Aggression, Altruism, and Moral
Development
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Aggression
– Any form of behavior intended to injure or
harm a living being who is motivated to avoid
such treatment
• Hostile aggression – goal is to harm a victim
• Instrumental aggression – harming another is a
means to some other end
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Origins of Aggression in Infancy
– Instrumental aggression present by end of first
year
• Conflicts over possessions
• Declines in second year as sharing becomes more
common
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Developmental Trends in Aggression
– 2–3 years, physical retaliation begins
– 3–5, physical aggression declines, but is
replaced by verbal aggression
– For most children, physical aggression is
normal, but relatively rare by middle childhood
• Decline is in instrumental aggression
• Hostile aggression increases slightly
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– Sex Differences
• By 2 ½–3, males more physically and verbally
aggressive than females
– Due to rougher play with parents
– More negative parental reaction to aggressive behaviors
of daughters
– Gender-typing of toys
• Females are more relationally aggressive (covert
aggression)
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– From Aggression to Antisocial Conduct
• Overt aggression declines from middle childhood
through adolescence
• Relational aggression in females increases
• Indirect aggression in males increases
VIDEO: Relational Aggression
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– Is Aggression a Stable Attribute?
• Yes for many individuals
– Aggressive toddlers likely to be aggressive 5-year-olds
– Aggression between 3 and 10 predicts aggression and
antisocial behavior later in life
•
Figure 13.1. Aggression in childhood
predicts criminal behavior in
adulthood for both males and females.
From “Stability of Aggression over
Time and Generations,” by L. R.
Huesmann, L. D. Eron, M. M. Lefkowitz,
& L. O. Walder, 1984, Developmental
Psychology, 20, p. 1125. Copyright ©
1984 by the American Psychological
Association. Reprinted by permission.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Individual Differences in Aggressive
Behavior
– Few individuals are highly aggressive
– 10–15% of classmates are abused by bullies
– Proactive aggressors
• Aggression will produce tangible benefits; enhances
self-esteem
– Reactive aggressors
• Hostile, retaliatory aggression; wary of others
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– Dodge’s Social Information-Processing Theory
of Aggression
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Encoding social cues
Interpretation of social cues
Formulates a goal to resolve situation
Generates possible strategies
Evaluates strategies for achieving goal
Selects response
Enacts response
•
Figure 13.2 Dodge’s social information-processing model of the steps children take when deciding how to respond to
harmdoing or other social problems. The boy whose creation is destroyed by another boy’s nudging the table must first
encode and interpret the social cues (i.e., did he mean it or was it accidental?) and then proceed through the remaining steps
to formulate a response to this harmdoing. Adapted from “A Review and Reformulation of Social Information Processing
Mechanisms in Children’s Social Adjustment,” by N. R. Crick & K. A. Dodge, 1994, Psychological Bulletin, 115, p. 74-101.
Copyright © 1994 by the American Psychological Association. Adopted by permission.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Reactive aggressors are likely to develop a hostile
attribution bias
– Attribute ambiguous situations as serious and react
aggressively
• Proactive aggressors – plan an aggressive response
to achieve an instrumental goal
– Expect positive outcomes
– Feel capable of dominating others
•
Figure 13.3 A socialcognitive model of the
reactive aggressor’s
biased attributions about
ambiguous harmdoing and
their behavioral outcomes.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– Perpetrators and Victims of Peer Aggression
•
•
•
•
17% of students were bullied
19% reported bullying others
Boys more likely to be physically bullied
Girls more likely to be verbally or psychologically
bullied
• Bullying most common in 6th–8th grades
• Bullies more likely to use drugs
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Habitual bullies – disliked by peers
• Chronic victims – generally disliked
– Passive victims – withdrawn, weak, but do not invite
aggression
» Overprotective mothers
– Provocative victims – irritate peers, fight back
unsuccessfully
» Physically abused at home
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– Popularity and Aggression
• Popularity
–
–
–
–
Being well known and accepted by other children
Having high status attributes
Highly desirable possessions
Being liked is not part of the definition
• Popular children use aggression to maintain status
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Cultural and Subcultural Influences on
Aggression
– Differences between cultures are evident
– Lower SES – more aggression
• Due to child-rearing differences
– Physical punishment is higher in low SES families –
modeling aggression
– Difficulty monitoring children
