Kohlberg’s and Piaget’s theories both have a number of
similarities, as already mentioned. One of these is their emphasis on
wrong doing and justice. Social psychologists in the 1970s became more
interested in the reasoning behind people’s actions, as well as the
actions themselves, and in moral development this trend was manifested by
Eisenberg’s theory of pro-social reasoning. Crucially, as implied by the
name, her theory also concentrates on positive behaviours and the
reasoning behind them, rather than focusing on negative actions.
However, Kohlberg is still the starting point, and much of
Eisenberg’s theory and her methods show overlap and similarities with her
predecessor’s.
Methods
Nancy Eisenberg and her colleagues (e.g. Eisenberg, 1986;
Eisenberg et al, 1987) have explored this type of reasoning by presenting
dilemmas to children in which they have to have to take on the role of
someone else and act either out of self-interest or in the interests of
others. For example they take on the role of Mary who is in her way to a
birthday party. On her way she comes across a child who has fallen and
suffered an injury. The dilemma being, does Mary stop and help and as a
result miss the party, or does she ignore the injured person and continue
on her way?
On the basis of children's responses to dilemmas dealing
with such pro-social behaviour, Eisenberg proposes a series of five levels
of pro-social reasoning.
Other factors:
Feeling
Feelings are crucial to her theory. She believes that
morality develops through being able to empathise with others, being able
to understand things from their point of view and sharing their feelings.
Role play
As children develop they take on many different roles, for
example, daughter, best friend, pupil and party animal. They also become
aware of the role played by others and are able to play these roles too.
Role playing of this sort, as opposed to the orchestrated role playing of
an electron in science, helps the child to see things from the point of
view of others and helps in appreciating their feelings.
Eisenberg identified five main levels of pro-social
reasoning:
Age 0 to about 7
(pre-school and
primary school children)
1.
Hedonistic
(self-focused) orientation (pre-school children)
Child only cares
only for itself. Any apparently altruistic behaviour is motivated by
selfishness for example 'I’ll help them because they’ll help me in future’
(reciprocity), or simply because the child likes the person they are
helping. Again compare to Freud’s id oral stage dominated by the selfish
id.
2.
Needs of others
orientation (some pre-school and primary school children)
The needs
of others are being recognised but only to a limited extent. The needs of
the specific situation are being addressed rather than a genuine sense of
empathy. When asked the child offers simple explanations for their
positive behaviour without referring to guilt or self reflection.
Age
about 7 to adolescence (primary to secondary school children)
3.
Stereotyped
approval-focused orientation (primary and many high school children)
The child
acts in a way that will make them liked. For example lending a helping
hand in order to impress others. When asked to explain their behaviour
they tend to use stereotyped portrayals of good and bad behaviour.
Adolescence onwards
4.
Empathic orientation (a
few high school children and most secondary school children)
The child
now starts to show genuine empathy by putting themselves in the shoes of
others and begins to report feelings of genuine guilt when considering
their own actions.
4b. Transitional level (a few
secondary school children)
The child’s actions are
now explained in terms of wider social values and the need to
Protect the dignity and
self-esteem of others.
5.
Internalised orientation
(rare in children)
The child now has
a full set of values and understands their responsibilities towards
others. They have self-respect that they can only maintain by behaving
with a duty of care towards others. The person’s desire to live up to
their own set of principles is also a motivating factor.
In summary, the child progresses from a level at which
reasoning is 'self-focused' or 'self-centred' ('what feels good to me is
right’) to a stance in which social approval guides both reasoning about
justice and about doing good. What is right is what other people define
as right. Much later, some young people seem to develop internalised,
individualised ideas, which then guide both types of reasoning. Eisenberg
(1983) found that empathy is not a consistent characteristic. Children
act differently towards different people. Clearly they are more likely to
help friends and family, but are also more likely to help people from
their own ethnic or religious group.
Interestingly (Eisenberg 2005) comments on the lack of
mention of reward and punishment mentioned by children in explaining their
positive actions. This is in marked contrast to Kohlberg’s findings, when
it was common for younger children to cite these as reasons for their
negative behaviours.
Evaluation
Comparisons with Kohlberg
Kohlberg is a truer stage theory since he believes that
once a child progresses past a stage it does not return to earlier
stages. However, Eisenberg disagrees, recognising that there are
situations in which we may adopt a lower level of morality, particularly
in cases were we decide not to help someone in a particular situation.
She also believes that some of the reasoning of the higher levels is not
always superior to that found in lower levels.
Both Eisenberg and Kohlberg (and Piaget obviously) see
cognitive development as crucial in guiding moral development. A person’s
ability to reason or make moral judgements is in part limited by their
ability to think!
