chapter 7 moral development, values, and religion

Chapter 7

Moral Development, Values, and Religion

Moral Development, Values, and Religion Chapter 7 Outline

• Domains of Moral Development– Moral Thought– Moral Behavior– Moral Feeling– Moral Personality

•

Domains of Moral Development

• Moral development involves the distinction between what is right and wrong, what matters to people, and what people should do in their interactions with others.

• First, how do adolescents reason or think about rules for ethical conduct? • Second, how do adolescents actually behave in moral circumstances?

• Third, how do adolescents feel about moral matters?


• Moral Thought• How do adolescents think about standards of right and

wrong?• Kohlberg (1958, 1976, 1986) crafted a major theory of how

adolescents think about right and wrong. • He proposed that moral development is based primarily on

moral reasoning and unfolds in a series of stages. • A key concept in understanding moral development is

internalization, the developmental change from behavior that is externally controlled to behavior that is controlled by internal standards and principles.

Domains of Moral Development 241

• Moral Thought• Kohlberg’s Stages

• Hypothesized three levels of moral development• Each level is characterized by two stages • A key concept in understanding moral development is

internalization• the developmental change from behavior that is externally

controlled to behavior that is controlled by internal standards and principles.

Domains of Moral DevelopmentKohlberg’s three levels of moral development.

Fig. 7.1

Domains of Moral Development• Kohlberg’s Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning– Lowest level – No internalization of moral values– Controlled by external rewards and punishments

• Stage 1. Heteronomous morality– Moral thinking is often tied to punishment

• Stage 2. Individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange– Individuals pursue their own interests but also let others

do the same. You will be nice to me because I am nice to you.

Domains of Moral Development• Kohlberg’s Level 2: Conventional Reasoning

– internalization is intermediate– Individuals abide by certain standards (internal), but they are

the standards of others (external), such as parents or the laws of society.

• Stage 3. Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity– individuals value trust, caring, and loyalty to others– Tied to parents

• Stage 4. Social systems morality– understanding the social order, law, justice, and duty. – Laws are necessary for the success of the community


• Kohlberg’s Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning– The highest level– Morality is completely internalized and is not based on

others’ standards.– Personal moral code

• Stage 5. Social contract or utility and individual rights– Values, rights, and principles transcend the law

• Stage 6. Universal ethical principles– Highest stage– The person has developed a moral standard based on

universal human rights


• Influences on Kohlberg’s Stages– cognitive development– exposure to appropriate social experiences– peer interaction – parent-child experiences

• Why Is Kohlberg’s Theory Important for Understanding Moral Development in Adolescence?– It tells the developmental story of people trying to understand things like

society, rules and roles, and institutions and relationships.


• Kohlberg’s Critics– Moral Thought & Moral Behavior

• Moral reasons can always be a shelter for immoral behavior.

– Assessment of Moral Reasoning• Some developmentalists fault the quality of Kohlberg’s research.

– Culture & Moral Development• A review of research on moral development in 27 countries concluded that

moral reasoning is more culture-specific than Kohlberg envisioned.

– Gender & the Care Perspective• Carol Gilligan (1982, 1992, 1996; Gilligan & others, 2003) argues that

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development does not adequately reflect relationships and concern for others.

Domains of Moral Development• Social Conventional Reasoning

– Focuses on thoughts about social consensus and convention– Created to control behavioral irregularities and maintain the social system– Arbitrary– Subject to individual judgment– Using fork and spoon or raising your hand in class

• Moral reasoning– Emphasizes ethical issues– Obligatory– Widely accepted– Somewhat impersonal– Lying cheating, stealing– Concepts of justice


• Moral Behavior– What are the basic processes that behaviorists believe are

responsible for adolescents’ moral behavior? – How do social cognitive theorists view adolescents’ moral

development? – What is the nature of prosocial behavior?


• Moral Behavior– What are the basic processes that behaviorists believe are

responsible for adolescents’ moral behavior? • reinforcement, punishment, and imitation (modeling)• Punishment must be consistent• Situationally dependent• Adolescents don’t display consistent moral behavior in

diverse social settings where situational-specific moral behavior tends to be the rule.


• Moral Behavior– How do social cognitive theorists view adolescents’ moral

development? • Moral competence: The ability to produce moral behaviors.• Moral performance: Performing those behaviors in specific situations.


• Moral Behavior– What is the nature of prosocial behavior?

• Altruism: Unselfish interest in helping another person.– Empathetic or sympathetic emotion for an individual in need or a close

relationship between the benefactor and the recipient.

• Forgiveness: Occurs when an injured person releases the injurer from possible retaliation.– Especially swayed by peer pressure in their willingness to forgive.


