PSY 2105 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Moral Development, Moral Relativism, Moral Realism

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2105
• Professor: Julie Desjardins

Document Summary

Moral rules: broad issues of fairness and justice. Social conventions: rules used by society to maintain order. Moralit(cid:455) has differe(cid:374)t (cid:272)o(cid:373)po(cid:374)e(cid:374)ts : thought processes that underlie morality are assessed in moral reasoning studies, behaviours governed by morality are assessed in studies of moral conduct. Piaget"s stage theor(cid:455): used (cid:373)oral dile(cid:373)(cid:373)as to assess (cid:272)hildre(cid:374)"s thoughts on morality. Children have no true conception of morality. Children understand and use rules, but are not flexible in rule use (stage of moral realism) Objective responsibility: children evaluate moral situations on the basis of amount of damage. Children realize that rules are conventions and can be altered. Children in this stage now consider intention in their evaluations of morality (stage of moral relativism) Children develop rules as needed and extend moral reasoning beyond their personal level: moral reasoning develops as the cognitive structures of the child develop.