An overview of the process of how morality developed throughout the life and it's gender controversies via discussing different theories of moral development

1. Moral Development
Presenter: Dr Diptadhi Mukherjee
Moderator: Dr D J Chetia
Dr V Gogoi
Short Topic
LGBRIMH, Tezpur
Date: 11/02/16

2. Outline
• Introduction
• Different theories and their critical evaluation
• Moral neuroscience
• Summary
• Situations

3. Introduction
• Morality is defined as principles for how individuals ought to
treat one another, with respect to justice, others’ welfare, and
rights.
• The Four Way Test
• Is it the truth?/Is it fair to all concerned?/Will it build goodwill
and better friendships?/Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
• The interest in morality spans many disciplines (e.g.,
philosophy, economics, biology, and political science) and
specializations within psychology (e.g., social, cognitive, and
cultural).
• Moral development focuses on the emergence, change, and
understanding of morality from infancy through adulthood.

5. • Many theorists approached moral development in different
angels.
• Can be classified as-
 Psychoanalytic theory
 Neurocognitive developmental theory
 Gender-based theory
 Learning theory- Behavioral and Social cognitive
 Ethological theory
 Social domain theory
 Integrative theory

6. Psychoanalytic theories
• Classic psychoanalytic theory suggests that the conscience is
actually a superego, which arises from repressed hostility toward a
parent following the resolution of the Oedipal and Electra issues.
• Guilt and self-punishment occur when a child behaves in a way that
is contradictory to internalized parental values.
• Freud believed that boys developed castration fears and girls envied
boys their penises during this period of development, which were
the causes of their anxieties. Because boys’ castration fears were
greater, their resolution task was harder, and thus they developed
stronger superegos than did girls.
• More modern psychoanalytic theory stresses conscience
development as the growth of a superego, arising out of a positive
identification with parental values rather than because of guilt.

7. Neurocognitive developmental
• Book by Piaget - The Moral Judgment of the Child (Piaget,
1932/1962)
• Piaget’s Methods for Studying Moral Development-
• First technique- Studied children playing the game of marbles-
studying game strategies to learn about behavior and morality
now very much an accepted part of research in psychology and
economics (Game theory)
• A second technique- relate a short story or scenario that
described some form of misbehavior by a child or by an adult.
He then presented the children with possible corrective
actions that might be meted out to the offender and asked the
children to tell him which were fair and just and which were
not, and why

8. Piaget’s Stages of Moral Development
• Children’s Understanding of Rules-
Stages Age groups Charecteristics
Motor rules Sensorimotor period of
development (children
under four years)
Child merely handles the marbles in terms of
his existing motor schemes
Egocentric Preoperational stage (about
ages four to seven)
Children don’t understand rules very well, or
they make them up as they go along. There
is neither a strong sense of cooperation nor
of competition
Incipient
cooperation
Concrete operational stage
(ages seven to ten or eleven)
Child learns and understands both
cooperative and competitive
behavior. But one child’s understanding of
rules may still differ from the next, thus
mutual understanding still tends to be
incomplete.
Genuine
cooperation
Formal operational stage
(age more than eleven)
Cooperation is more earnest and the child
comes to understand rules in a more
legalistic fashion.

9. Piaget’s stages of moral judgment
 Moral realism or moral heteronomy –
• Younger children (around ages four to seven) thought in these terms.
• Heteronomy means “from without”
• Connote an absolutism, in which morality is seen in terms of rules that are
fixed and unchangeable.
• Guilt is determined by the extent of violation of rules rather than by
intention.
 Moral autonomy-
• The second stage in making moral judgments
• Usually around age 10
• When children come to realize that rules have arbitrariness and are
formed by mutual consent for reasons of fairness and equity.
• This applies equally to society’s laws, game rules, and familial standards of
behavior.
• Realize that rules are not fixed and absolute, but that they can be
changed as the need arises.

10. • Lawrence Kohlberg (1927 –1987) was an American psychologist
• Kohlberg (1958, 1963) expanded Piaget’s two stages into six,
organized into three levels – each level consisting of two stages.
• Kohlberg’s (1958) doctoral dissertation, upon which he formulated
his basic theory, studied 84 boys.
• Kohlberg assessed morality by asking children to consider certain
moral dilemmas – situations in which right and wrong actions are
not always clear.
• He was not concerned with whether the children decided that
certain actions were right or wrong, but with their reasoning – at
how they arrived at their conclusions.

