Moral Development, Values

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Moral Development, Values Religion

• Chapter 13

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Values

• Beliefs attitudes about the way things should
  be, what is important
• Changes in U.S. (college student) values in the
  last 50 years
• Less importance on a meaningful philosophy of
  life
• Greater importance on being well off financially
• Greater concern for personal well-being
• Less concern for the well-being of others.
• More interested in self-fulfillment
  self-expression
• More interest in physical health well-being

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Values Taught in the U.S. last 50 years

• Emphasized personal rights in education.
• De-emphasized social responsibility.
• Produced a me first mentality
• Undermines trust in others
• Undermines commitment
• Undermines altruism

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Increase in Antisocial Behavior

• Conduct disorder age-inappropriate actions
  attitudes that violate family expectations,
  societys norms, and the personal or property
  rights of others
• Impulsive, overactive, aggressive,
  undercontrolled
• Temperament, parenting, violent neighborhood

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Behavioral Antecedents of Juvenile Delinquency

• Retrospective Research
• Authority conflict/defiance
• Covert acts starting with lying
• Overt acts of aggression, fighting, violence
• Boys, not girls, have an aggressive history

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Spiritual Void

• Gabarino (1999) interviewed youth. Found
  spiritual, emotional emptiness. Seeking meaning
  on the dark side.

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Meaning in Life

• Victor Frankl (1984)
• Life is meaningful because it is unique finite
  three most distinct human qualities are
  spirituality, freedom responsibility
• Baumeister (1992) Needs for meaning
• Purpose goals fulfillment
• Values
• Sense of efficacy one can make a difference
• Self-worth from doing belonging

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Apparent Changes in U.S. Voter Values

• Increased Decreased
• Interest in Interest in
• Globalism Patriotism
• Socialism Free Enterprise
• Big Government Freedom
• Diminished Opportunity
• responsibility

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Religion Spirituality

• Worldwide, most people believe in God?
• 98 India
• 88 Italy
• 72 France
• 63 Scandinavia
• They differ in what they believe about God.

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Religious/Spiritual Beliefs among U.S. -
Adolescents

• Teenagers (13-18 year olds)
• 95 believe in God
• 75 pray
• 50 went to church
• Among college students
• 79 believe in God
• 69 pray
• 69 searching for meaning
• 50 not secure about religious beliefs

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Religion Spirituality U.S. Adolescents

• Positive effects
• Less likely to use drugs
• Health
• Lower levels of problem behavior/delinquency
• More likely to do community service
• Religious behaviors were linked to sexual
  activity

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U.S. Religious/Spiritual Beliefs - Adulthood

• MacArthur Study of Midlife Development
• 70 religious, spirituality a part of their lives
• 75 pray
• Half attend services only rarely
• Declining faith in
• Mainstream institutions (denominations)
• Religious leaders
• Spiritual moral stature of the nation

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Declining Understanding of the Basics of their
Faith among American Christians

• Recent Barna Poll
• 50 believed in salvation (getting to heaven) on
  the basis of good works
• 75 believed people are not born sinful, but
  neutral
• 59 did not believe in Satan
• 35 believed you could communicate with the dead
• 54 believed that truth is discovered only
  through logic, reason, and experience
• 44 believed that the Bible, the Koran (Quran),
  and the Book of Mormon were different versions of
  the same truth
• 51 believed it was worthwhile to pray to dead
  saints

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Benefits of Faith

• Meaningful faith related to happiness
• Religious women had higher self-rated health
  throughout life (ages 20-94) no association for
  men
• Studies have found that religious commitment
  moderates blood pressure
• Religious participation related to longer life
• Prayer is associated with positive,
  health-related changes

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Religion in Older Adults

• Increase in spirituality at the beginning of
  older adulthood
• Associated with earlier spirituality in the 30s
• Early involvement predisposes to further
  development
• Older adults more likely to say that
• Faith is the most significant influence in their
  lives
• Try to put faith into practice
• Attend services

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Religion in Older Adults

• Affects self-esteem, life satisfaction,
  optimism if meaningful
• Helps one to face death
• Helps one to find meaning
• Helps one to accept the losses of old age
• Services give social support
• Allow people to assume leadership, teaching roles
• Prayer meditation lower stress and are
  associated with longevity

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What is moral development?

• Changes in thoughts, feelings and behaviors
  regarding standards of right and wrong
• Intrapersonal
• Interpersonal regulates social interaction
  arbitrates conflict

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What is moral development?

• 1. How do individuals think about moral
  decisions?
• 2. How do they behave in moral circumstances?
• 3. How do they feel about moral matters?
• 4. What characterizes the moral personality?

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Can Morality be Examined Apart from Religion?

• Religion provides the assumptions which underpin
  moral reasoning and decisions.
• Religion takes morality from individual to
  collective and universal.
• Religion provides the authority for moral
  prescriptions.

