Question 1

Contemporary research focuses on three facets of morality. Which of the following is not one of these facets?

Accepted Answer

Contemporary research in morality primarily focuses on affect (emotions), cognition (thought processes), and behavior (actions), leaving social aspects as not one of the core facets typically emphasized in this context.

Question 2

Cognitive-developmental research on moral development focuses on

Accepted Answer

Cognitive-developmental research on moral development primarily investigates how cognitive development influences moral reasoning, as theorized by researchers like Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. They focus on how individuals' abilities to reason about moral issues evolve over time.

Question 3

According to cognitive-developmental models, children's reasoning about complex moral issues such as the death penalty may be simplistic because

Accepted Answer

Young children often struggle with complex moral reasoning because their cognitive development is at a stage where they find it difficult to consider and weigh all aspects of a situation. This limitation impacts their ability to fully understand and reason about multifaceted issues like the death penalty.

Question 4

Piaget examined children's conceptions of morality

Accepted Answer

Piaget studied children's moral development by observing their understanding and application of rules in games, such as marbles, to see how they perceive fairness and justice.

Question 5

Children in Piaget's first stage of moral development (age 2 to 4 years)

Accepted Answer

Children in Piaget's first stage of moral development, which occurs from ages 2 to 4, are not yet capable of understanding complex moral concepts, thus they have no real conception of morality.

Question 6

When Leigh takes her son, Tom, to the supermarket, she insists they return the shopping cart to the storage area in front of the store instead of leaving it in the parking lot. Leigh has told Tom that the store has a rule that carts be returned, and explains that it is both a considerate and safe thing to do. Tom becomes extremely upset when he accompanies his father to the supermarket and his father refuses to return the cart to the front of the store. Based on Piaget's stages of moral development, how old is Tom likely to be?

Accepted Answer

Tom is likely around 5 years old, as this age corresponds with Piaget's stage of moral realism, where children believe rules are inflexible and become upset when they are not followed exactly.

Question 7

Children in the stage of moral realism

Accepted Answer

Children in the stage of moral realism tend to accept rules as given and do not question their purpose or correctness, seeing them as fixed and absolute.

Question 8

Children in Piaget's second stage of moral reasoning evaluate moral situations in terms of

Accepted Answer

In Piaget's second stage of moral reasoning, children evaluate moral situations based on their physical and objective consequences alone, focusing on the outcomes of actions rather than intentions or emotions.

Question 9

Mr. Jones, a kindergarten teacher, returns to his classroom to find paint spilled all over the floor. He discovers that the mess originated when Tommy decided to play Peter Pan and "flew" into the easel spilling one cup of paint. When Rachel saw how upset her friend Tommy was about the mess he had made, she tried to help him clean it up and spilled the remaining three cups of paint. Mr. Jones decides to let the class as a group determine what sorts of punishment Tommy and Rachel should receive. According to Piaget, Mr. Jones should expect the students to

Accepted Answer

According to Piaget, young children in the preoperational stage focus on the consequences of actions rather than intentions. Therefore, they are likely to assign a more severe punishment to Rachel because she caused more damage, despite her good intentions.

Question 10

Mateo believes that his father's rules are absolute and that they cannot be changed, even when his older brother tells him that the rules can bent. Mateo does not question his father's authority. According to this information, it is more likely that Mateo is _______ years old.

Accepted Answer

At 6 years old, children are typically in the preoperational stage of cognitive development, where they often see rules as fixed and unchangeable, reflecting a belief in authority figures' absolute power.

Question 11

Immanent justice refers to the idea that

Accepted Answer

Immanent justice is the belief that the universe will ensure that all wrongdoings are punished and all good deeds are rewarded, even if there is no human intervention to make this happen. It is often associated with a child's way of thinking, where they believe that any misdeed will inevitably lead to punishment, regardless of whether it is detected by an authority figure or not.

Question 12

Emily, age 12, is trying to teach Lisa, her 5-year-old neighbour how to play chess. It is clear to Emily that Lisa is having trouble learning the rules of the game. According to Piaget's theory, Emily is likely to

Accepted Answer

Piaget's theory suggests that children adapt to their cognitive challenges. Emily, understanding Lisa's difficulty, might simplify the game by inventing a new set of rules that Lisa can follow, aligning with the concept of accommodation.

Question 13

At what stage in Piaget's model of moral development do children begin to consider a person's motives and intentions when making moral evaluations?

Accepted Answer

In Piaget's model of moral development, the stage of moral relativism, which occurs from ages 8 to 11 years, is when children start to understand and consider a person's motives and intentions in their moral evaluations.

Question 14

Which of the following is characteristic of children in Piaget's final stage of moral development?

Accepted Answer

In Piaget's final stage of moral development, children become capable of developing new rules, expand their moral reasoning to include larger societal and political concerns, and use hypothetical thinking to expand their ability to apply moral principles, making all the provided options correct.

Question 15

Piaget proposed that advancement in moral reasoning is a function of

Accepted Answer

Piaget believed that moral reasoning develops through social experiences and changes in cognitive abilities, reflecting his broader theory that cognitive development is a central factor in how children learn to navigate the world, including moral judgments.

Question 16

Richard is playing a medieval game and feels that the rules need to be adapted and proposes an alternative. Based on this information, which Piagetian stage of moral development is Richard?

Accepted Answer

Richard's suggestion to adapt the rules indicates he is in the stage of moral relativism, where rules are seen as flexible and can be modified based on the situation or agreement among players.

Question 17

How did the research methods employed by Kohlberg and Piaget differ?

Accepted Answer

Kohlberg's research focused on moral reasoning and often involved asking participants to consider dilemmas where obeying a law conflicted with helping an individual, to explore their moral development. Piaget, on the other hand, was interested in cognitive development and used scenarios to understand children's moral judgments, such as evaluating actions to determine which was naughtier, reflecting their understanding of rules and intentions.

Question 18

Which of the following is accurate?

Accepted Answer

Kohlberg did speculate about a possible seventh stage of moral development that would encompass cosmic or transcendent perspectives, often associated with religious or spiritual beliefs. This stage would go beyond the universal ethical principles of the sixth stage. Kohlberg's stages of moral development are more rooted in cognitive development theory rather than environmental or learning perspectives, and it was Kohlberg who extended Piaget's earlier work on moral development, not the other way around. Most individuals do not reach the 6th stage of Kohlberg's moral development.

Question 19

In Kohlberg's theory, advances in moral reasoning reflect

Accepted Answer

Kohlberg's theory of moral development suggests that advances in moral reasoning are associated with an individual's increased ability to consider issues from multiple or broader perspectives, moving from a focus on personal consequences to a broader understanding of societal and ethical principles.

Question 20

In Kohlberg's preconventional stage of moral reasoning, children

Accepted Answer

In Kohlberg's preconventional stage of moral reasoning, children are primarily focused on avoiding punishment and seeking rewards. They have not yet developed the ability to see issues from perspectives other than their own, which is why option A is correct. Options B, C, and D describe more advanced stages of moral reasoning.

Quiz 14: Moral Development