Slide 1
A Topical Approach to
LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
13
Moral Development,
Values, and Religion
John W. Santrock
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
Moral Development, Values, and
Religion
• Domains of Moral Development
• Contexts of Moral Development
• Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior
• Values, Religion, Spirituality, and
Meaning in Life
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
Domains of Moral Development
What Is Moral Development?
• Changes in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
regarding standards of right and wrong
• An intrapersonal dimension: regulates
activities
• An interpersonal dimension: regulates social
interactions and arbitrates conflict
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 4
Domains of Moral Development
Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
Justice and rules are conceived of
Heteronymous as unchangeable properties of the
morality
world, removed from the control of
people (4-7 years)
Autonomous
morality
Immanent
justice
Becomes aware that rules and laws
are created by people; in judging
an action, one should consider
actor’s intentions as well as
consequences (10 years and older)
If a rule is broken, punishment will
be meted out immediately
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 5
Domains of Moral Development
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
• Moral reasoning unfolds in universal stages
– Moral thoughts constructed as one passes
through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood
– Tested by story with moral dilemma
– Theory of 3 levels, two stages in each
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Slide 6
Domains of Moral Development
The Kohlberg Stages
• Preconventional reasoning — lowest level
– Good or bad based on external rewards and
punishment
– Stage 1. Heteronomous morality (punishmentobedience orientation) — tied to punishment
– Stage 2. Individualism, instrumental purpose,
and exchange (law-and-order orientation) —
tied to equal exchange
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Slide 7
Domains of Moral Development
The Kohlberg Stages
• Conventional reasoning — intermediate level
– Individuals abide by certain standards, but are
standards of others
– Stage 3. Mutual interpersonal expectations,
relationships, and interpersonal conformity
(good child orientation) — trust, caring, loyalty to
others is basis of judgment
– Stage 4. Social systems morality — judgments
based on social order, law, justice, and duty
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 8
Domains of Moral Development
The Kohlberg Stages
• Postconventional reasoning — highest level
– Individuals recognize alternative moral courses,
explore options, and decide own moral code
– Stage 5. Social contract or utility and individual
rights — evaluates validity of actual laws and
social systems for preserving and protecting
fundamental human rights and values
– Stage 6. Universal ethical principles — develops
moral standard based on universal human rights
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 9
Moral Development
• Kohlberg developed a model of moral development
based on responses to
moral dilemmas.
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 10
Moral Development—
Kohlberg’s Levels and Stages
PRECONVENTIONAL LEVEL
Stage 1: punishment-obedience orientation
Stage 2: instrumental-exchange orientation
CONVENTIONAL LEVEL
Stage 3: good child orientation
Stage 4: law-and-order orientation
POSTCONVENTIONAL LEVEL
Stage 5: social-contract orientation
Stage 6: universal ethics orientation
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 11
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 12
Moral Development
• Lawrence Kohlberg contended that moral
thinking likewise proceeds through a series of
stages
– from a preconventional morality of self-interest
(gains rewards, avoids punishment)
– to a conventional morality that cares for others
and upholds laws and rules (gains approval, does
duty; obeys because rules exist)
– to (in some people) a postconventional morality of
agreed-upon rights or basic ethical principles.
