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Chapter 14 Shaffer

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    Chapter 14:

    Aggression, Altruism, and MoralDevelopment

    Dr. Pelaez

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    Development of Aggression

    Aggressive Acts are divided into two categories:1. Hostile Aggression- Aggressive acts which mainly

    focuses on purposely harming or injuring anotherindividual.

    2. Instrumental Aggression- Aggressive acts whichmainly focus on gaining access to objects, spaceand privileges.

    Example: A boy who hits and teases his sister andthen continues to tease her for crying. This can bedefined as hostile aggression.

    The boy can act further by taking away a toy thathis sister was playing with after hitting her. Thiswould be defined as instrumental aggression.There can be a bidirectional relationship.

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    Developmental Trends

    Signs of instrumental aggression begin toshow at the end of the 1 st year of life.

    Goodenough (1931) found that unfocusedtemper tantrums become less commonbetween the ages of 2 and 3, as childrenbegin to physically retaliate when frustratedor attacked by playmates.

    Goodenough (1931) also found that physicalaggression declines and makes way forverbal forms of aggression (teasing, tattling,name-calling) between the ages of 3 and 5.

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    Developmental Trends

    Sex DifferencesBoys have higherlevels of sexhormones-testosterone.

    By preschool,aggression was viewedto be a male attributein their genderschemas. (Watson &Peng, 1992).

    Researchers focusmore on overt ratherthan covert behaviors.

    Social LearningAggressiveness is nota stable attribute.

    Aside from geneticpredispositions, somechildren will remainhighly aggressive dueto their socialenvironment andmaintain aggressivehabits.

    Only a smallpercentage becomechronically aggressive.

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    Individual Differences in AggressiveBehavior

    Proactive AggressorsConfident thataggression will resultin tangible benefits.

    Believe that selfesteem will beenhanced by being the

    dominant one overother children.

    Use of instrumentalstrategies to obtainand achieve personalgoals

    Reactive AggressorsDisplay high levels ofretaliatory aggression.

    Are suspicious andcautious of otherindividuals.

    Believe others who aredominated deserve to

    be dominated.

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    Is Aggressiveness a Stable Attribute?

    An international longitudinal study by Cummings et al.(1989) found that the amount of moody, ill-tempered,and aggressive behavior that children display between3 and 10 is a fairly good predictor of their aggressiveor other antisocial inclinations later in life.

    Children who genetically predisposed to betemperamentally irritable may remain relativelyaggressive over time because they regularly evokenegative reactions, which may foster aggressiveresponses.

    Other children may remain highly aggressive becausethey are raised in home environments that nurture andmaintain aggressive habits.

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    Social Information Processing Theory

    Kenneth Dodge (1986) created this modelto display how children prefer aggressiveor non aggressive resolutions to socialproblems.Six stages in Social InformationProcessing Theory:

    1. Encode Social Cues - what is the harm doer'sreaction?

    2. Interpret Social Cues- Meaning behind the action.3. Formulate Social Goals- resolve situation.4. Generate Problem Solving- Strategies to achieve

    goals.5. Evaluate Strategies- Were goals achieved?6. Enact a response- child responds to situation.

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    Dodges Social -InformationProcessing Model

    Steps children take when deciding how to respond toharmdoing.

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    Victims of Peer Aggression

    Passive Children1. Socially

    withdrawn2. Sedentary3. Physically weak4. Reluctant to fight

    back5. Do not defend

    themselves.6. Invite hostilities

    by not acting.

    Proactive Children1. Oppositional2. Restless

    3. High tempered4. Inclined to fight

    back toaggressors

    5. Involved invarious fightingsituations.

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    Perpetrators of Peer Aggression

    Olweus (1984, 1993) found that 10percent of his adolescent sample couldbe described as habitual bullies whophysically and verbally harassed another10 percent of the sample on a regularbasis.

    Rates are higher in younger children.

    Habitual bullies have often observedadult conflict and aggression at home,but have rarely been the target ofaggression. They have learned thataggression pays off for the perpetrator.

    Bullies appear to harass their victims forpersonal or instrumental reasons areusually classified as proactiveaggressors.

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    Cultural and Subcultural Influences on Aggression

    Some cultures and ethnicities are found to be much more violentand aggressive than others.

    Gebusi of Papua New Guinea

    Teach children to be fierce and competitive andunresponsive to the needs of other individualsIn relations to crime, 50% of murder is higher thanany other industrialized nation.Compared to the U.S. the incidence of rape, homicideand assault are the second highest in the nation.

    Studies in the U.S. and U.K. found social-class differences inaggression: Youth from lower SES, particularly males from urbanareas, exhibit more aggressive behavior and higher levels ofdelinquency than their peers in the middle class.