11. Heinz's dilemma- “Heinz Steals the Drug”

12. Stages of Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg
Level Stage Ages Social Orientation
Pre-Conventional 1 2-4 Obedience and Punishment
2 4-7 Individualism, Instrumentalism
Conventional 3 7-10 Good Boy/Girl
4 10-12 Law and Order
Post-Conventional 5 Teens Social Contract
6 Adult Principled Conscience
• The stages include growth from self-centeredness to
other-centeredness.
• The capacity to reason also grows from reliance on
external authority to fidelity to internalized values

13. Level I: Preconventionl Morality-
• Child thinks of morality in terms of the consequences of disobedience to adult
rules in order to avoid punishment.
• Behaviors are “good” or “bad” depending on their consequences, or in other
words, behavior is guided by rewards and punishments
• The child at this stage does not comprehend the rules of society.
Stage 1-
• “Punishment and Obedience,” or “might makes right.”
• Obey your parents, or these powerful authority figures will physically punish
you.
• The child’s understanding is that punishment must be avoided for her/his own
comfort.
• Conscience = self-protection
Stage 2-
• “Instrumentalism” or “look out for number one” or “what’s in it for me.”
• Bit less egocentric- if one is good to others then they in terms will be good to
you.
• Social exchanges are on a “tit-for-tat” basis- “you scratch my back and I’ll
scratch yours.”
• Conscience = cunning

14. Level II: Conventional Morality-
• Begins to grasp social rules
• Gains a more objective perspective on right and wrong.
Stage 3-
• “Interpersonal relationships” or “good boy/ nice girl.”
• The major motivating factor in good behavior is social approval from those
closest to the child
• Obligation to ones family, gang, etc
• Conscience = group loyalty
Stage 4-
• Maintaining social conventions or “law and order”
• Sense of order becomes generalized beyond close others to society at
large.
• The concept of “doing one’s duty” is crucial here.
• Flaws in the system are due to the failure of individuals who do not obey
the system.
• Conscience = good citizenship

15. Level III: Postconventional Morality-
• At this level the emphasis is no longer on conventional, societal standards
of morality, but rather on personal or idealized principles.
Stage 5-
• Called the “social contract” stage.
• The understanding is that laws, rules, and regulations are created for the
mutual benefit of all citizens.
• Laws that are unjust ought to be changed.
• Understand and believe in democracy in action.
• Loyalty to truth and Conscience = reason

16. Stage 6-
• Stage of “universal ethical principles.”
• Right and wrong are not determined by rules and laws, but by
individual reflection on what is proper behavior.
• Understand the importance of the situation: What is wrong in most
circumstances (e.g., lying) might be justifiable in others.
• But essentially, personal ethical values (e.g., a belief that all life is
sacred) take precedence over any and all laws and conventions.
• In other words, laws are useful only as long as they serve the
common good.
• Civil disobedience (such as the “satyagraha” in the 1920s) is
justified by the circumstances (in this case fight for freedom).

18. “True mental stages meet several criteria”
• Qualitative differences- stage 1 responses, which focus on obedience to
authority, sound very different from stage 2 responses, which argue that
each person is free to behave as he or she wishes.
• Structured wholes- not just isolated responses but are general patterns of
thought that will consistently show up across many different kinds of
issues.
• Invariant sequence- stages unfold in an invariant sequence. Children
always go from stage 1 to stage 2 to stage 3 and so forth. They do not skip
stages or move through them in mixed-up orders.
• Hierarchic integration- people do not lose the insights gained at earlier
stages, but integrate them into new, broader frameworks.
• Universal sequence- stage sequence is universal; it is the same in all
cultures- stages refer not to specific beliefs but to underlying modes of
reasoning

19. Implications For Education
• Kohlberg and Moshe Blatt
• Lead discussion groups in which children had a chance to grapple actively
with moral issues
• Presented moral dilemmas engaged the classes in a good deal of heated
debate encouraged arguments that were one stage above those of most
of the class- at last clarified by Blatt
• The Kohlberg-Blatt method of inducing cognitive conflict exemplifies
Piaget's equilibration model.
• The child takes one view, becomes confused by discrepant information,
and then resolves the confusion by forming a more advanced and
comprehensive position.
• The method is also the dialectic process of Socratic teaching. The students
give a view, the teacher asks questions which get them to see the
inadequacies of their views, and they are then motivated to formulate
better positions.