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Piaget Moral Thought

• Heteronomous morality (ages 4-7)
• Justice rules are unchangeable
• Judge by consequences
• Believe in immanent justice (just world)
• Autonomous morality (ages 10 )
• Rules and laws are created by people
• Consider intentions

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Piaget Moral Thought

• Heteronomous morality (ages 4-7)
• Justice rules are unchangeable
• Judge by consequences
• Believe in immanent justice (just world)
• Autonomous morality (ages 10 )
• Rules and laws are created by people
• Consider intentions

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Morality - Children Rules

• Turiel 1978, 1983
• 5-year-old children conceptualize the social
  world in three separate domains
• Moral
• Social-conventional
• Psychological (personal)
• They realize that the rules for each of these
  have different levels of changeability.

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Kohlbergs Theory

• Heinz dilemma
• Wife near death
• One drug might save her
• Cost 200 to make charged 2000
• Heinz raised 1000, offered to pay later
• Druggist said no
• Heinz stole the drug

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Kohlbergs Theory

• Level 1 Preconventional
• External rewards punishments
• Level 2 Conventional
• Abide by internal standards of others (law or
  parents)
• Level 3 Postconventional
• Recognizes alternative codes, explores options,
  chooses one

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Kohlberg - Preconventional

• Stage 1 heteronomous
• Moral thinking is tied to punishment
• Stage 2 individualism, instrumental purpose
  exchange
• live let live
• Equity of exchange I do you a favor you do me
  one.

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Kohlberg - Conventional

• Stage 3 Mutual interpersonal expectations,
  relationships interpersonal conformity
• Value trust, caring loyalty to others children
  like good girl good boy
• Stage 4 Social systems morality
• Understanding the social order, law, justice and
  duty

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Kohlberg Postconventional

• Stage 5 Social contract or utility and
  individual rights
• Values, rights principles undergird the law
  laws are evaluated by how well they protect human
  rights values
• Stage 6 Universal ethical principles
• Moral standard based on universal human rights
  will follow conscience rather than law

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Kohlberg Stage 7?

• Cosmic perspective
• See ones self as one with the universe
• Already a religious position -
• Hindu, New Age

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Kohlbergs Critics

• Link between moral thought moral behavior?
• Albert Bandura people do not usually engage in
  harmful conduct until they have justified the
  morality of their actions to themselves
• Socially worthy cause
• Gods will

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Kohlbergs Critics

• Rest
• Assessment techniques
• What are the moral issues?
• Stages 5 6 do not stand up across cultures
• Example Buddhist monks emphasis on compassion
• India social rules are inevitable

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Kohlbergs Critics

• Haidt (2008)
• Traditionalist collectivist societies expect
  individuals to limit their desires and play their
  roles within the group
• Western conservatives also seem to be morally
  challenged.
• Conclusion Kolhberg has an individualist,
  liberal, progress bias.

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Kohlbergs Critics

• Carol Gilligan gender bias
• Justice perspective male norm that puts
  principles above people
• Care perspective moral perspective that views
  people in terms of connectedness and emphasizes
  relationships caring for others

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Social Conventional Reasoning

• Social rules conventions are arbitrary
  created by people
• Moral rules are obligatory, widely-accepted, and
  somewhat impersonal
• Ethics exist apart from social convention

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Moral Behavior among Children

• Factors (Behaviorist view)
• Reinforcement punishment
• Depends upon consistency timing
• Models
• Depends upon characteristics such as warmth
  attractiveness
• Situations
• Children behave inconsistently depending upon
  peer pressure, likelihood of being caught,
  personal characteristics
• Self-control
• Convinced by reasoning, punishment

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Social-cognitive Theory of Morality

• Albert Bandura
• Moral competence knowledge, capabilities,
  skills, awareness of rules
• Moral performance motivation, rewards,
  incentives
• Self-regulation avoiding self-condemnation and
  fostering self-satisfaction self-worth

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Moral Emotion - Guilt

• Sigmund Freud
• The desire to avoid feeling guilty is the
  foundation of moral behavior.
• Superego consists of
• Ego ideal rewards by conveying a sense of pride
  and personal value
• Conscience punishes disapproved behaviors by
  making the child feel guilty worthless

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Moral Emotion - Empathy

• Responding to anothers feelings with a similar
  emotional response
• Some infants show global empathy
• 1-2 years, may feel discomfort but cannot
  translate into action
• Early childhood add perspective-taking
• 10-12 may feel social or humanitarian empathy

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What Is a Moral Personality?

• Moral identity
• Moral notions commitments are central to ones
  life.
• Moral Motivation
• To violate this will place the integrity of the
  self at risk.
• Moral Character
• Honest, dependable, conscientious, thoughtful,
  compassionate
• Moral Behavior
• Setting goals, accepting responsibility,
  resisting temptation

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Raising Moral Children Parental Discipline
Hoffman (1970)

• Recommends Induction
• Reasoning, consequences
• Works best with older children, middle SES
• Love withdrawal (anxiety)
• Dont like you going to leave you
• Power assertion (hostility)
• Spanking, threatening, removing privileges
• Makes parents appear to have poor self-control

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Parenting Morality - Thompson

• Warm-responsive parent-child relationships
• Secure attachment linked to conscience
  development
• Proactive strategies
• Conversational dialogue
• Other strategies
• Be a good role model
• Foster an internal sense of morality
• Tell them about expected behaviors
• Use reason with punishment

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Schools Moral Development

• Hidden curriculum (John Dewey, 1930)
• Character education explicit moral code
• Values clarification
• Cognitive moral education
• Discussion course
• Service learning