Eisenberg believes that ‘primitive empathy’ is to be found
in children as young as four. This is clearly at odds with Kohlberg who
only recognises empathy much later.
Eisenberg has more recently recognised the importance of
emotion in moral development. On seeing a person in need of help a child
(and an adult) is more likely to help if the distressed person arouses
sympathy (characterised by lower heart rate) rather than distress (higher
heart rate). This is seen as a return more to Piagetian thinking and away
from Kohlberg.
This model
clearly has some parallels with Kohlberg's, however researchers have
typically found that children’s reasoning about pro-social dilemmas and
their reasoning about Kohlberg's justice and fairness dilemmas, are only
moderately correlated. The sequence of stages may be similar, but
children seem to move through these stages at different speeds. Eisenberg
has found that children’s pro-social reasoning is slightly ahead of their
Kohlberg reasoning.
Cross
cultural comparisons
Boehnke et al 1989 found that children in various Western
cultures tend to progress through Eisenberg’s stages in the order and at
the age that she suggests.
However, there do appear to be differences between
cultures. In the more collectivist Kibbutzim of Israel children as young
as primary school age show signs of stage 5 reasoning, believing that we
have a duty to help others. This is not surprising given that the
collectivist nature of the Kibbutz system places an emphasis on
responsibility for others and not just responsibility for oneself as
preached in more individualistic Western society.
Other variables
According to Eisenberg, it isn’t only cognitive development
that determines the level at which the child reasons:
1. Socilisation
Children worried about their appearance and about the views
of others are more likely to operate at level 3 (approval-focused),
whereas a child with a similar cognitive ability who has been bought up to
be more empathetic, will most likely reason at level 4 (empathy-focused).
2. Situational factors
As the costs involved in helping someone increase (e.g. in
terms of time taken, expense or physical harm), the more a child is likely
to offer hedonistic explanations of their actions.
Specific situational variables may also be important, e.g.
if lots of people are watching we may act in order to gain the approval of
others.
Carol Gilligan’s Ethic of Caring
Gilligan (1982) begins from a point of dissatisfaction with
Kohlberg's focus on a justice and fairness orientation as the defining
feature of moral reasoning. She argues that such an emphasis on justice
is a reflection of a more general male bias in both research and
theory in developmental psychology. Gilligan points out that because
Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning is based upon research which only
employed male participants, he may have missed out an equally important
set of developmental questions that may be more central to girls’
development.
Methods
Gilligan (1982) interviewed 29 American women aged between
15 and 33 who were considering whether or not to have an abortion. From
her research Gilligan suggested three stages of development:
1. Survival and self-interest
Women think mainly
about their own needs, this includes behaving in a way that would make
them liked, for example keeping the baby so they would be loved by it.
2. Responsibilities and self-sacrifice
Women care about
others. For example keeping the baby because of a duty to the child, or
aborting because the father was not ready for his duties.
3.
Care and relationships
Women take a
balanced view and consider the situation as it affects everyone, including
themselves.
Gilligan proposes two distinct moral orientations:
Justice:
More prominent in boys and the aspect of morality that Kohlberg and Piaget
paid most attention to. The main aspect of justice orientation is not to
treat others in an unfair manner.
Care:
More prominent in
girls and the aspect of morality studied by
Gilligan. The main aspect of care is not to ignore those in need.
Evaluation
Several testable hypotheses can be derived from Gilligan's
proposals. For example:
· If
Gilligan is right then girls should be more likely to use an ethic of
caring in defining and deciding moral questions.
· If
girls tend to respond to moral dilemmas with an ethic of caring rather
than justice, we would expect girls' morality to be less than that of boys
when measured using Kohlberg's dilemmas, (since these concentrate on
justice only).
Neither of these hypotheses has been supported by recent
research.
1. Research does not support the idea that girls operate
from an orientation of care.
2. There are no consistent sex differences in the level of
moral reasoning as measured by Kohlberg's scoring system. Walker (1984)
found that girls do not show less mature morality, as predicted by
Gilligan's argument. Further, both boys' and girls' reasoning moves
through the same stages as described by Kohlberg (e.g. Snarey et al.,
1985).
Tong (1992) believes that if gender affects moral reasoning
then so must class and ethnicity. Gilligan does not take these into
account.
To summarise then, Gilligan seems to be wrong in the
specifics of her ideas about sex differences in moral reasoning. However,
her criticisms of the biased foundations of psychological theories (e.g.
Kohlberg's) and her ideas regarding sex differences in the way males and
females relate to situations and relationships have raised important
considerations for psychology.