20. Criticisms and Limitations of Kohlberg’s Stage
Theory
Cognition versus Affect.
• Kohlberg’s studies stressed the cognitive factors in moral understanding-
higher levels require more advanced levels of cognitive development.
• But moral judgments can also be influenced by emotions- when a jury bases
their verdict not strictly on the right or wrong in a defendant’s actions, but
also on their impression of his or her character.
Cultural Variations.
• Kohlberg believed his stages to be universal though himself questioned the
universality of the last two stages.
• Postconventional morality reflect Western philosophical ideals based on
Enlightenment values of individualism freedom and rights.
• Even stage 4 may not be attained in some village-centered agrarian or
hunting/gathering cultures.
• Individualistic cultures (USA, Australia, and Western Europe), which place a
high value on independence Vs collectivist cultures value harmony and
interdependence within the group (varying extents Asian, African, and Latin
American cultures)

21. Moral Understanding versus Moral Action
• Assumption “a person’s moral understanding guides her moral behavior”-
many a time not true
• Understanding what is right does not necessarily translate into doing what
is right
• Tremendous power of the situation in determining the course of behavior,
as opposed to belief in abstract principles of morality
• Person may have developed a high degree of moral reasoning in
Kohlberg’s hierarchy, yet under some conditions engage in behaviors that
do not at all exemplify that presumed level of understanding.
• People respond to different kinds of situations utilizing different levels of
morality based more on societal expectations
– People in the business world operate more at stage 2 (self-interest)
– Married couples are guided by stage 3 (mutual exchanges guided by
the expectation of approval)
– The legal system is based on stage 4.

22. Problems with Kohlberg's Methods-
• The dilemmas are artificial (i.e. they lack ecological validity) and
hypothetical (i.e. they are not real)
• The sample is biased- all male samples
• Poor research design- cross-sectional
• [Longitudinal research on Kohlberg’s theory has since been carried out by
Colby et al. (1983) who tested 58 male participants of Kohlberg’s original
study. She tested them 6 times in the span of 27 years and found support
for Kohlberg’s original conclusion, that we all pass through the stages of
moral development in the same order.]
Gender Differences

24. • Carol Gilligan (1936- ) is an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist
• Challenged psychology for its narrow sexism in studying (in most cases)
men, and then generalizing their results to both genders.
• Men were considered as the “prototype” of the species.
• Man’s Search for Meaning and Man’s Search for Himself, respectively
authored by existential psychologists Viktor Frankl (1959/1984) and Rollo
May (1953)
• She claimed that, whereas boys’ and men’s are concerned with a morality
based on rules and abstract principles of justice, girls’ and women’s are
based on care and compassion.
• Gilligan assumed that Kohlberg’s scale systematically discriminated against
women by generally placing them lower on his morality scale.
• Contrasted her morality of care with Kohlberg’s morality of justice and
she criticized Kohlberg for stressing just one side of the equation, namely,
the masculine
• Based on two observational studies.
– Study One: 25 college students
– Study Two: 29 women considering abortion

25. Gilligan’s stages of moral development in
women

26. Critical evaluation
• Non-random sample selection and Small sample sizes
• Rosenthal Effect, Hawthorne Effect
• Determination of stage theory through subjective interviewing techniques.
• Generalizations from Case study, interview approach
• Only evaluated women.
• Non-replication of findings- Most studies suggesting that such gender
differences do not exist- support for Gilligan’s thesis to date is weak at
best
• Suggest that Kohlberg may have overlooked an important source of moral
reasoning by neglecting the ethos of care; or at least by giving it less
weight than justice in his hierarchy.
• The real truth is that some boys and men do embrace a morality of care
and concern; and likewise, some women and girls are more logical and
less sociable in their worldviews

27. Learning theories
• B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)- standpoint of a behaviorist
• Moral behavior reflected the child’s past conditioning: the
child learns morality through social reinforcement (rewards
and punishments) in response to his or her actions.
• Social approval or disparagement is provided first by the
child’s parents, later by powerful social institutions including
schools and legal and religious bodies.
• Did not view moral behavior as rooted in character, but simply
as responses to social conditioning.

28. Learning theories cont..
• Albert Bandura(1925- )emphasized social aspects of
development far more than did most of the other theorists
• He demonstrated that much of children’s moral learning is
through observation of others, a process called observational
learning or modeling.
• Did not view people as reactive or mechanistic nor did he
think of them as being governed largely by unconscious forces
• People as active agents capable of self-regulating their
behaviors- mature people who have strongly internalized
certain values will often act true to their beliefs even when
they are punished for doing so.
• Bandura is not a stage theorist- regard this as a weakness in
his otherwise broad perspective on psychology.

