PSY 324 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Behaviour Therapy, Multisystemic Therapy, Gender Role
Document Summary
Along with gains in self-awareness and mental representations in early childhood, we also become moral beings. Three broad, interrelated aspects of morality: emotional component, cognitive component, behavioral component. Feelings, thoughts, and actions are often not in harmony in a moral situation. To integrate these components, we need time and appropriate environmental experiences. Example: preschoolers are great at learning a verbal rule (cognitive), but often do not display the self-control skills needed to follow the rule until about 8 to 10 years old (action). Consistency among feelings, thoughts, and actions is a sign of moral maturity. Moral behaviors and emotions have roots in evolutionary history. Animals will often act pro-socially toward genetically similar individuals (their family). Humans have a unique capacity to act pro-socially toward strangers (e. g. , volunteering and donating for needy communities and charities): whole group has greater chance to survive and reproduce when we help each other out.