Culture and Morality
This is mentioned on the syllabus so could come up. What
follows is a brief overview and will include work mentioned in greater
detail earlier in the booklet. Crucial is the idea of a collectivist
culture in Asian and African countries as opposed to an individualistic
culture in Westernised societies. (If you are unclear on these terms… ASK
or find out more about them!).
In Piaget's theory the top level is 'autonomous
relativism' (based on morality being self-governed and
independent). This is a very western concept and would be totally at
odds with more collectivist ideas of sharing responsibility and caring for
others in society.
Cultural bias in Kohlberg
(the boxed section is a copy of an earlier section)
Snarey (1985) and others have argued
that the theory suffers from cultural bias, particularly in stage 5.
Studies suggest that this does not apply to non-industrialised
societies, for example Guatamala, Kenya and New Guinea.
Stage 5 emphasises the moral
reasoning of individualistic, Western societies. What Kohlberg
appears to be saying in stage 5 is that if the laws of Society
conflict with your own individually held beliefs then you have the
right to ignore or alter them. This is clearly at odds with
non-Western values, particularly those of some Asian and African
Societies, that are more collectivist, seeing the group, such as the
village or extended family, as being of greater worth than the needs
of the individual. This is illustrated by a quotation from a man
living in an Israeli Kibbutz. When asked the dilemma of Heinz and
whether or not he should have stolen the drug, he replied:
'Yes… I think the community should be
responsible for controlling this type of situation. The medicine
should be made available to all in need: the druggist should not have
the right to decide on his own…the whole community or society should
have control of the drug.'
Rather than saying that such cultures
are morally inferior to Western cultures all that can really be
concluded is that they are different and therefore Kohlberg’s later
stages are not universal or cross-culturally valid!
In kohlberg's theory, stage 6 is 'universal ethical
principles' (based on morality being in accordance with deeply held
personal views that override the laws of the nation). Again, as
pointed out, this runs counter to Eastern and African Society where
collectivist decisions are adhered to.
In both cases, top levels of morality are only achieved
when the highest levels of cognitive development are reached. Again,
cognitive development is seen very much from a Western perspective.
Culture, by definition, is central to any discussion on
morality since it considers the norms, values and beliefs of a society.
As we saw, Kohlberg's theory is criticised for its western bias. It
emphasises individual needs typical of Western teaching and ignores
collectivist needs of Asian and African cultures. These are most apparent
in the way that Eastern culture is geared to the extended family. As a
result people from Eastern culture are unlikely to reach level 3 (post
conventional morality) with its emphasis on the individual's chosen
morality. This approach is referred to as 'West is best' and is
also apparent in Piaget's theory. In both, the top level is seen as best,
and in both cases the top levels place the emphasis on the emergence of
individual morality.
For Lee’s study to make any sense to the reader coming at
it from a Western perspective, it is essential to point out that in
Chinese (and other collectivist) cultures, taking the credit for a good
deed is not seen as the done thing since it runs counter to the idea that
we should all work for the social good. This is clearly in contrast to
Western individualistic ideas where we tend not to feel so ashamed or
embarassed about admitting to helping others.
Lee et al interviewed 120 Chinese children and 108
Canadians between the ages of 7 and 11 years. They were each read four
stories:
1. One of a child
who had performed a good deed and when questioned admitted to it.
2. One of a child
who had performed a good deed and when questioned said someone else had
done it.
3. One of a child
who had performed a bad deed and when questioned admitted to it.
4. One of a child
who had performed a bad deed and when questioned said someone else had
done it.
The children were then asked about their feelings towards
each of the four situations:
Findings:
In situations were a bad deed had been carried out the
findings were similar. Both Canadian and Chinese children both agreed
that telling the truth was the best policy.
However, in situations were a good deed had been carried
out there were very noticeable differences. Generally speaking the
Chinese children rated the children who fibbed about their good deed more
positively than those who admitted to it.
Conclusion:
It seems that the Collectivist emphasis on modesty when
carrying out good deeds seems, in some cases at least, to overide the need
to tell the truth in all sitautions. Lack of modesty is seen as a
character flaw and is not to be encouraged. In the West we see it as
okay to lie to cover our mistakes or bad deeds but are quite willing to
admit to and take the praise for good deeds.
Lee et al shows that cultural and social factors are
crucial in determining moral development.
Introduction
This refers to the concept of the child developing a sense of who it is
and how it fits into society. As the child matures it develops an
increasing idea of its self identity. This topic looks at how this
comes about and the factors that shape it. Although there are many
factors involved, this part of the syllabus, ‘cognitive and
developmental’ does tend to focus on the cognitive factors involved
rather than, for example, the emotional.
