ETH 220 Moral Psychology
Professor:
Class meets:
Office hours:
Instructor’s email:
Office
Margaret (Meg) Bowman
T 3-5, George Ignatieff Theater
After class, and by appointment
meg.bowman@utoronto.ca
Center for Ethics, Larkin Building, Rm.
244
Aims of the Course: This class is designed to provide an overview of moral
development. The central questions we will be asking are: What is the origin of moral
judgement? What is the nature of moral thinking? Is it different in kind from other social
cognition? Can research on moral development offer insight into debate in moral
philosophy? Since moral thought and judgment develop along with a number of other
cognitive capacities, we will begin by surveying current research in cognitive
development more generally. In addition to examining the views of Jean Piaget and Lev
Vygotsky, we will pay particular attention to significance of attachment, social cognition,
and language acquisition. This is an interdisciplinary field, so we will be looking at
contemporary literature emerging from both the psychology and philosophy.
Evaluation: Your final grade in the course will be based on the following:
Papers:
Midterm paper: 4-6 pages, due October 23 (30% of final grade)
Final paper: 5-7 pages, due December 3 (35% of final grade)
Final Exam:
Two hour final exam (25% of final grade)
Attendance:
Attendance is taken at Tutorials (10% of final grade)
Policies:
1. The university email system is an official form of communication. At times, I will send
out important information regarding class. Your are responsible for ensuring that
your UofT email address is properly entered into the ROSI system.
2. Response to emails from students is at the instructor’s or TA’s discretion.
3. I consider academic dishonesty to be a very serious issue. If I find a student guilty of
any such behavior, I will take academic action. If you are unclear about what
constitutes academic dishonesty or about the possible repercussions of, and
penalties for acts of academic dishonesty, please consult the Office of Academic
Integrity webpage:
http://www.utoronto.ca/academicintegrity/academicoffenses.html.
4. All papers are due by 5pm on the due date of the assignment. Late papers will be
penalized one grade fragment per day late.
Readings: Readings are—for the most part—available electronically through the
University of Toronto Library Catalog. Otherwise, copies will be made available on the
course’s Blackboard page.
[Subject to revision/edition]
The readings are listed by topic. Class assignments will be announced in lecture as well
as on the class website.
Cognitive Development
Budwig, Nancy. “The Role of Language in Human Development.” In Handbook of
Developmental Psychology, edited by Jaan Valsiner and Kevin J. Connelly. 217237. London: Sage Publications, 2003.
Daehler, M.W. “Milestones: Cognitive Development.” In In Language, Memory, and
Cognition in Infancy and Early Childhood, edited by M. M. Haith and J. B.
Benson. 324-334. Oxford: Elsevier, 2009.
Halford, G. S. “Cogntive Developmental Theories.” In Language, Memory, and
Cognition in Infancy and Early Childhood, edited by M. M. Haith and J. B.
Benson. 298-308. Oxford: Elsevier, 2009.
Krepner, K. “Social Relations and Affective Development in the First Two Years in
Family Contexts.” In Handbook of Developmental Psychology, 194-214. London:
Sage Publications, 2003.
Lewis, Charlie, and Jeremy Capendale. “Social Cognition.” In Blackwell Handbook of
Childhood Social Development, edited by Peter K. Smith and Craig H. Hart, 375393. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2002.
Stevenson-Hinde, Joan, and Karina Verschuren. “Attachment in Childhood. ” In
Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development, edited by Peter K. Smith
and Craig H. Hart, 183-204. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2002.
Vallotton, C. D. and K. W. Fischer. “Cognitive Development.” In Language, Memory,
and Cognition in Infancy and Early Childhood, edited by M. M. Haith and J. B.
Benson. 286-298. Oxford: Elsevier, 2009.
Moral Development
Bergman, R. “Why Be Moral? A Conceptual Model from Developmental Psychology.”
Human Development 45 (2002): 104-124.
Blum, L. “Particularity and Responsiveness.” In The Emergence of Morality in Young
Children, edited by Jerome Kagan and Sharon Lamb, 306-337. Chicogo: Chicago
University Press, 1987.
Emde, Robert N., William F. Johnson, and M. Ann Easterbrooks. “The Do's and Don'ts
of Early Moral Development: Psychoanalytic Tradition and Current Research.” In
The Emergence of Morality in Young Children, 245-276. Chicago: Chicago
University Press, 1987.
Fleming, J. S.. “Piaget, Kohlberg, and Gilligan on Moral Development.” In
Psychological Perspectives on Human Development, 7-1 – 7-13. http://swppr.org/
, 2006. [accessed 9-5-13]
Krebs, D. L., & Denton, K. “Toward a More Pragmatic Approach to Morality:
A Critical Evaluation of Kohlberg’s Model.” Psychological Review, 112 (2006):
629-649.
Rackozy et al. “The Sources of Normativity.” Developmental Psychology, 44 (2008).
Schweder, R., Mahapatra, M., and J. Miller. “Culture and Moral Development.” In The
Emergence of Morality in Young Children, edited by Jerome Kagan and Sharon
Lamb, 1-83. Chicago: Chicago Univeristy Press, 1987.
Turiel, E. “The Development of Morality.” In Handbood of Child Psychology, Vol. 3:
Social, Emotional, and Personality Development, edited by W. Damon & R. M.
Lerner (Editors-in-chief), & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.) 6th ed. 789-857. Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley, 2006.
Turiel, E., Killen, E., and C. Helwig. “Morality: Its Structure, Function, and Vagaries.” In
The Emergence of Morality in Young Children, edited by Jerome Kagan and
Sharon Lamb, 155-243. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1987.
Winkler, G.N. “The Growth of Moral Motivation.” In The Moral Self, G. Noam and T.
Wren, eds., Cambridge: MIT Press, 1993.
Philosophical Readings
Alexander, L. and Michael Moore. “Deontological Ethics.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/
Hursthouse, Rosalind. “Virtue Ethics.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/
Sinnott-Armstrong, W. “Consequentialism.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/
Thagard, P. “Cognitive Science.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognitive-science/
Van Gulick, Robert. “Consciousness.” In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness/