Theories of Mind and Moral Development

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Theories of Mind and Moral Development

• EDP 303
• Spring 2005

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Kolbergs Moral Development

• Extended Piaget and focused on Cognitive
  development.
• Used Moral Dilemmas (most famously Heinz and the
  drug)
• Found 6 stages in the development of moral
  reasoning.

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I - Pre-conventional - Accept what you are told,
morals are not internalized yet.

• Level 1 - Punishment/reward orientation.
• Pain/pleasure not meaning is important.
• Level 2 Exchange of favors
• exchange notion of why we do what we do.
• Still define right or wrong based on consequences
  to self.

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II - Conventional - Adolescence, Primary goal
Maintain social order

• Level 3 good child orientation
• What is approved of by others is good.
• Level 4 Law Order
• do the right thing because it is right and it
  maintains social order.
• Rules should always be followed

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III - Post Conventional - Autonomous level,
universal moral values regardless of group
membership.

• Level 5 Social welfare/human rights
• Good is determined by a society. People agree to
  stick to these agreed-upon standards of morality.
  
• Level 6 Universal ethical principles,
• moral judgment based on justice equality of human
  rights and respect for the dignity of humans as
  individuals.
• Rare level achieved by those who make decisions
  on abstract matters of justice, individual
  rights, etc.

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Kohlbergs Critics

• Kohlberg
• Critics argue that Kohlberg's Stages 4, 5 and 6
  reflect a single level--the ability to
  systematically analyze a situation from different
  philosophical viewpoints, with more liberal views
  scoring higher.
• Critics have also argued that Kohlberg does not
  address gender and cultural differences, but
  chooses a "white male" ranking.
• Moral Reasoning does not always lead to moral
  behavior.

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Three aspects of morality

• Moral Reasoning
• Moral Motivation
• Moral Behavior

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Social Understanding and Morality

• Morality is a social thing.
• More specifically, however, moral reasoning,
  moral motivation, and moral behavior require the
  development of Social Cognition.

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Theories of Mind

• We are not born with a theory of mind
• Early on infants understand that humans are
  special objects in their world.
• Toddlers dont really understand independent
  thought.

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Answer this Question like a 3 year old

• Max puts a piece of chocolate in the kitchen
  cupboard and then goes out to play. While he is
  gone, his mother discovers the chocolate and move
  it to a drawer. When Max returns later, where
  will he look for his chocolate?

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Middle Childhood

• Children recognize that people dont always feel
  or think what they say they do.
• Children also realize that people interpret what
  they see and hear.

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Adolescence

• Early Adolescence
• Begins to understand that the people around them
  may have complex motives.
• Increased social awareness and recursive
  thinking.
• Late Adolescence
• Much more sophisticated thinking about learning
  and knowledge.
• Develops epistemological beliefs and understand
  the difference between facts and knowledge
  (meaning making).

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TEACHING MORAL VALUES
1. CREATE MORAL/COGNITIVE DISEQUILIBRIUM
Create in children the feeling of dissatisfaction
about their concept of good and bad, right or
wrong (cognitive dissonance).
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TEACHING MORAL VALUES
2. INVITE ROLE-TAKING AND PERSPECTIVE-TAKING
THROUGH MORAL DISCOURSE
Engage young people in moral argument and
discussion with peers - a discussion in which
different interpretations, disagreements, and
conflicts are freely and nonthreateningly
expressed.
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Alternate Model

• The importance of Feelings
• Nancy Eisenberg argued that moral and pro-social
  behavior isnt just about cognition emotion
  plays a roll also.
• feel good emotions (love, attachment) support
  moral behavior, and guilt/shame may support NOT
  doing immoral behavior.
• Empathy (feeling what someone else is feeling) is
  particularly important for pro-social behavior.
• Eisenberg
• Eisenberg argues that Kohlberg stresses justice
  over caring, whereas her model encompasses both.
• Eisenberg argues that children do not move from
  stage to stage, but gain the ability to act at
  higher stages (they can always use a lower one).
• Eisenbergs model will be covered next week.