Three approaches will be considered:
Theory of mind (Baron-Cohen)
Perspective Taking (Selman)
Mirror-neuron theory (medical explanation)
Definition of ‘Self’
Self in this context refers to a person’s self awareness.
Murphy (1947) puts it simply: ‘The Self is the individual as known to
the individual.’
Learey (2004) couches it in more complex terms: ‘a cognitive structure
that allows self-reflection and organises information about ourselves.’
In other words it’s a schema or mental representation of who we are and
what we know about ourselves. Learey also believes that the self has
inbuilt motivational features:
- Self-consistency: helps us maintain a steady view of whom we are that remains constant over time.
- Self-evaluation: a form of self-perception that ensures our perception of ourselves is accurate. This partly determines our level of self-esteem, the extent to which we like ourselves.
- Self-enhancement: maintains a positive view of ourselves.
Greenwald (1980) offers a particularly good analogy of self-esteem,
likening it to a totalitarian regime that acts to portray only a
positive image of itself and is willing to ‘rewrite history’ in order to
maintain this favourable view.
Self image
involves a number of characteristics:
- Social roles: teacher, uncle, member of CAMRA…
- Personality characteristics: introvert, selfish, vain…
- Physical characteristics: short, bald, kinda’ cute…
Self-ideal
is the sort of person we would like to be.
Self-esteem
could also be seen as the difference between what we are and what we
want to be. Put mathematically:
Self esteem = Self ideal – Self image
Testing self awareness (the rouge test)
Gallup (1970) was the first to use the following test, which has since
been used to test other species. A smudge of red (rouge) placed on the
child’s nose who is then placed in front of a mirror. If the child
touches their own nose, rather than the rouge reflected in the mirror,
it is assumed that they possess self-awareness.
Chimps and Happy the elephant
When chimps are given the rouge test fewer than 50% of those tested pass
successfully. However, in 2006 Plotnik tested a small group of
elephants from the Yerkes colony. Although most showed signs of
recognition, only one, Happy’ went all the way and touched the white
cross painted on her head. It is thought elephants, with their complex
social groupings would find self awareness a useful characteristic.
Development of the Self-concept
1. Subjective self awareness
We are born with some basic awareness such as warmth and hunger and soon
become aware that we are responsible for our own movement (personal
agency). By about five months the child can also recognize its own
face. Legerstee et al (1998) found that children of this age look
longer at photographs of others than of themselves.
2. Objective self awareness
This is usually tested using the rouge test and is seen as major
distinguishing ability of humans (although a very few other species have
been shown to have the ability). Lewis and Brooks-Gunn (1979) found
that only 19% of infants aged 15 months could successfully complete the
task. This rose to 66% by two years.
Development of objective self awareness is seen as crucial in the
development of emotions, particularly self conscious traits such as
jealousy and embarrassment.
Some research also suggests that objective self awareness develops
sooner in securely attached infants and in children who are encouraged
to be independent.
3. Psychological self
Children up to the age of four tend to describe themselves in terms of
physical characteristics such as their height and hair colour and in
terms of things they can do like play football or swim. As they get
older they start to consider more psychological characteristics and when
prompted will say whether they prefer to be on their own or with others
and whether they are shy or more outgoing. By the age of four there are
the first signs of self-esteem (their own assessment of themselves).
4. Theory of mind (distinguishing self from others)
The following pages look at this in more detail.
ToM is usually tested using a false belief task such as the Sally Anne
saga or Wimmer and Perner’s blue/green cupboard.
The term ‘theory of mind’ (ToM) is relatively new being coined by
Premack and Woodruff in (1978) whilst studying the language and social
abilities of chimpanzees.
Definition:
‘The ability to attribute mental states [such as beliefs and feelings]
to oneself and to others.
For example: ‘Val seems pensive today’ and ‘Nick would like this for his
birthday.’
Basically a child has ToM when it can appreciate that others have
different ideas, thoughts, desires, likes and dislikes to themselves.
Consider this in terms of Piaget and loss of egocentricism.
Wimmer and Perner (1983): blue cupboard/green cupboard
Children of 4, 6 or 8 years of age watch a toy (called Maxi) place some
chocolates in a blue cupboard. Maxi leaves the room during which time
his mum moves the chocolates to a green cupboard. The children see Maxi
return and are asked ‘where will Maxi look for the chocolates?’
Most 4 year olds incorrectly expect Maxi to look in the green cupboard
Most 6 and 8 year olds correctly believe he will look in the blue
cupboard.
