Moral Development

Question 1

Babies are born selfish and have to learn how to be good through inputs and positive influence

Answer 1

Traditional view of child moral development

Question 2

Helping others in a way where the helper receives no immediate benefit, especially when the person being helped is a stranger

Answer 2

Altruistic helping

Question 3

Describe a study that shows that using a clothespin, children were found to help people

Answer 3

Adult was unable to reach a for a clothespin, 70% of children picked it up. Were able to rule out alternative explanations such as children being concerned with cleanliness/playing catch by making a condition where children did not need any help, and kid then does not help the adult

Question 4

Describe the cabinet altruism study.

Answer 4

Have someone with a stack of magazines but unable to get them into a cabinet= 40% of children helped open the cabinet. Ruled out children opening the cabinet out of the sound of the cabinet being bumped into by having someone bump in the cabinet and not try to open it, suggests that babies are willing to help

Question 5

When does reactive helping first emerge?

Answer 5

18 months

Question 6

Strong cues that help is needed leading to people helping (such as reaching)

Answer 6

Reactive helping

Question 7

Helping where there are very few cues that help is needed (such as someone dropping their wallet and not noticing)

Answer 7

Proactive helping

Question 8

Provide an example of children’s proactive helping through a milk can

Answer 8

Toddler is playing with a toy in the middle of the room, experimenter is in front of table and putting milk cans in the box and one of the milk cans roll off the table. See if children pick up the milk cans, most did

Question 9

When did proactive helping emerge?

Answer 9

24 months

Question 10

Helping where people don’t do the task that is asked of them, rather doing a task that is more helpful for the help-seeker

Answer 10

Paternalistic helping

Question 11

Provide an example of paternalistic helping

Answer 11

Children were introduced to pairs of objects, one was functional (such as working cell phone, cup, hammer, marker, etc), and dysfunctional. (Cup has a hole, hammer is squishy, etc). Adult asks for either the dysfunctional object or the functional one. Results were that for phone and cup children would give the functional one if they were asked for dysfunctional ones

Question 12

Provide a counter study to the idea that children help for reputation

Answer 12

Toddlers help anonymously, and would help even if there is a curtain blocking the experimenters’s view of the toddler

Question 13

When does paternalistic helping begin to emerge?

Answer 13

3 year olds

Question 14

Provide a study that counters the assumption that children help because they may be rewarded for helping

Answer 14

Group A is conditioned to get no reward for helping while Group B is conditioned to help reward for helping by being given a toy. Same person needs help with no reward, and group a is more willing to help- conditioned children expect a reward for helping

Question 15

What is a potential objection for children being born good?

Answer 15

Research has focused on 18 months or older, could actually be unlearning selfish tendencies over time, but its hard to get into the mind of newborns

Question 16

How can nature and nurture for children’s altruism be observed?

Answer 16

By observing animals- and evolutionary relatives show altruism

Question 17

If human socialization is necessary, we _____ find altruistic tendencies in ape

Answer 17

In human socialization is necessary wouldn’t find these tendencies in other apes

Question 18

Do chimpanzees and bonobos also help others altruistically? What does this suggest about children?

Answer 18

Chimpanzees and bonobos also help others altruistically, so children helping may be a natural tendency without human socialization

Question 19

Early helping may serve an important function in development because of the way it affects ____. When was this the case? Provide examples

Answer 19

Early helping may serve an important function in development because of the way if affects adults, particularly in foraging societies and family chores

Question 20

By at least 3.5 years old, children prefer to share resources with ____ rather than strangers

Answer 20

By at least 3.5. Years old, children prefer to share with close relationships rather than strangers

Question 21

Provide an example to children using reciprocity to choose who to help

Answer 21

Each individual is putting golf balls down the ramp, until they run out , but partners still has balls left. Partner shares or does not share, and then children swaps scenario (they have balls or the others one don’t). 2.5 year olds share regardless of condition and 3.5 share depending on partners behavior

Question 22

What is the new view of children’s altruism?

Answer 22

Babies are born good (naive cooperators) and become mature cooperators/learn when it is more appropriate to help q

Question 23

Provide an example where children were tested on inequality

Answer 23

Given a scenario where child has to split five erasers between two people. (Also given an equality division condition). Nearly all 6-8 year olds did the equality condition properly but threw away the extra resource in the inequality condition. Findings were found in US and Africa and children didn’t care about experimenter prioritizing another person or if no one would find out about inequality

Question 24

How was it found that children were willing to have equality even if they did not benefit?

Answer 24

When child was in experiment, chose to throw an unequal resource away even if they could have gotten the extra resource

Question 25

Fairness preferences may be similarly rooted in our history of?

Answer 25

Fairness preferences may be similarly rooted in our history of collaboration

Question 26

Provide an example of children giving unequally based on merit

Answer 26

If a person is said to have worked harder than the other, they are willing to give the person who worked harder more

Question 27

Provide an example of children being willing to split unequally because of luck

Answer 27

When all children have equal chance to win a prize, they would be fine with inequality

Question 28

Provide an example of children being fairly with inequality based on decision making

Answer 28

When children all decide how to allocate unequally

Question 29

Provide an example of children being willing to give unequally based on need

Answer 29

Children are more likely to give more resources if one person needs them more, but less likely for luxury goods