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    Socioeconomic Class

    Children from low SES usually in urban areastend to exhibit more aggressive behavior andhigh levels of delinquent acts.

    Parents with low income have found to usephysical punishment styles to disciplineaggression, therefore modeling aggressionrather than suppressing it.

    Parents with low SES live stressful and difficultlifestyles making parental monitoring difficult.

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    Coercive Home Environments:Breeding Grounds for Aggression and Delinquency

    Families as Social Systems:Patterson (1982) observed that highlyaggressive children live in atypical familyenvironments he termed coercive home

    environments : homes in which familymembers often annoy one another and useaggressive or otherwise antisocial tactics as amethod of coping with aversive experiences.Negative reinforcement is important inmaintaining the coercive interactions.

    The flow of influence is multidirectional, withcoercive interactions affecting the behavior ofall parties and contributing to the hostile familyenvironment.

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    Coercive Home Environments asContributors to Chronic Delinquency

    Preschool YearsDevelop hostileattribution biasesDefiantAggressivebehavior

    General lack ofself resistance

    Pre-AdolescenceRejection byschool peersCriticized byteachersPoor academics

    Poor attendanceExposure to otherdeviant groups

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    A Model of the Development ofChronic Antisocial Behavior

    Adapted from Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989.

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    Boys are more likely than girls fall intodelinquency, but recently the gap is narrowing.

    Delinquent girls are more likely to engage inprostitution and running away, but equally aslikely as boys to be involved in larcenies,substance abuse, and sexual misconduct.

    Delinquency Legacy: Antisocial male adolescentstend to pair up with antisocial females and havechildren at an earlier age. These couples exposetheir children to the same kind of coercive homeenvironment that fostered their own delinquency

    Developmental Paths

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    Developmental Paths

    Family interventions areeffective for modifying antisocialbehaviors.Useful interventions consist of:

    1. Parenting skills foreffective childmanagement techniques

    2. Fostering social skills inchildren to prevent fromrejection by peers.

    3. Providing academicremediation to keepchildren on grade level.

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    Methods of Controlling Aggression & Antisocial Conduct

    Non-aggressiveEnvironments

    1. Play areas tominimize conflictProvide space forvigorous play toavoid accidents

    Payoffs for Aggression1. Decrease incidence

    of proactiveaggression by

    identifying andeliminatingreinforcingconsequences.

    Proven Methods

    1. Incompatible responsetechnique- ignoring

    undesirable conduct whilereinforcing acts unrelatedto these conducts.

    2. Time out Technique-discipline for misbehaving

    children in which they areremoved from a settinguntil they are able to actappropriately.

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    Social Cognitive Interventions

    Highly-reactive, aggressive childrencan benefit from social cognitiveinterventions.

    1. Looking for non-hostile cues associatedwith harm doing.

    2. Control anger

    3. Generate non-aggressive solutions toconflict.

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    Preventing Violence at School

    School faculty and counselor take measures in theschool environmentTo decrease aggressive acts amongst children.

    Focus on :Minimizing rewards for aggressionReplacing aggression with pro-social responsesHelping students control their emotionsUnderstand feelings and intentionsSeek non-aggressive solutions to conflict

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    Origins of Altruism

    Altruism : a selfless concern for the welfare ofothers that is expressed through pro-social actssuch as sharing, cooperating, and helping.

    Toddlers are capable of being compassionatetowards their companions.

    Individual differences in early compassion dependon temperamental variations and parentsreactions to the child harming another child:

    More compassionate toddlers have parents whodiscipline harm doing with affective explanations (focuses attention on harm or distress the child hascaused) that foster sympathy.

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    Altruism: Individual Differences

    Childrens early compassiondepends heavily on:Behaviors children view amongstparents.

    Example: Mothers of uncompassionatetoddlers use coercive tactics

    (verbal consequences or physicalpunishment) to discipline undesirablebehaviors.

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    Developmental Trends in Altruism

    Spontaneous self sacrifice, in terms ofsharing and helping, are relativelyinfrequent amongst toddlers.

    Unless instructed by an adult orthreatened by a peer, these behaviors areunlikely.

    This involuntary acts of compassionimprove as toddlers enter the preschoolage.

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    Social-Cognitive and AffectiveContributors to Altruism

    2 important contributors to thedevelopment of altruistic behavior:1. Pro-social moral reasoning : thethinking that people display whendeciding whether to help, share with, orcomfort others when these actions couldprove costly to themselves.

    - Eisenbergs level of pro -social moralreasoning in children and adolescentspredicts future altruism.

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    Social-Cognitive and AffectiveContributors to Altruism (cont.)

    2. Empathy : persons ability to experiencethe emotions of other people.- Childrens interpretation of their ownempathic arousal as concern fordistressed others (sympathetic empathicarousal vs. self-oriented distress) shouldeventually come to promote altruism.

    -Social-cognitive development must takeplace for true empathy to develop.

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    Eisenbergs Levels of Pro -social MoralReasoning

    Hedonistic

    Needs Oriented

    Stereotyped, approval oriented

    Empathic orientation

    Internalized values orientation

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    Social-Cognitive & AffectiveContributors to Altruism

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    Social-Cognitive & AffectiveContributors to Altruism

    Preschoolers

    More geared towards

    concernfor themselves; selfserving.

    AdolescenceBecome increasinglyresponsive to the

    needs wishes andconcerns of otherindividuals

    Less self centered.

    EX: helping someonethey may dislike

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    Age Trends: Empathy-AltruismRelationship

    Empathy can be better measured by the age of thechild.

    Studies have shown children appeared empathetic byexpressing feelings about misfortunes of storybookcharacters.

    Younger children lack role taking skills and insightabout their personal emotions in order to understand:

    Why others feel and act distressed

    Why other are feeling aroused due to the distress.

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    How Empathy Promotes Altruism: AFelt Responsibility Interpretation

    Felt -ResponsibilityHypothesis: thetheory thatempathy maypromotealtruism bycausing one toreflect onaltruistic normsand thus to feel

    some obligationto helpdistressed others .

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    Cultural and Social Influences on Altruism

    Most Altruistic Less industrializedsocieties

    Large families

    Children contribute tofamily matters

    Suppressedindividualism

    Less Altruistic Western Culturecompetition ofindividual rather than

    group goals

    Few responsibilities infamily

    Lack of self careroutines

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    Cultural & Social Influences on Altruism

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    Reinforcing Altruism

    Likable and respected adults can promote childrenspro-social behavior by verbally reinforcing their actsof kindness.

    Children who are offered tangible rewards for their pro-social acts are not especially altruistic because theyattribute their kind acts to a desire to earn incentives,rather than to a concern for others welfare and areless likely to make sacrifices for others when therewards stop.

    Children who observe helpful models become morehelpful themselves, especially if the model has a warmrelationship with the child, provides a compellingrationale, and regularly practices what he preaches

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    Who raises altruistic children?

    Studies of unusuallycharitable adults indicatethey have enjoyed awarm and affectionaterelationship with parentswho themselves werehighly concerned withthe welfare of others.

    Parental reactions to achilds harm doing alsoplay an important role inthe development ofaltruism.

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    What is Morality?

    These are principals orideas that helpindividuals decipherright from wrongactions. A condition offeeling pride vs. guilt orunpleasant emotions

    As individuals grow olderaltruism is internalized-shifting from externallycontrolled actions togoverning internalstandards and principles

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    How Developmentalists Look atMorality

    Research has centered on 3 moral components:

    1. Affective Component: the feelings that surroundright or wrong actions and that motivate moral

    thoughts or actions.2. Cognitive Component: the way we conceptualizeright and wrong and make decisions about how tobehave.

    3. Behavioral Component: how we actually behavewhen we experience the temptation to lie, cheat,

    or violate other moral views.

    All contemporary theorists consider internalizationto be a crucial milestone along the road to moralmaturity.

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    Freud: Development of the Conscience

    Emphasized moral affect .Freuds theory of oedipal mortality : children internalizethe moral standards of the same-sex parent during thephallic stage as they resolve their Oedipus or Electracomplex and form a conscience or superego.

    Toddlers in securely attached relationships have mutuallyresponsive relationships with their parents.

    These toddlers are likely to display committedcompliance in which they:

    1. Are highly motivated to embrace parentsagenda and comply with rules.

    2. Are sensitive to a parents emotional signalsand judge if they have done right or wrong.

    3. Are beginning to internalize parental reactionsin response to their achievements and changes.This leads them to experience shame, guilt orpride.

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    Cognitive-Developmental Theory:The Child as Moral Philosopher

    Cognitive-developmentalists chart themoral reasoning that children display.Believe that children progress through

    invariant stages, each of which evolvesfrom and replaces its predecessor.Believe that cognitive development andrelevant social experiences underlie thegrowth of moral reasoning.Two major theorists:

    Jean Piaget & Lawrence Kohlberg

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    Piagets Theory of MoralDevelopment

    1. The Premoral Period : The first 5 years of life,when children are said to have little respect foror awareness of socially defined rules.

    2. Heteronomous Morality : The 1 st stage of moraldevelopment in which children view the rules ofauthority figures as sacred and unalterable.

