Child Development
Laura E. Berk 7th edition
Chapter 6
Cognitive
Development:
Piagetian, Core
Knowledge, and
Vygotskian
Perspectives
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•
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Goals of
Cognitive Development Research
• Chart typical course of development
• Examine individual
differences
• Uncover mechanisms
of cognitive development
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Basics of Piaget’s Theory
General theory
Considers all aspects of cognition
Constructivist approach
• Stages are invariant
• Stages are universal
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Schemes
• Are psychological structures
• Organized ways of making sense of
experience
• Change with age
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Assimilation & Accommodation
• Assimilation
 Using current schemes to interpret
external world
 Accommodation
 Adjusting old schemes,
creating new ones to
better fit environment
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage
• Birth to 2 years
• Building schemes
through sensory
and motor
exploration
• Circular reactions
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Sensorimotor Substages
Reflexive Schemes
Birth –1
month
Newborn reflexes
Primary Circular
Reactions
1 – 4 months Simple motor habits centered
around own body
Secondary Circular
Reactions
4 – 8 months Repeat interesting effects in
soundings
Coordination of
Secondary Circular
Reactions
8 – 12
months
Intentional, goal-directed behavior;
object permanence
Tertiary Circular
Reactions
12 – 18
months
Explore properties of objects
through novel actions
Mental
Representations
12 months –
2 years
Internal depictions of objects or
events; deferred imitation
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Object Permanence
• Understanding that objects continue to
exist when out of sight
• According to Piaget, develops in
Substage 4
• Incomplete at first:
A-not-B Error
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Evaluation of the
Sensorimotor Stage
Timing of:
How Piaget was • Object search,
right
• A-not-B,
• Make-believe play
• Timing of object permanence, deferred
How Piaget
imitation, categorization, problem-solving
might have been by analogy
wrong
• All occur sooner than Piaget thought
Some suggest infants are born with core knowledge in several
domains of thought
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Gains in Preoperational
Mental Representation
• Language
 Piaget believed it developed from
sensorimotor experiences
• Make-believe play
• Dual
representation
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Benefits of Make-Believe Play
• Practice representational schemes
• Emotional integration
• Social, language skills
• Attention, memory,
logical reasoning
• Imagination, creativity
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Dual Representation
• Viewing a symbolic object as both
an object and a symbol
• Mastered around age 3
• Adult teaching can help
 Provide lots of maps, photos,
drawings, make-believe
playthings, etc.
 Point out similarities to real
world
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Limitations of
Preoperational Thought
• Cannot perform mental
operations
• Egocentrism and animistic
thinking
• Cannot conserve
• Lack hierarchical
classification
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Egocentrism
Failure to
distinguish
others’ views
from one’s
own
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Animistic Thinking
Belief that
inanimate
objects have
lifelike qualities
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Limits on Conservation
• Centration
Focus on one
aspect and
neglect others
• Irreversibility
Cannot mentally
reverse a set of
steps
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Follow-Up Research on
Preoperational Thought
Egocentric
Thought
• Can adjust language to others and take
others’ perspectives in simple situations
• Animistic thinking comes from incomplete
knowledge of objects
• Can do simplified conservation
Illogical Thought • Can reason by analogy
• Use causal expressions
Categorization
• Everyday knowledge is categorized
Appearance
versus reality
• Can solve appearance-reality tasks in
nonverbal ways
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Evaluation of the
Preoperational Stage
How Piaget was Preschoolers do develop beginnings of
right
logical thinking
How Piaget
might have
been wrong
Logical thinking develops more
gradually than Piaget thought
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Achievements of the
Concrete Operational Stage
• Conservation
 Decentration
 Reversibility
• Classification
• Seriation
 Transitive inference
• Spatial Reasoning
 Directions
 Maps
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Limitations of Concrete Operational
Thought
• Operations work best with
objects that are concrete
 Problems with
abstract ideas
• Horizontal décalage
 Master concrete
operational tasks
gradually
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Follow-up Research on
Concrete Operational Thought
• Culture and schooling affect
performance on tasks
 Going to school gives
experience on
Piagetian tasks
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Piaget’s Theory:
Formal Operational Stage

Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
Deducing hypotheses from a general
theory
 Pendulum problem

• Propositional Thought
 Evaluating the logic of
verbal propositions
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Consequences of
Abstract Thought
• Self-Consciousness & Self-Focusing
 Imaginary audience
 Sensitivity to criticism
• Idealism and Criticism
• Problems with Decision Making
 Inexperience
 Overwhelming options
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Follow-up Research on
Formal Operational Thought
• School-age children start developing
abstract thinking skills
 Problems with propositional thinking
 Logical necessity
 Careful thinking about major premise
• Formal operations may not be
universal
 Training, context contribute
 Often fall back on easier thinking
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Educational Principles
Derived from Piaget’s Theory
• Discovery learning
• Sensitivity to children’s
readiness to learn
 Developmentally
