Deck 10: A: Human Development

Question 1

Correlations between Kohlberg's dilemmas and real-world moral behaviour are relatively low because responses to hypothetical dilemmas are often incongruent with a person's behaviours.Does this suggest that Kohlberg's theory is not a valid measure of moral development?

Answer 1

Kohlberg's theory is a measure of how people reason about moral problems,but it is not a measure that predicts the behaviours that people will present in real-world situations.In this way,it could be considered both a valid and invalid measure of moral development depending on how the term "moral development" is defined.If moral development is defined as a type of reasoning about right and wrong,his theory could be a valid measure.If moral development is defined as a style of behaviour one presents in real contexts,his theory may not be a valid measure.

Question 2

Discuss when and how children begin to develop their own self-concepts and understanding of others' perspectives as different from their own (i.e. ,theory of mind).How could you test both self-concept and theory of mind in a child in a manner that is different from those methods identified in your text?

Answer 2

Infants' ability to understand themselves as possessing unique identities unfolds gradually during the toddler and preschool years.But even by three months of age,infants possess some sense of self as distinct from others.Babies,at this age,who view videos of themselves side by side with another baby prefer to look at the image of the other baby.
As early as 18 months,children can recognize their images in a mirror.By two years of age,they can recognize pictures of themselves and refer to themselves by name.Imitation behaviour suggests that children can grasp a correspondence between self and other,and that they want to copy another's behaviour.
A further milestone is children's ability to understand that others' perspectives can differ from theirs-a capacity called theory of mind (Premack & Woodruff,1978).Theory of mind refers to children's ability to reason about what other people believe.
Tasks related to these should correspond to the "red dot test," looking procedures with feet,and the false-belief task for theory of mind.