo, 2006). • Adolescent females view themselves as more prosocial and empathic, and also engage in more prosocial behavior than males (Eisenberg & others, 2009). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 22 Domains of Moral Development • Prosocial and Moral Behavior (Continued). – Forgiveness • An aspect of prosocial behavior. • Occurs when the injured person releases the injurer from possible behavioral retaliation. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 23 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Feeling – Psychoanalytic Theory • Ego ideal: The component of the superego that involves standards approved by the parents. • Conscience: The component of the superego that involves behaviors disapproved by the parents. – Erik Erikson (1970) outlined three stages of moral development: • Specific moral learning in childhood. • Ideological concerns in adolescence. • Ethical consolidation in adulthood. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 24 Domains of Moral Development • Empathy – Experienced as an emotional state. – It often has a cognitive component—the ability to discern another’s inner psychological states, or what has been previously called perspective taking. – At about 10 to 12 years of age, individuals develop an empathy for people who live in unfortunate circumstances (Damon, 1988). – Children’s concerns are no longer limited to the feelings of particular persons in situations they directly observe. – Adolescents’ empathic behavior varies considerably. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 25 Domains of Moral Development • The Contemporary Perspective – Many developmentalists believe that both positive feelings, such as empathy, sympathy, admiration, and self-esteem, and negative feelings, such as anger, outrage, shame, and guilt, contribute to adolescents’ moral development (Damon, 1995; Eisenberg & others, 2009). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 26 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Personality – Thoughts, behavior, and feelings can all be involved in an individual’s moral personality. – Three aspects of moral personality that have recently been emphasized are: 1. Moral identity 2. Moral character 3. Moral exemplars McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 27 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Identity – Individuals have a moral when moral notions and commitments are central to one’s life (Blasi, 2005). – Augusto Blasi (2005) argued that developing a moral identity and commitment is influenced by three important virtues: 1. Willpower (self-control) 2. Integrity 3. Moral desire McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 28 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Character – Blasi’s (2005) ideas have much in common with James Rest’s (1995) view that moral character has not been adequately emphasized in moral development. – Moral character presupposes that the person has set moral goals and that achieving those goals involves the commitment to act in accord with those goals. – Among the moral virtues people emphasize are honesty, truthfulness, trustworthiness, care, compassion, thoughtfulness, and conscientiousness (Walker, 2002, p. 74). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 29 Domains of Moral Development • Moral Exemplars – Are people who have lived exemplary lives. – Have a moral personality, identity, character, and set of virtues that reflect moral excellence and commitment (Walker & Frimer, 2009a,b). – The moral exemplars “were more agreeable, more advanced in their faith and moral reasoning development, further along in forming an adult identity, and more willing to enter into close relationships” (Matsuba & Walker, 2004, p. 413). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 30 Contexts of Moral Development • Parental Discipline – In Freud’s psychoanalytic theory: • Moral development are practices that instill the fears of punishment and of losing parental love. These include: – Love withdrawal – Power assertion – Induction (Hoffman, 1970) McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 31 Contexts of Moral Development • Parenting Moral Children and Adolescents. – A recent research view concluded that, in general, moral children tend to have parents who (Eisenberg & Valiente, 2002, p. 134): • Are warm and supportive rather than punitive. • Use inductive discipline. • Provide opportunities for the children to learn about others’ perspectives and feelings. • Involve children in family decision making and in the process of thinking about moral decisions. • Model moral behaviors and thinking themselves, and provide opportunities for their children to do so. • Provide information about what behaviors are expected and why. • Foster an internal rather than an external sense of morality. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 32 Contexts of Moral Development • Parenting Moral Children and Adolescents (Continued). – Recently, an interest has developed in determining which parenting strategies work best when adolescents are confronted with situations in which they are exposed to values outside the home that conflict with parents’ values (Grusec, 2006). – Two strategies that parents often use: • Cocooning – When parents protect adolescents from exposure to deviant behavior, and thus the temptation to engage in negative moral behavior. • Pre-arming – Anticipating conflicting values and preparing adolescents to handle them. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 33 Contexts of Moral Development • Schools – The Hidden Curriculum • Conveyed by the moral atmosphere that is a part of every school. – Character Education • Teaching students a basic moral literacy to prevent them from engaging in immoral behavior and doing harm to themselves or others (Arthur, 2008; Carr, 2008). – Values Clarification • Helping people to clarify what is important to them, what is worth working for, and what purpose their lives are to serve. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 34 Contexts of Moral Development • Schools – Cognitive Moral Education • A concept based on the belief that students should learn to value things like democracy and justice as their moral reasoning develops. – Service Learning • A form of education that promotes social responsibility and service to the community. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 35 Contexts of Moral Development • Cheating – Among the reasons students give for cheating include the pressure for getting high, time pressures, poor teaching, and lack of interest (Stephens, 2008). – A long history of research also implicates the power of the situation in determining whether students cheat or not (Hartshorne & May, 1928–1930; Murdock, Miller, & Kohlbhardt, 2004; Vandehey, Diekhoff, & LaBeff, 2007). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 36 Contexts of Moral Development • An Integrative Approach • Encompasses both the reflective moral thinking and commitment to justice advocated in Kohlberg’s approach. • Developing a particular moral character as advocated in the character education approach (Narvaez, 2006, 2008). • Another integrative moral education program that is being implemented is called integrative ethical education (Holter & Narvaez, 2008). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 37 Contexts of Moral Development • An Integrative Approach (Continued) • Another integrative moral education program that is being implemented is called integrative ethical education (Holter & Narvaez, 2008; Narvaez, 2006, 2008; Narvaez & others, 2004). • The goal is to turn moral novices into moral experts by educating students about four ethical skills that moral experts possess: • • • • McGraw-Hill Ethical sensitivity Ethical judgment Ethical focus Ethical action Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 38 Contexts of Moral Development Ethical Skills in Integrative Ethical Education Fig. 7.5 McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 39 Values, Religion, and Cults • Values • Beliefs and attitudes about the way things should be. • Involve what is important to us. • Reflect the intrapersonal dimension of morality. • Over the past three decades, traditional-aged college students have shown an increased concern for personal well-being and a decreased concern for the well-being of others, especially for the disadvantaged. (Pryor & others, 2007). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 40 Values, Religion, and Cults Changing Freshman Life Goals, 1968 to 2007 Fig. 7.6 McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 41 Values, Religion, and Cults • Religion and Spirituality • Religious and spiritual issues are important to adolescents and emerging adults (Benson, Roehlkepartain, & Hong, 2008; Good & Willoughby, 2008; King & Roeser, 2009; Lerner, Roeser, & Phelps, 2009). • Analysis of the World Values Survey of 18- to 24-year olds revealed that emerging adults in less developed countries were more likely to be religious than their counterparts in more developed countries (Lippman & Keith, 2006). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 42 Religion and Spirituality Developmental Changes in Religiousness from 14 to 25 Years of Age Fig. 7.7 McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 43 Values, Religion, and Cults • The Positive Role of Religion and Spirituality in Adolescents’ and Emerging Adults’ Lives • Linked with positive outcomes for adolescents and emerging adults (King & Benson, 2009). • Plays a role in adolescents’ health and whether they engage in problem behaviors (King & Roeser, 2009). • Many religious adolescents and emerging adults also internalize their religion’s message about caring and concern for people (Ream & Savin-Williams, 2003). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 44 Values, Religion, and Cults • • • Developmental Changes • Many adolescents and emerging adults may question what their own religious beliefs truly are. Cognitive Changes • Many of the cognitive changes thought to influence religious development involve Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory. Erikson’s Theory • Identity development becomes a central focus. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 45 Values, Religion, and Cults • Religious Socialization and Parenting • • • • Introduce certain beliefs to children. Ensure that they will carry on a religious tradition. Adults tend to adopt the religious teachings of their upbringing. If a religious change or reawakening occurs, it is most likely to take place during adolescence. • It is important to consider the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship and whether mothers or fathers are more influential (Granqvist & Dickie, 2006; Ream & Savin-Williams, 2003). • Adolescents who have a positive relationship with their parents or are securely attached to them are likely to adopt their parents’ religious affiliation. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 46 Values, Religion, and Cults • Religiousness and Sexuality in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood. • Most churches discourage premarital sex. • Attendees likely to hear messages about abstaining from sex. • Involvement of adolescents and emerging adults in religious organizations also enhances the probability that they will become friends with adolescents who have restrictive attitudes toward premarital sex. • Religion is a pervasive influence throughout the world. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 47 Values, Religion, and Cults • Cults • Defined in various ways: • “Dangerous institutions that cause severe emotional harm.” • “Marginal and deviant groups.” • “Fringe, often new, religious movements.” • Described as being controlled by a charismatic leader: • Fostering the idea that there is only one correct set of beliefs and practices. • Demanding unquestionable loyalty and obedience. • Using mind-control techniques. • Using deception and deceit in recruiting and interacting with the outside world. • Exploiting members’ labor and finances (Galanter, 2000). McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 48 Values, Religion, and Cults • What is the difference between a cult and a church, a service club, or groups like Alcoholics Anonymous? • The ultimate goal of the group (Cialdini & Rhoad, 1999). • Established religions and altruistic movements focus outward, attempting to better the lives of members as well as nonmembers. • Cults direct their energies inward rather than outward, serving their own purposes and those of the cult’s leader. • Religions and altruistic movements usually do not involve overbearing authoritarian control by a leader, the use of deception in recruiting members, coercive influence techniques, or the replacement of a recruit’s identity with a new identity that would not have been freely chosen by the individual before joining the group. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 49 Values, Religion, and Cults • Who joins cults? • For the most part, normal, average people (Oser, Scarlett, & Bucher, 2006). • Approximately two-thirds of cult members are psychologically healthy individuals who come from normal families (Cialdini & Rhoad, 1999). • The remaining one-third often have depressive symptoms, in many cases linked with personal loss such as a death in the family, a failed romantic relationship, or career problems. • Only about 5 percent of cult members have major psychological problems before joining the cult. • Cults prefer intelligent, productive individuals who can contribute money and talent to “the cause,” whatever that might be. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 50 Values, Religion, and Cults • Who joins cults? (Continued) • It is possible that timing rather than personality is the determining factor in vulnerability to cults. • Many individuals who become cult members are in a transitional phase of life. • Moved to a new city. • Lost a job. • Dropped out of school. • Given up traditional religion as personally irrelevant. • • Cults promise to fulfill most of a person’s individual needs and to make his or her life safe, healthy, caring, and predictable. Cult leaders offer followers simple or predictable paths to happiness. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 51 RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS • Handbook of Motor and Character Education edited by Larry Nucci and Darcia Narvaez (2008). New York: Routledge. A number of leading experts describe their views of many aspects of moral education. • Cults by Marc Galanter. (1999) New York: Oxford University Press. This book explores many aspects of cults, including their social psychological characteristics. • “Moral Cognitions and Prosocial Responding in Adolescence” by Nancy Eisenberg, Amanda Morris, Brenda McDaniel, and Tracy Spinrad (2009). In R.M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of Adolescent Psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley. Leading experts provide an up-to-date look at theory and research on moral development in adolescence. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 52 RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS • Spiritual Development edited by Peter Benson, Eugene Roehlkepartain, and Kathryn Hong (2008). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Leading scholars describe a range of topics on spiritual development in youth. McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 53 E-LEARNING TOOLS To help you master the material in this chapter, visit the Online Learning Center for Adolescence, 13th edition at: http://www.mhhe.com/santrocka13e McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.