appropriate practices
• Acceptance of individual
differences
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Overall Evaluation
of Piaget’s Theory
Piaget’s change processes — assimilation,
accommodation, and organization — can’t
account for patterns of children’s changes
observed today
Cognitive development not always selfgenerating
Cognition not as broadly stagelike as Piaget
believed
Piaget’s theory still inspires research
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Core Knowledge Perspective
• Evolutionary perspective: infants start life
with innate, special-purpose knowledge
systems
 Core domains of thought
• Core domains prepare us
to rapidly develop key
aspects of cognition
• Development is
domain-specific
 Children as naïve theorists
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Suggested Domains
of Core Knowledge
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Physical
Numerical
Linguistic
Psychological
Biological
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Development of
Infants’ Physical Knowledge
One solid object cannot move through
another
2 - 3 months
Size comparisons - notice when objects are:
• Too wide for openings
5-6 months
• Too tall for containers
7-8 months
Gravity, object support
6- 7 months
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Theory of Children as Theorists
Children:
• Observe an event
• Explain, or theorize about its
cause
 Draw on innate concepts
• Test theory against
experience
• Revise theory
if needed
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Evaluation of
Core Knowledge Perspective
Most serious consideration of beginnings of
thinking
Amount and nature of inborn knowledge
hotly debated
Suggests environment and experience work
together, but does not clarify how
Suggests cognitive development is
independent; little attention to learning with
others
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Cognition is based on:
• Social interactions
• Language
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Children’s Private Speech
• Piaget called this “egocentric speech”
• Vygotsky viewed it as foundation for all
higher cognitive processes
• Helps guide behavior
 Used more when tasks are difficult,
after errors, or when confused
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Zone of Proximal Development
Tasks child cannot
do alone but can
learn to do with
help
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Social Interactions that
Promote Cognitive Development
• Intersubjectivity
• Scaffolding
• Guided
participation
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Vygotsky and Make-Believe Play
• Provides Zone of Proximal
Development
 Imaginary substitutions help
children separate thinking
from objects
 Rules strengthen capacity to
think before acting
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Vygotsky and Education
• Assisted Discovery
 Teacher:
 Guides learning
 Tailors help to
Zone of Proximal
Development
• Peer Collaboration
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Reciprocal Teaching
• Teacher and students take turns
leading dialogue
 Ask
 Summarize
 Clarify
 Predict
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Cooperative Learning
Small groups of classmates
work toward common goals
 Cultural variations
in ability to learn
cooperatively
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Theory
Helps explain cultural diversity in
cognition
Emphasizes importance of teaching
Focus on language deemphasizes
observation, other learning methods
Says little about biological
contributions to cognition
Vague in explanation of change
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Child Development
Laura E. Berk 7th edition
Chapter 7
Cognitive
Development:
An InformationProcessing
Perspective
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Information Processing
Store model
Increases in two broad areas:
• Capacity
 Memory span
 Processing speed
• Strategy use
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Connectionist Model
of a Neural Network
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Neo-Piagetian Perspective
• Accepts Piaget’s stages
• Also suggests change within each stage
 Due to increases in
working-memory capacity
 Brain development
 Practice with schemes
and automization
 Central conceptual structures
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Model of Strategy Choice
• Evolutionary perspective
on cognition
 Generate a variety
of strategies
 Selected strategies
survive
 Others die off
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Overlapping Waves Theory
• When facing a problem or
task, children:
 Try variety of strategies
 Observe how well they work
 Gradually select those
leading to rapid, accurate
answers
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Development of
Sustained Attention
• Increases sharply between 2 and
3-1/2 years
 Frontal lobe growth
 More complex
play goals
 Adult scaffolding
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Cognitive Inhibition
• Ability to control distracting stimuli
 Internal - thoughts
 External - distractions
• Improves from infancy on
 Gains on complex tasks
from middle childhood
to adolescence
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Planning
• Begins in infancy
• Improves with age
 Preschoolers sometimes
generate & follow simple plans
 School-age children better
planners than preschoolers
• Tools, teaching, practice
help children learn to plan
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Steps in Planning
• Postponing action to weigh alternatives
• Organizing task materials
• Remembering steps of plan
• Monitoring how well plan
works
• Revising if necessary
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Strategies for Storing Information
• Rehearsal
• Organization
• Elaboration
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Recognition and Recall
Recognition
Recall
• Noticing that a
• Generating a mental
stimulus is identical representation of an
or similar to one
absent stimulus
previously
• More difficult than
experienced
recognition
• Easier than recall
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Constructive Processing
• We select and interpret
information as it is encoded,
stored, or retrieved.