    3. Autonomous Morality : The 2 nd stage of moral

    development, in which children realize that rulesare arbitrary agreements that can be challengedand changed with the consent of the people theygovern.

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    Piagets Model Continued

    Two factors play a role in the transition fromheteronomous to autonomous morality:(1) cognitive maturation

    decline in egocentrism

    development of role-taking skills(2) social experience - equal-status contact with peers

    - lessens the childs respect for adult authority - increases self-respect and respect for peers- illustrates that rules are arbitrary

    agreements.Critics have argued that Piagets theoryunderestimates the moral capacities of preschooland grade-school children.

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    Kohlbergs Theory:Level 1- Pre-conventional Morality

    Kohlberg believed in the levels of moralitythat consisted of six stages:

    Level 1: Pre-conventional Morality- moral

    judgments are based on tangible punitiveconsequences (stage 1) or rewardingconsequences (stage 2)

    Stage 1: Punishment & Obedience Training- The goodness and badness of an act all dependson the consequences.Stage 2: Nave Hedonism- individual conformsto rules in order to gain rewards or satisfypersonal goals.

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    Kohlbergs Theory:Level 2 Conventional Morality

    Level 2: Conventional Morality :Individual strives to obey rules andsocial norms to win others approval orto maintain social order.

    Stage 3: Good boy or Good girlOrientation- Moral behavior which isperceived to please, aid and assist others.

    Stage 4: Social-Order MaintainingMorality- individual considers perspectivesthat are generalized by others. The will ofsociety will be reflected by the law.

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    Kohlbergs Theory:Level 3 Post-conventional Morality

    Level 3: Post conventional Morality-Moral judgments are based on socialcontracts and democratic law (stage 5) oron universal principles of ethics and

    justice (stage 6).Stage 5: The Social Contract Orientation- Individual sees the laws as tools for expressingthe will of the majority of human welfare.Stage 6: Morality of Individual Principles ofConscience- individual defines right and wrongon the basis of the self chosen ethical principlesof his or her conscience.

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    Support for Kohlbergs Theory

    Longitudinal research conducted by Colby et al.(1983) on Kohlbergs original researchparticipants found that the moral stages doform an invariant sequence.

    The need for cognitive development has alsofound support in the literature (Walker, 1980;Tomlinson-Keasey & Keasey, 1974, etc.).

    Research has also shown that social-experiencethat occurs with peers, in advanced educationsettings, and in diverse, democratic societiescontributes to moral development.

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    Morality: Product of Social Learningand Social Information Processing

    Hartshorne & May (1928- 1930),conducted longitudinal study on moralcharacter of children.

    Found children were inconsistent intheir moral behavior

    Ex: Childs willingness to cheat in onescenario did little prediction that the childwould lie, cheat or steal in other scenarios.

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    Criticisms of Kohlbergs Approach

    Theory may be culturally biased in that post-conventional morality does not exist in somesocieties. Critics claim that the theorys higheststages reflect a Western ideal of justice and doesnot account for the values of collectivist societies. Gilligan (1982, 1993) argues that the theorydoes not adequately represent female moralreasoning ( morality of justice vs. morality ofcare ).Another common criticism is that the theoryfocuses too much on moral reasoning andneglects moral affect and behavior.The theory also underestimates the moralreasoning of young children.

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    Morality as a Product of Social Learning (andSocial Information Processing)

    Social learning theorists claim that moral behaviors arelearned in the same way that other social behaviorsare: through the operation of reinforcement andpunishment and through observational learning.

    Among the factors that promote the development ofinhibitory controls are praise given for virtuousconduct, punishments that include appropriaterationales, and exposing children to (or having themserve as) models of moral restraint.

    Moral self-concept training is an effective alternative topunishment as a means of establishing inhibitorycontrols

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    Who Raises Morally Mature Children?

    Martin Hoffman (1970) measured different parenting styleapproaches to see which was most effective in moraldevelopment.

    Neither love withdrawal or power assertion were effectiveat promoting moral maturity

    Induction seemed to foster development of all threeaspects of morality-moral emotions, moral reasoning andmoral behavior.

    Parents who rely on inductive discipline tend to havechildren who are morally mature

    Reason based discipline can be highly effective with 2 to 5year olds, by reliably teaching them sympathy andcompassion for others.

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    Childs Eye View on Discipline

    Siegel & Cowen (1984) asked children &adolescents ( 4-18 year olds) to evaluatedisciplining strategies.

    Five types of transgressions were presented:1. Simple disobedience2. Causing physical harm to others3. Causing physical harm to oneself4. Causing psychological harm to others5. Causing physical damage

    Responses, from all participants, favored thepreferred method to use was inductiontechniques.


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