• Moral Feeling– Psychoanalytic Theory

• Ego ideal: The component of the superego that involves standards approved by the parents.

• Conscience: The component of the superego that involves behaviors disapproved by the parents.

– Erik Erikson (1970) outlined three stages of moral development: • Specific moral learning in childhood, • Ideological concerns in adolescence, • Ethical consolidation in adulthood.


• Empathy – Experienced as an emotional state, it often has a cognitive component—

the ability to discern another’s inner psychological states, or what has been previously called perspective taking.

– At about 10 to 12 years of age, individuals develop an empathy for people who live in unfortunate circumstances (Damon, 1988).

– Children’s concerns are no longer limited to the feelings of particular persons in situations they directly observe.


• The Contemporary Perspective– Many developmentalists believe that both positive feelings,

such as empathy, sympathy, admiration, and self-esteem, and negative feelings, such as anger, outrage, shame, and guilt, contribute to adolescents’ moral development (Damon, 1988, 1995; Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Sadovsky, 2006).


• Moral Personality– Three aspects of moral personality that have

recently been emphasized are • (1) moral identity

– Willpower (analyzing problems, setting goals, focusing attention, delaying gratification, avoiding distractions, and resisting temptation)

– Integrity (sense of responsibility, accountability)– Moral (motivation to pursue moral life)

• (2) moral character-strength of convictions• (3) moral exemplars-people who have lived moral,

exemplary lives…what traits do they have? Brave, just, caring, honest, dependable

CONTEXTS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

• Parental Discipline– In Freud’s psychoanalytic theory

• Moral development are practices that instill the fears of punishment and of losing parental love.– These include love withdrawal, power assertion, and

induction (Hoffman, 1970)


• Parenting Moral Children and Adolescents– A recent research view concluded that, in general, moral children tend to

have parents who (Eisenberg & Valiente, 2002, p. 134):• Are warm and supportive rather than punitive. • Use inductive discipline.• Provide opportunities for the children to learn about others’

perspectives and feelings.• Involve children in family decision making and in the process of

thinking about moral decisions. . . .• Model moral behaviors and thinking themselves, and provide

opportunities for their children to do so. • Provide information about what behaviors are expected and why. • Foster an internal rather than an external sense of morality.


• Schools– The Hidden Curriculum

• Conveyed by the moral atmosphere that is a part of every school

– Character Education• Teaching students a basic moral literacy

– Values Clarification• Helping people to clarify what is important to them, what is worth

working for, and what purpose their lives are to serve


• Schools– Cognitive Moral Education

• A concept based on the belief that students should learn to value things like democracy and justice as their moral reasoning develops

– Service Learning• A form of education that promotes social responsibility and service to

the community.


• An Integrative Approach• Encompasses both the reflective moral thinking and

commitment to justice advocated in Kohlberg’s approach• Developing a particular moral character as advocated in

the character education approach(Darcia Narvaez, 2006).

VALUES, RELIGION, AND CULTS

• Values• Beliefs and attitudes about the way things should be.• Reflect the intrapersonal dimension of morality. • Two aspects of values that increased during the 1960s

continue to characterize many of today’s youth: self-fulfillment and self-expression (Conger, 1981, 1988).


Changing Life Goals

Fig. 7.6


• Religion and Spirituality• Religious and spiritual issues are important to adolescents and

emerging adults (Lippman & Keith, 2006; Oser, Scarlett, & Bucher, 2006; Roehlkepartain, King, & Wagener, 2006).

• Analysis of the World Values Survey of 18- to 24-year olds revealed that emerging adults in less developed countries were more likely to be religious than their counterparts in more developed countries (Lippman & Keith, 2006).


• The Positive Role of Religion and Spirituality in Adolescents’ and Emerging Adults’ Lives• linked with positive outcomes for adolescents and emerging adults

(Benson, 2006; Cotton & others, 2006; King & Benson, 2006; Oser, Scarlett, & Butcher, 2006).

• Plays a role in adolescents’ and emerging adults’ health and whether they engage in problem behaviors (Cotton & others, 2006; Dowling & others, 2004; Oman & Thoresen, 2006; Rew & Wong, 2006).

• Many religious adolescents and emerging adults also internalize their religion’s message about caring and concern for people (Ream & Savin-Williams, 2003).


• Developmental Changes• Adolescents and emerging adults may question what their

own religious beliefs truly are.• Erikson’s Theory

• Identity development becomes a central focus• Piaget’s Theory

• Provides a theoretical backdrop for understanding religious development

VALUES, RELIGION, AND CULTS • Fowler’s Theory

• Proposed a theory of religious development.• Focuses on the motivation to discover meaning in life, either

within or outside of organized religion.• Proposed six stages of religious development that are related

to Erikson’s, Piaget’s, and Kohlberg’s theories of development (Torney-Purta, 1993):

• Stage 1. Intuitive-projective faith (early childhood).• Stage 2. Mythical-literal faith (middle and late childhood).• Stage 3. Synthetic-conventional faith (transition between childhood

and adolescence, early adolescence).• Stage 4. Individuative-reflective faith• Stage 5. Conjunctive faith (middle adulthood).• Stage 6. Universalizing faith

VALUES, RELIGION, AND CULTS • Religious Socialization and Parenting

• Introduce certain beliefs to children• Ensure that they will carry on a religious tradition• Adults tend to adopt the religious teachings of their upbringing.• If a religious change or reawakening occurs, it is most likely to take place

during adolescence.• It is important to consider the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship

and whether mothers or fathers are more influential (Boyatzis, Dollahite, & Marks, 2006; Granqvist & Dickie, 2006; Ream & Savin-Williams, 2003; Regnerus, Smith, & Smith 2004).

• Adolescents who have a positive relationship with their parents or are securely attached to them are likely to adopt their parents’ religious affiliation.

VALUES, RELIGION, AND CULTS • Religiousness and Sexuality in Adolescence and Emerging

Adulthood• Most churches discourage premarital sex.• likely to hear messages about abstaining from sex.• Involvement of adolescents and emerging adults in religious organizations

also enhances the probability that they will become friends with adolescents who have restrictive attitudes toward premarital sex.

• Religion is a pervasive influence throughout the world

VALUES, RELIGION, AND CULTS • Cults

• Defined in various ways, • “dangerous institutions that cause severe emotional harm”• “marginal and deviant groups” • “fringe, often new, religious movements.”

• Described as being controlled by a charismatic leader, • fostering the idea that there is only one correct set of beliefs and practices• demanding unquestionable loyalty and obedience• using mind-control techniques• using deception and deceit in recruiting and interacting with the outside world• exploiting members’ labor and finances (Galanter, 1999, 2000).

VALUES, RELIGION, AND CULTS • What is the difference between a cult and a church, a service

club, or groups like Alcoholics Anonymous? • The ultimate goal of the group (Cialdini & Rhoad, 1999). • Established religions and altruistic movements focus outward, attempting

to better the lives of members as well as non-members. • Cults direct their energies inward rather than outward, serving their own

purposes and those of the cult’s leader.• Religions and altruistic movements usually do not involve overbearing

authoritarian control by a leader, the use of deception in recruiting members, coercive influence techniques, or the replacement of a recruit’s identity with a new identity that would not have been freely chosen by the individual before joining the group.

VALUES, RELIGION, AND CULTS • Who joins cults?

• For the most part, normal, average people (Oser, Scarlett, & Bucher, 2006).

• Approximately two-thirds of cult members are psychologically healthy individuals who come from normal families (Cialdini & Rhoad, 1999).

• The remaining one-third often have depressive symptoms, in many cases linked with personal loss such as a death in the family, a failed romantic relationship, or career problems.

• Only about 5 percent of cult members have major psychological problems before joining the cult.

• Cults prefer intelligent, productive individuals who can contribute money and talent to “the cause,” whatever that might be.

VALUES, RELIGION, AND CULTS • Who joins cults?

• It is possible that timing rather than personality is the determining factor in vulnerability to cults.

• Many individuals who become cult members are in a transitional phase of life. • moved to a new city• lost a job• dropped out of school• given up traditional religion as personally irrelevant.

• Cults promise to fulfill most of a person’s individual needs and to make his or her life safe, healthy, caring, and predictable.

• Cult leaders offer followers simple or predictable paths to happiness.

Resources for Improving the Lives of Adolescents

• Character Education (2006) by Daniel Lapsley and Darcia Narvaez. In W. Damon and Richard Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th Ed.). New York: Wiley– A very up-to-date evaluation of moral education by leading experts.

• Cults (1999) by Marc Galanter. New York: Oxford University Press– This book explores many aspects of cults, including their social psychological

characteristics.

• Handbook of Moral Development (2006) By Melanie Killen and Judith Smetana (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum– A contemporary look at many aspects of moral development.

Resources for Improving the Lives of Adolescents

• The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence (2006). By Eugene Roehlkepartain, Pamela King, and Linda Wagener (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage• A number of leading scholars describe a range of topics on spiritual

development in children and adolescents.

E-LEARNING TOOLS

To help you master the material in this chapter, visit the Online Learning Center for Adolescence, twelfth edition at:

http://www.mhhe.com/santrocka12

chapter 7 moral development, values, and religion

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