• Can happen deliberately
or due to “fuzzy trace.”
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Semantic Memory
• Vast
• Organized
 Taxonomically
 Hierarchically
• Grows from
episodic memory
• Repeated events
form scripts
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Autobiographical Memory
• Long-lasting representations of
one-time events
• Personal meaning
• Develop basis after age 2
 Self-image
 Time-oriented life story
• Parents help develop
narrative
 Elaborative
 Repetitive
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Eyewitness Memory
• Preschoolers’ testimony less reliable
than school-age children’s
 Less-developed language skills
 Desire to please
 Poorer source-monitoring
 Bias toward specifics; less gist memory
 Less skill with autobiographical
narratives - may leave out details
 Suggestibility
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Metacognition
• Awareness and understanding of
various aspects of thought
• Develops with:
 Theory of Mind
 Knowledge of Mental Activity
 Cognitive capacities
 Strategies
 Task variables
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Promoting
Cognitive Self-Regulation
Point out special demands of tasks
Stress importance of planful learning
Suggest effective learning strategies
• Provide for evaluation of effectiveness
Emphasize monitoring of progress
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Fostering Emergent Literacy
• Spoken language skills
 Phonological awareness
 Adult conversations
• Informal literacy
experiences
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Early Childhood
Mathematical Reasoning
• Ordinality
 Relationships between quantities
 14 to 16 months
• Cardinality
 When counting, last number
is the total
 3-1/2 to 4 years
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Scientific Reasoning
• Coordinating Theory with Evidence
• Improves with Age
 Contributing factors
 Working memory capacity
 Exposure to
complex problems
 Metacognitive understanding
 Open-mindedness
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Evaluation of Information-Processing
Approach
Advantages
Limitations
Breaks complex
Components hard to
cognitive activities into
precise components
combine into broad
picture
and skill-related
differences
experience; overlooks
nonlinear aspects,
interaction with others
Computer metaphors
Provides details of age- simplify
real-life
Describes precise
mechanisms of
cognitive development
Slow to include biology,
evolution
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Child Development
Laura E. Berk 7th edition
Chapter 8
Intelligence
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transmission of any image over a network;
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extraction, in whole or in part of any images;
Any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Defining Intelligence
• Difficult to find consensus
• “Intelligent” behaviors change with age
• Most people suggest
 Verbal ability
 Practical problem-solving
 Social competence
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence
Fluid
Crystallized
• Depends on basic
information
processing skills:
• Skills that depend on:
 Detecting
relationships among
stimuli
 Analytical speed
 Working memory
 Accumulated
knowledge
 Experience
 Good judgment
 Mastery of social
conventions
• Valued by person’s
culture
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Intelligence defined
• Sparman’s concept of “g”
• Thurston’s view of intelligence
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Sternberg’s
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Gardner’s
Multiple Intelligences
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Linguistic
Logico-mathematical
Musical
Spatial
Bodily-kinesthetic
Naturalist
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Intelligence Tests
Group Tests
Individual Tests
• Allow testing of large • Examiners need
groups
training & experience
• Require little training
 Provide insights about
to administer
accuracy of score
• Useful for
• Identify highly
instructional planning
intelligent children
• Identify students who
and also those with
need individual
learning problems
testing
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Commonly-Used
Intelligence Tests
Individual Tests • Stanford-Binet
• Weschsler
Aptitude Tests
• SAT
• ACT
Achievement
Tests
• Classroom tests
Infant Tests
• Bayley Scales
• Fagan Test
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
A Normal Distribution
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Stability of IQ Scores
Correlational Stability Absolute Scores
• Compares how children
score relative to agemates, from one time to
the next
• Examines same
child’s profile of
scores over repeated
testings
• Better correlations
• Most children
fluctuate
 When older at first testing
 When tests are close
together
• Some either increase
or decrease with age
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Environmental
Cumulative Deficit Hypothesis
• Negative effects of underprivilege
increase the longer it lasts
• Early cognitive deficits
lead to more deficits
• Harder and harder to
overcome
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
IQ As a Predictor
Academic
Achievement
• Correlated with achievement test
scores, grades, staying in school
Occupational
Attainment
• IQ predicts adult attainment well, but
not perfectly
• Personality, practical intelligence also
important
Psychological
Adjustment
• Moderately correlated
• Low IQ related to school failure,
aggression, delinquency
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Genetics and IQ
 May account for about half of differences
 Disagreements about interaction with
environment
 Adoption studies show
influence of both
 Ethnic differences may
be more cultural than
genetic
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
The Flynn Effect
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Cultural Bias in Testing
Two views:
1. Tests not biased; represent success in
the common culture
2. Cultural factors can hurt
test performance
• Communication styles
• Culture-specific content
• Stereotypes
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Types of
Home Environmental Influences
Shared
Affect all siblings
similarly
Nonshared
Make siblings
different from one
another
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Shared
Environmental Influences
• Home environment qualities
 HOME checklist
• Family beliefs
about intellectual
success
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Nonshared