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 13
Preconventional (birth to
adolescence)
• Stage 1- punishment and obedience
orientation
– Self-centered
– Rewards, punishment
– Will not admit intentionality
• Stage 2- instrumental-exchange orientation
– Aware of perspective of others
– Reciprocal-exchange of favors
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 14
Conventional (adolescence to young
adulthood)- other focussed
• Stage 3- good child orientation
– Being nice to gain approval
– People judged by intentions of their behavior
• Stage 4- law-and-order orientation
– Takes into account larger perspective- society
– One’s duty to respect law and order
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 15
Postconventional (adulthood)- develop
own standards of right and
wrong/abstract
• Stage 5- social-contract orientation
– Appreciate underlying purposes of laws
– Interests in majority versus individual
– OK to steal drug to save a life
• Stage 6- universal ethics orientation
– “right” is determined by universal ethics
– Human dignity, nonviolence, freedom, equality
– Regardless of whether agree, will conform
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 16
Domains of Moral Development
Kohlberg’s Stages
• Moral stages appeared later than predicted
• 7th stage added: cosmic perspective
• Peer interaction critical influence
• Kohlberg’s critics
– Moral reasons (overemphasized) can be shelter
for immoral behavior (underemphasized)
– Faulty research: difficult to measure morality
– Culturally biased
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 17
Domains of Moral Development
Families and Moral Development
• Family processes unimportant in children’s
moral development: use inductive discipline
• Gender perspectives
– Korlberg’s theory has justice perspective —
focus on rights of individual, one stands alone and
independently
– Gilligan’s care perspective — views people in
terms of connectedness with others; girls interpret
moral dilemmas in terms of human relationships
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 18
Domains of Moral Development
Social Conventional Reasoning
• Focuses on thoughts about social consensus
and convention
– Conventional rules
• Created to control behavioral irregularities and
maintain social system
• Arbitrary and subject to individual judgment
– Concepts of social organization
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Slide 19
Domains of Moral Development
Moral Reasoning
• Emphasizes ethical issues
• Moral rules not arbitrary; obligatory, widely
accepted, and somewhat impersonal
– Violations are affronts to ethical standards
– Involve concepts of justice
– Not created by social consensus and convention
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 20
Domains of Moral Development
Moral Behavior
• Basic Processes of reinforcement, punishment,
and imitation: behavior is situation-specific
• Resistance to Temptation and Self-Control
– Influenced by cognitive factors
• Social Cognitive Theory of Morality
– Distinguishes between moral competence (ability to
produce moral behaviors) and moral performance
(actually performing them)
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 21
Domains of Moral Development
Moral Feeling
• Psychoanalytic Theory
– Foundation of moral behavior is avoid guilt feelings
– Superego: moral branch of personality (2 parts)
• Ego ideal — rewards for acting ideal standards
• Conscience — punishes for disapproved acts
• Children internalize parents’ standards
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 22
Domains of Moral Development
Empathy
• Reacting to another’s feelings with emotional
response similar to other’s feelings
• Cognitive component — perspective-taking
• Develops from infant’s global empathy
• Children’s ability depends on awareness that
people have different reactions to situations
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 23
Domains of Moral Development
Emotion and Moral Development: The
Contemporary Perspective
• When strongly felt, both positive and negative
feelings contribute to moral behavior
– Positive feelings: empathy, sympathy, admiration,
self-esteem
– Negative feelings: anger, outrage, shame, guilt
– Some emotions undergo developmental change
throughout childhood and beyond; interwoven with
cognitive and social aspects of development
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 24
Domains of Moral Development
Emotion and Moral Development: The
Contemporary Perspective
• Three key dimensions of moral development
– Thoughts
– Behavior
– Feelings
• Recently, a 4th: moral personality
– Moral identity: willpower, integrity, moral desire
– Moral character: convictions, persistence, focus
– Moral exemplars: being honest and dependable
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 25
Contexts of Moral Development
Parenting
• Piaget and Kohlberg discounted parents’
input to children’s moral development
• Parents see themselves in primary role
– Relational quality
– Parental discipline
• Love withdrawal
• Power assertion
• Induction
• Peers have primary role
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 26
Contexts of Moral Development
Parenting
• Parents see themselves in primary role
– Proactive strategies: two parents
– Conversational dialogue
– Parenting recommendations
• Warm and supportive, not punitive
• Use inductive discipline
• Provide opportunities for children
• Involve children in decisions
• Model moral behaviors
• Provide info and foster internal morality
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 27
Contexts of Moral Development
Schools — The Hidden Curriculum
• Pervasive moral atmosphere in schools
• Character Education
– Direct moral education approach teaches
students basic moral literacy to prevent immoral
behavior, doing harm to themselves or others
• Values Clarification
– Helps clarify what life is for, what to work for
– Students encouraged to define own values and
understand others’ values
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 28
Contexts of Moral Development
Schools — The Hidden Curriculum
• Cognitive Moral Education
– Students should value things like democracy
and justice as moral reasoning develops
– Instructor is facilitator, not director
• Service Learning
– Form of education that promotes social
responsibility and service to community
– Benefits student volunteers and recipients
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 29
Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior
Prosocial Behavior
• Altruism and Reciprocity
– Altruism: unselfish interest in helping another
person, mostly evoked by empathy
– Some argue altruism does not exist; everyone
benefits from performing the action
– Many prosocial behaviors involve reciprocity;
the obligation to return a favor with a favor
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 30
Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior
Prosocial Behavior
• Sharing and fairness
– Most sharing in first 3 years of life: non-empathic
– At about age 4: combination of empathic awareness
and adult encouragement
– In elementary years: complicated ideas of fairness
– Throughout history: involved principles of equality,
merit, and benevolence
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 31
Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior
Prosocial Behavior
• Sharing and fairness
– Females engage in more prosocial behavior
than males
– Older adults engage in more altruistic behavior
and volunteering
• Volunteering linked to positive outcomes
• More satisfied in life, less depressed and
anxious, better physical health
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 32
Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior
Antisocial Behavior
• Conduct disorder
– Juvenile delinquency: adolescents who commit
illegal acts
• Consequences of early and late onset
• Rates among minority groups and lowersocioeconomic-status youth
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Slide 33
Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior
Antecedents of Delinquency
• Authority conflict
• Covert Acts
• Overt Aggression
• Not exclusively lower-SES phenomenon;
characteristics of lower-SES culture can
promote delinquency
– High-status traits for boys
– Affected by family and peer relationships
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 34
Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior
Youth Violence
• At-risk youth
– Early involvement with drugs and alcohol
– Easy access to weapons, especially handguns
– Association with antisocial, deviant peer groups
– Pervasive exposure to violence in the media
– School violence is national concern
• Can violent behavior be predicted and
prevented
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 35
Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior
Reducing Youth Violence
• Oregon Social Learning Center recommends
– Recommit to raising children safely and effectively
– Make prevention a reality
– Give more support to schools
– Forge effective partnerships among families,
schools, social service systems, churches, and
other agencies
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 36
Values
• Beliefs and attitudes about the way things
should be
– Measured by asking what one’s goals are
– Self-fulfillment and self-expression can lead to
self-destruction, loneliness, and alienation
– Self-fulfillment and commitment to others can
lead to successful adjustment
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 37
Changing Freshman Life Goals
Fig. 13.6
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Slide 38
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Piaget’s Stages of Religious Thought
Preoperational
intuitive
up to
7-8 years
Concrete
operational
7-8 to
13-14
Formal
operational
14
onward
Religious thoughts
unsystematic and
fragmented
Focused on details of
pictures and stories
Abstract religious
understanding
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 39
Parenting and Religion
• Societies use many methods to ensure people
carry on religious traditions
– Most adults adopt religious teachings of upbringing
– Most religious change or re-awakenings occur in
adolescence
– Positive relationship or secure attachment with
parents make adolescents more likely to adopt
religious orientation of parents
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 40
Adolescence
• Religion important to most adolescents
• Those viewing religion as meaningful are
linked to positive outcomes
– Lower rates of delinquency and drug use
– Better grades for low-income students
– Better ability to cope with problems
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 41
Religion and Identity Development
• Self-reported altruism
– Occurs during adolescence and emerging
adulthood
– Identity integration related to moral values
and intrinsic religious orientation
– Churchgoing has positive benefits on
prosocial/caring behaviors and adolescent
sexual activity
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 42
Religion and Spirituality in Adulthood
• Important to adults around the world
– 70% of Americans religious
• More important to women than men
• Americans becoming less committed to
particular religious faiths
• Individual differences in religion in middle
adulthood
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 43
Religion and Health
• Religious sect members resist using medical
treatments and pain-relieving medications
• Positive link between religious commitment
and health
– Lifestyle: lower drug use
– Social networks: more connected to others
– Coping with stress; more comfort and support
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 44
Religion in Older Adults
• Increased spirituality in late middle to late
adulthood
– Increased more for women than men
– Linked to spirituality in early adulthood
– Faith is most significant influence in one’s life
– Put faith into practice more often
– Highest commitment linked to highest self-esteem
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 45
Religion in Older Adults
• Psychological benefits
– Derived sense of meaning in life
– Higher levels of life-satisfaction
– Face impending death, accept losses of age
– Find meaningfulness
– Social community, generativity
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Values, Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning in Life
Slide 46
Meaning in Life
• Need for
– Purpose
– Values
– A sense of efficacy
– Self-worth
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 47
13
The End
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.