29. Learning theories cont..
• Helpfulness, generosity, and altruism are learned and
reinforced by positive feedback. Punishment tends to
preclude the development of a conscience.
• Social theorists explain that negative experiences make the
child more stressed and less amenable to adopting any part of
the parental directive.
• Rather than posit complex family dynamics, rivalries, anxieties
and repression per Freud, Bandura believed that gender
differences in any sort of behavior – including morality – are
largely due to learning of appropriate roles from observing
the actions of adults and peers, including vicarious
reinforcement (i.e., imagining the consequences of their
behavior).

30. Other theories
• Ethologists suggest that moral principles are
– innate and universal in origin.
– inherited by humans as a species
– developed through social experiences.
– moral development as adaptive.
• Turiel's social domain theory - a social domain approach to social
cognition
• Described how individuals differentiate moral (fairness, equality, justice),
societal (conventions, group functioning, traditions), and psychological
(personal, individual prerogative) concepts from early in development
throughout the lifespan.
• Research throughout the world supported this model demonstrated how
children, adolescents, and adults differentiate moral rules from
conventional rules, identify the personal domain as a nonregulated
domain, and evaluate multifaceted (or complex) situations that involve
more than one domain.

31. Integrated Approach to Moral Development
• System of moral development that integrates aspects of cognitive,
social, and moral maturation.
• One approach uses the concept of moral volition to frame the
moral developmental process.
• Process of integrating intent and autonomy with the development
of conscience
• 5 stages of conceptualization:
– Morality of restraint
– Morality of mastery
– Morality of virtuous striving
– Idealization
– Individual responsibility.

32. Integrated Approach to Moral Development
• Better ability to see one’s behavior as independent from their
conscience as they progress through the five stages;
• Consequently able to take full responsibility for their behavior by
the time they reach the last two levels of moral development.
• Integral for all of moral development- the ability of the child to
observe consequences of his or her behavior for others
• Mirror neurons may play a pivotal role in moral growth- who can
feel what others feel may be more stimulated to develop a
conscience and accept the cause-and-effect connections essential
for moral maturation.

33. Moral neuroscience
• Advent of imaging technologies allows for an increasingly precise
analysis of the neural bases of moral judgment, emotion, and
behavior.
• fMRI study, 126 participants aged between 4 and 37 years viewed
scenarios depicting intentional versus accidental actions that
caused harm/damage to people and objects.
• Morally, salient scenarios evoked stronger empathic sadness in
young participants and were associated with enhanced activity in
the amygdala, insula, and temporal poles.
• Intentional harm was evaluated as equally wrong across all
participants.
• Ratings of deserved punishments and malevolent intent gradually
became more differentiated with age.

34. Moral neuroscience
• Age-related changes-
– Increase in activity was detected in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex
in response to intentional harm to people
– Increased functional connectivity between this region and the
amygdala.
• Moral reasoning involves a complex integration between affective and
cognitive processes that gradually changes with age
• Supports the view that negative emotion alerts the individual to the moral
salience of a situation by bringing discomfort and thus can serve as an
antecedent to moral judgment.
• Mirror neurons are responsible for a person's understanding the intent of
another- allows the individual to acquire a moral empathy and
understanding- allow for moral choices - enhance the acquisition of moral
development.

35. Summary
• Theorists differ with respect to the importance they place on rewards and
punishments, the active or passive nature of the child, the role of
cognition and social interactions, discrete stages versus continuous
development, and the identification process in the development of
morality
• Behaviorists and Freudians- reductionist - both viewed moral behavior as
under the control of psychological compulsions
• Bandura and the social cognitive learning theorists, as well as the
cognitive developmentalists Piaget, Kohlberg, and Gilligan, saw children as
active agents in their own development, including their understanding of
morality
• Bandura, Piaget, Kohlberg, and Gilligan- importance of peer interactions -
The latter three were especially concerned with the ways in which
children learn empathy and rules while interacting with one another (e.g.,
in playing games).

36. THANK YOU

37. References
• CTP
• OTP
• Killen, M., & Smetana, J.G. (Eds.) (2006). Handbook of moral development.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Wellman, H. M., & Liu, D. (2004). Scaling of theory-of-mind tasks. Child
Development, 75, 502-517.
• Kohlberg, L. (1963). Kohlberg’s study helped researcher’s understand how and
why children behave and act in certain ways when dealt with social dilemmas.
The development of children's orientations toward a moral order: I. Sequence
in the development of moral thought. Vita Humana, 6, 11-33.
• Turiel, E. (1983). The development of social knowledge: Morality and
convention. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
• Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Others on Moral DevelopmentJ. S. Fleming,
2006
• Decety, J., Michalska, K. J., & Kinzler, K. D. (2012). The contribution of emotion
and cognition to moral sensitivity: A neurodevelopmental study. Cerebral
Cortex, 22, 209-220.