Environmental Influences
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Birth order
Spacing
Sibling relationships
Parental favorites
Assigned roles
Different impact of family events
Influences away from home
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Creativity
Ability to produce original, appropriate
work
• Psychometric approach:
divergent thinking
• Investment theory:
novel project increases
chances of creative,
valuable product
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Personality Resources
for Creativity
• Innovative thinking
style
• Tolerance of ambiguity
• Perseverance
• Risk-taking
• Courage of
convictions
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Motivational Resources
for Creativity
Task focus
 Goal focus,
extrinsic
rewards can
reduce
creativity
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Child Development
Laura E. Berk 7th edition
Chapter 9
Language
Development
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any image over a network;
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whole or in part of any images;
Any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Components of Language
Phonology
Rules about structure and sequence of
speech sounds
Semantics
Vocabulary - words and word
combinations for concepts
Grammar
• Syntax - rules for sentences
• Morphology - grammatical markers
Pragmatics
Appropriate and effective communication
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Three Theories of
Language Development
Behaviorist
Nativist
Interactionist
Learned through operant conditioning
(reinforcement) and imitation
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
biologically prepares infants to learn
rules of language through universal
grammar
Inner capacities and environment work
together; Social context is important
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Support for Biological
Language Preparedness
• Animal language
 Language seems to be unique to humans
• Brain structures
 Regions predisposed to
language processing
• Sensitive period
 During brain lateralization
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Interactionist Theories of Language
Development
• Information-Processing Theories
 Statistical learning theory
 Brain studies
• Social Interactionist Theories
 Native desire for
understanding
combines with rich
language environment
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Getting Ready to Talk:
Receptivity to Language
• Newborns sensitive to speech
 Especially mother’s
• Categorical speech perception
 Ability to distinguish phonemes
• Statistical analysis,
rule-learning
• Child-directed
speech
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Early Semantic Development
• Comprehension before production
 5 month lag
• First words linked to
cognition, emotion
• Vocabulary spurt
18-24 months
 Fast-mapping
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Individual Differences
in Language Development
• Gender
• Temperament
• Language environment
• Language Style
 Referential
 Expressive
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Types of Early Words
Object
and
Action
• More objects than actions
• Objects are easier concepts,
parents rarely name verbs
• Influenced by culture & language
State
• Modifiers or labels for attributes size, color, possession
• Learn general distinctions before
specific
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Preschoolers’
Semantic Development
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•
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Underextensions
Overextensions
Word coinages
Metaphors
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Factors Contributing
to Semantic Development
• Adult feedback
• Cognitive processing
 Working memory - phonological store
• Strategies
 Lexical contrast
 Mutual exclusivity bias
 Syntactic bootstrapping
 Social information
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Development of
Grammatical Morphemes
• Structural complexity
affects order acquired
• Overregulation
 Applying rules without
appropriate exceptions
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Views on Grammar Development
Product of
cognitive
development
• Semantic bootstrapping
• Direct observation of language
structure
• Categories for bootstrapping
Inborn capacities
• Language-making capacity
Environmental
support
• Adults correct indirectly with
reformulations
• Asking for clarification
• Recasts
• Expansions
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Pragmatic Development
• 2-year-olds can have
effective conversations
• Early childhood - turnabout
• Middle childhood
 Shading
 Illocutionary knowledge
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Factors that
Enhance Pragmatic Development
• Adult interactions
 Conversations
 Dialogues about
storybooks, shared
reading
• Siblings
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Development of Narrative Skills
• Leapfrog narratives - 4 years
 Few evaluations
• Chronological narratives - 4-1/2 to 5 years
• Classical narratives - 6 years
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Learning Two Languages
Learn both at • No problems with language
the same
development
time
• Good at both by preschool
Takes 3 to 5 years to be as good as
One, then the
same-age native speakers of second
other
language
Both offer cognitive advantages of bilingualism
• Attention, reasoning, concepts, flexibility
• General language skills
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Child Development
Laura E. Berk 7th edition
Chapter 12
Moral
Development
•
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any image over a network;
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whole or in part of any images;
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Perspectives on
Moral Development
• Evolutionary, genetic heritage
Biological
• Brain areas
• Freud: superego and guilt
Psychoanalytic • Today: induction, empathy-based
guilt
Social Learning • Modeling moral behavior
Behaviorist
CognitiveDevelopmental
• Rewards and Punishment
• Children as active thinkers about
social rules
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Child Factors
in Inductive Discipline
• Empathy
 Empathic children require less power
assertion
• Temperament
 Anxious: mild,
patient tactics
 Fearless: warm
relationship & firm
correction
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Punishment in Early Childhood
Physical punishment and frequent punishment
have undesirable side effects.