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Coercive Home Environments: Breeding
Grounds for Aggression
– Parental Conflict and Children’s Aggression
• Home conflict increases aggression
• Parental detachment and withdrawal from conflict
is most negative
• Parents are emotionally unavailable
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– Families as Social Systems
• Coercive home environments
– Families of aggressive children focused on interactions
that stopped irritation
– Negative reinforcement
– Ignore prosocial behavior
– Use coercive tactics to deal with misconduct
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
• Methods of Controlling Aggression in Young
Children
– Creating Nonaggressive Environments
• Remove aggressive toys
• Provide enough space for play
• Provide enough toys to reduce competition for
scarce resources
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– Eliminating the Payoffs for Aggression
• Teach that aggression does not result in desired
outcome
• Incompatible-response technique
– Ignore aggressive behaviors – eliminates reward of
attention
– Time out technique
– Reinforce prosocial actions
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSION
– Social-Cognitive Interventions
• Use with older children and adolescents
– Can teach individuals to
» Regulate anger
» Increase empathizing with others, taking their
perspectives; reduces hostile attributions
» Generate nonaggressive solutions to conflict
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Altruism
– Concern for the welfare of others that is
expressed through prosocial behavior
• Prosocial behavior
– Any action intended to benefit another
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Origins of Altruism
– 12- to 18-month-olds offer toys to peers
– Toddlers can express sympathy
• Verbally rebuking children and physically punishing
them reduces compassion
• Discipline based on affective explanation increases
compassion
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Developmental Trends in Altruism
– 2–3-year-olds show sympathy/compassion
• Rarely engage in spontaneous acts of self-sacrifice;
but did during pretend play
– 4–6-year-olds – more real helping acts, fewer
during pretend play
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Sex Differences in Altruism
– Girls are more likely to be helpful, generous,
and compassionate than boys (small
difference)
– Boys more interested in looking good or
attaining status over others
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Social-Cognitive and Affective Contributions
to Altruism
– Children with well developed role-taking skills
are more helpful
– Prosocial moral reasoning
• Preschoolers’ tend to be self-serving
• Older adolescents are much more responsive to the
needs of others
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
– Empathy: An Important Affective Contributor
to Altruism
• Empathy – person’s ability to experience the
emotions of other people.
– Personal/self-oriented distress can lead to ignoring others
in need
– Sympathetic empathetic arousal – concern for distressed
others increases altruism
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Socialization of Empathy
– Model empathetic concern
– Rely on affectively oriented forms of discipline
– Use of positive facial expressions when modeling
sympathy
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Age Trends in the Empathy-Altruism Relationship
– Little relationship between empathy and altruism among
preschool and young grade school children
– Stronger for older individuals (7–9)
» Need to understand why others are distressed
» Need to suppress own distress
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• The Felt-Responsibility Hypothesis
– Sympathetic empathetic arousal causes one to reflect on
altruistic lessons
– Result is assuming personal responsibility for aiding a
person in distress
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Cultural and Social Influences on Altruism
– Cultural Influences
• Altruism more common in less industrialized
societies
– Assigning chores improves altruism in Western societies
• More common in collectivist societies
•
Table 13.1 Prosocial Behavior in Six Cultures: Percentages of Children in Each Culture Who Scored above the
Median Altruism Score for the Cross-Cultural Sample as a Whole. SOURCE: Based on Whiting & Whiting,
1975.
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
– Social Influences
• Reinforcing Altruism
– Verbal reinforcement increases altruism
– Tangible rewards decreases altruism
• Practicing and Preaching Altruism
– Altruistic modeling is also important
ALTRUISM:
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROSOCIAL SELF
• Who Raises Altruistic Children?
– Altruistic parents
– Parents who discipline children in ways that
encourage children to accept personal
responsibility for the harm they caused
• Urge a helpful response to the victim
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• Morality
– Distinguish right from wrong
– Act on that distinction
– Experience pride in virtuous conduct; shame
over acts that violate standards
– Internalization of standards is vital
•
Table 13.2 Six Dimensions of Character That Define Moral Maturity for Canadian Adults.
Source: From L. J. Walker & R. C. Pitts, 1998, “Naturalistic Conceptions of Moral Maturity,”
Developmental Psychology, 34, p. 403-419. Copyright © 1998 by the American Psychological
Association. Reprinted with permission.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• How Developmentalists Look at Morality
– Affective component
• Emotional, consists of feelings
– Cognitive component
• How we conceptualize right and wrong and make
behavioral decisions
– Behavioral component
• The actual behavior when we experience a moral
situation
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• The Affective Component
– Toddlers involved in mutually responsive
relationships with parents develop
• Committed compliance
– Motivation to comply with rules
– Sensitivity to parent’s emotional signals of right and
wrong
– Beginning of internalization
• Insensitive parenting produces situational
compliance
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• The Cognitive Component
– Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
• Studied respect for rules and conceptions of justice
• The Premoral Period
– Preschool age – little concern for, or awareness of, rules
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
(continued)
• Heteronomous Morality
– 5–10 years old – strong respect for rules; they cannot be
altered
– Actions are judged by consequences, not intent
– Believe in punishment for its own sake (expiatory
punishment)
– Immanent justice – violations of social rules will be
punished
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
(continued)
• Autonomous Morality
– Ages 10 or 11, rules are arbitrary agreements that can be
changed
– Rules can be violated to help others
– Intent is now important in determining right and wrong
– Favor reciprocal punishments – tailored to the
transgression
– Imminent justice is not accurate
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
• Used dilemmas requiring choice between obeying
rules or disobeying rules while serving a human
need
– Focus was on rationale used to justify decision
• Stages are in an invariant sequence
•
Table 13.3 Examples of Responses to the Heinz Dilemma at Each of Kohlberg’s Levels and Stages.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
• Level 1: Preconventional Morality
– Stage 1: Punishment-and-Obedience Orientation
» Goodness or badness depends on consequences of
act – bad acts are punished
– Stage 2: Naïve Hedonism
» Conform to rules to gain rewards
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
• Level 2: Conventional Morality
– Stage 3: “Good Boy” or “Good Girl” Orientation
» Moral behavior pleases, helps, or is approved of by
others
– Stage 4: Social-Order-Maintaining Morality
» Right conforms to legal authority; rules maintain
social order
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
• Level 3: Postconventional (or Principled) Morality
– Stage 5: The Social-Contract Orientation
» Laws should express will of majority, and further
human welfare; if not, challenge them
– Stage 6: Morality of Individual Principles of Conscience
» Individual abstract moral guidelines that transcend
laws
» Rare (a hypothetical construct)
» No longer measured
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Support for Kohlberg’s Theory
• Are Kohlberg’s Stages an Invariant Sequence?
– Individuals do proceed through stages in order
– Stages are not skipped
– Stage 3 or 4 is highest level for most people
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• Cognitive Prerequisites for Moral Growth
– Role taking skills necessary but not sufficient for
conventional reasoning
– Formal operations are necessary but not sufficient for
postconventional morality
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• Evidence for Kohlberg’s Social-Experience
Hypothesis
– Parental and Peer Influences
» Support for peer influences, especially transitive
interactions
» Parents contribute more than Kohlberg thought if
they presented their reasoning in supportive ways
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Advanced Education, higher level of moral reasoning
» Contributes to cognitive growth
» Exposes students to diverse moral perspectives
– Cultural Influences
» Complex, diverse, democratic societies stimulate
moral development
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Approach
• Is Kohlberg’s Theory Culturally Biased?
– Some aspects of moral development vary among societies
» Cultural beliefs define morality and justice
• Is Kohlberg’s Theory Gender Biased?
– Morality of justice for males, versus morality of caring for
females
» Not supported by research
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• Does Kohlberg Underestimate Young Children?
– Yes, as his focus was on legalistic concepts
– Did not examine distributive justice
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• The Behavioral Component
– How Consistent are Moral Conduct and Moral
Character?
• Recent research shows that moral behaviors of a
particular kind are reasonably consistent
• Moral behaviors of different kinds are less
consistent (doctrine of specificity)
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• Learning to Resist Temptation
– Reinforcement as a Determinant of Moral
Conduct
• Children generally comply with wishes of a warm,
socially reinforcing adult.
• Praise is also important
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– The Role of Punishment in Establishing Moral
Prohibitions
• Investigating Resistance to Temptation
– Punishment should be firm
– Administered immediately and consistently by a warm
disciplinarian
– Reasons for not performing the act should be provided
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• Explaining the Effects of Cognitive Rationales
– Reasoning can result in internal attributions (guilt, harm
self-image)
– Punishment can lead to external attributions – avoid
punishment
» Obey when authority figures are present, not in their
absence
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• Moral Self-Concept Training
– Teach children to avoid temptations based on internal
attributions.
• Social Modeling Influences on Moral Behavior
– Children learn from watching others, if they know the
other is resisting the temptation to violate a rule
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
• Who Raises Children Who Are Morally
Mature?
– Love withdrawal and power assertion
• Did not promote moral growth
– Induction – explaining why a behavior is wrong
and how it should be changed
• Fostered moral emotions, reasoning, and behavior
•
Table 13.4 Relationship Between Parents’ Use of Three Disciplinary Strategies and Children’s
Moral Development. Source: Adapted from “Contributions of Parents and Peers to Children’s
Moral Socialization,” by G. H. Brody & D. R. Shaffer, 1982, Developmental Review, 2, 31-75.
Copyright © 1982 by Academic Press, Inc. Adapted by permission.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT: AFFECTIVE,
COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS
– A Child’s-Eye View of Discipline
• Children and adolescents preferred induction
• 4–9-year-olds favored any discipline to a permissive
attitude
– Research needed on role of culture/SES
– Role of children in influencing the type of
discipline