Chapter

Moral development

Moral Development

• Changes in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding standards of right and wrong.

Level 1

• Preconventional Level
• No Internalization

Level 2

• Conventional Level
• Intermediate Internalization

Level 3

• Postconventional Level
• Full Internalization

Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages

• Punishment/Obedience Orientation
• Individualism, Instrumental Purpose, and Exchange
• Mutual Interpersonal Expectations, Relationship and Interpersonal Conformity
• Social System Morality
• Social Contract or Utility and Individual Rights
• Universal Ethical Principles

More on Kohlberg

• Levels and stages occur in a sequence, and are age related.
• Preconventional (before age 9)
• Conventional (early adolescence)
• Post conventional (early adulthood...Just a small percent)
• Elusive 6th Stage

Positive side of Morality

• Altruism
• Forgiveness
• Gratitude
• Empathy

Personality and Morality

• Freud: Superego/ego ideal/conscience
• Moral identity/character/ exemplars

Instilling Morality

• Parenting
• Schools: hidden curriculum/ character education/ values clarification/ cognitive morality/ service learning/ cheating
• Values
• Religion/Religiousness/ Spirituality

Families

Reciprocal Socialization

• Marriage
• Adapting to adolescent's school, peers, need for autonomy
• Parental changes
• Multiple Developmental Trajectories

Relationships with Parents

• Parents as Managers
• Parenting Styles
• Autonomy and Attachment

Application Questions:

• What was your relationship with your siblings like? If you could change anything, what would it be? If you are an only child, how do you think this impacted your development?
• Find your order of birth on page 277. Is that an accurate assessment?

Application Questions:

• One statistic states that 25% of children from divorced families had emotional problems, but that figure decreased to 20% in emerging adulthood. What do you believe causes the largest impact on children of divorce?

Application Questions:

• Review the section on gay and lesbian parents on page 286. What conclusions do you come to regarding the devleopmental effects of same sex parents on adolescents?

Application Questions:

• What role does culture and ethnicity play on developing adolescents?