Effectiveness of
punishment
increased by
Alternatives to
punishment
• Consistency
• Warm parent-child
relationship
• Positive discipline
• Time Out
• Withdrawing privileges
• Positive Discipline
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Piaget’s Theory of
Moral Development
Heteronomous
Morality
• View rules as handed
down by authorities,
permanent,
unchangeable, require
strict obedience
• Judge wrongness by
outcomes, not
intentions
Autonomous
Morality
• Rules as sociallyagreed on, changeable
• Standard of ideal
reciprocity
• Judge on outcomes
and intentions
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory
√
Children can judge intentions earlier than Piaget
thought.
√
Young children center more often on
consequences, interpret intentions rigidly.
√
Young children question basis of authority.
√
Many children show both heteronomous and
autonomous reasoning. Problem for stages.
√
Moral development process extends longer than
Piaget thought.
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Kohlberg’s Stages of
Moral Development
Preconventional
Level
Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience
Stage 2: Instrumental Purpose
Stage 3: “Good boy-good girl” (Morality
Conventional
Level
of interpersonal cooperation)
Stage 4: Social Order Maintaining
Postconventional
or Principled Level
Stage 5: Social Contract
Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principle
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Sex Differences in
Moral Reasoning?
• Kohlberg: rights and justice orientation
• Gilligan: caring for others orientation
 Ethic of Care
• Both sexes use
both orientations,
but females may
stress care more
 Greater experience
as caregivers
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Religious Involvement
and Morality
• Formal religious involvement declines
in adolescence
• Religious involvement linked to:
 More community service
 Lower drug & alcohol use
 Later sex
 Less delinquency
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Making Moral Distinctions
• Conventions with vs. without clear
purpose
Social
Conventions • Consider intentions and context of
violations
Moral
Imperatives
Personal
Matters
• Consider intentions and context of
violations
• Recognizes areas of personal
choice, relate to moral rules
• Recognize limits on choice
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Development of
Distributive Justice
• Equality: 5 – 6 years
• Merit: 6 – 7 years
• Benevolence: around 8
years
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Self-Control
• Compliance emerges at 12-18 months
 Tested through delay of gratification
• Improves through childhood and
adolescence
 Learn cognitive strategies
 Develop moral self-regulation
• Individual differences:
 Temperament
 Parenting
 Hot v. cool systems
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Types of Aggression
• Instrumental
 Meant to help the child
get something he or
she wants
• Hostile
 Meant to hurt someone
else
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Types of Hostile Aggression
Type
How the Harm is Caused
Direct or
Indirect?
Physical
Physical injury
Either
• Threats of physical aggression
Verbal
Relational
• Name-calling
• Teasing
Damage to peer relationships
Always
direct
Either
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Development and Aggression
Early & Middle • Instrumental declines, hostile increases
Childhood
• Boys may be more physically aggressive
Adolescence
• Less aggression, more delinquency
• Delinquency peaks in middle adolescence
Individual differences in aggression are lasting
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007
Sources of Aggression
• Family
 Coercive interaction patterns
• Social-Cognitive Deficits & Distortions
 See world as hostile
 Believe aggression works
 Overly high self-esteem
• Community
• Culture
 Ethnic, political conflicts
© Allyn & Bacon/ Longman 2007