Conclusion
Children as young as 4 assume that Maxi will know what they know. By
the time the children are 6 years of age they realize that others don’t.
Wellman et al (2001) got similar results in a meta-analysis of previous
research. There also appears to be cross-cultural support for the
findings from the results of similar studies carried out in seven
different countries. Development of this ability was slower in Japan
and Austria.
Baron-Cohen et al (1985); the Sally Anne saga
Baron-Cohen is by far the biggest contributor to our knowledge of ToM.
However, most of the information he has collected has been from his work
on children with autism.
Examination advice from AQA(A) Psychology: The board
specifies Theory of Mind (Baron-Cohen) which means that they can ask a
question specifically about his theory. Faced with this question you
will almost certainly need to discuss autism since B-C’s work has
focused largely on children and adults with this disorder. The
assumption being that people with autism lack a theory of mind.
Children watch as two dolls (Sally and Anne) act out a scenario similar
to the Wimmer and Perner cupboard experiment.
Sally places a marble in her basket and leaves the room and her basket
behind. Anne removes the marble and places it in her box. Sally
returns.
The children are then asked three questions:
- Where is the marble really? (the naming question)
- Where was the marble in the beginning? (the memory question)
- Where will Sally look for the marble? (the belief question)
However, in this study Baron-Cohen et al’s participants comprise:
20 autistic children (average age 12)
14 children with Down’s syndrome (average age 11)
27 children with neither autism nor Downs (average age 4.5)
Results
All the participant pass the naming question and the memory question.
However, for the belief question (testing ToM) the success rates were as
follows:
Disorder
|
% correct answers
|
‘Normal’ (neither disorder)
|
85%
|
Down’s syndrome
|
86%
|
Autism
|
20%
|
Conclusion
Children with autism seem unable to appreciate that others have
different thoughts or beliefs to themselves.
This inability seems to be a very specific one since children with
Down’s syndrome who have far greater global deficiencies can complete
the task normally.
It is thought that the 20% of autistic children who can perform this
task do so by employing a very long-winded method rather than
intuitively knowing the answer.
First and second order beliefs
A first order belief is a belief the child attributes to another
person. For example in the Sally Anne procedure, ‘Sally will look for
the marble in her basket.’
A second order belief is the realization that another person can have a
belief about a third person. For example ‘I think that Anne thinks
Sally will look in her basket.’
When Baron-Cohen (1989) tested the performance of autistic children on
second order beliefs he found that none of them could perform the task
successfully compared to 90% of a younger group of children without
autism.
Shared attention mechanism
Baron-Cohen (1995) believes an important reason for this deficit in
autistic children is due to their lack of a shared attention mechanism.
Shared attention is the ability that we have to work out what others are
thinking by looking at what they’re looking at (or what they’re
attending to).
For example imagine you’re watching someone who’s trying to choose
between four bars of chocolate: a twix, a snickers, a milky way and a
topic. If they’re clearly staring at the topic (my favourite) then you
can work out that’s what they want. Autistic children find this
difficult.
Baron-Cohen et al (1996) gave five tests like this to 16,000 eighteen
month old children. Only twelve out of this huge sample failed every
test. By the age of 3½ nearly all of these had been diagnosed with
autism. (Unable to find how many constitutes ‘nearly all’).
General or Specific deficits
As mentioned above Baron-Cohen assumes that the problems in autistic
children are due to specific cognitive impairments (what he refers to as
‘mindblindness’).
However there is a large body of evidence that suggests autistic
children have more general deficits, for example inability to plan and
focus and other so-called executive functions (think of role of central
executive).
Hughes and Russell (1993) showed children a box containing a marble
which they had to remove. Although they could reach in and get it they
were told that they had to turn a knob or push a switch. Autistic
children found it almost impossible not to simply reach in and grab the
marble. As the researchers saw it, they were unable to inhibit this
response.
Central coherence
Imagine I’ve just pulled you up for your lack of sartorial elegance
(i.e. made a silly and probably unkind comment about the way you’re
dressed). However, I have done so with a big grin on my face. Knowing
me as you do then hopefully you wouldn’t be too offended and see it as a
joke. You have central coherence. You can consider all the information
available… rude comment but smiley face and conclude that it was a
light-hearted quip. Autistic children appear to lack central coherence
and as a result only consider part of the message. If this is the
verbal element then chances are they will be insulted!
Evaluation of ToM
There is plenty of support for Baron-Cohen’s theory and there is no
doubting that autistic children do have problems understanding ‘their
own and other’s mind.’
However, the false belief tests are complicated. It is difficult to
ascertain whether the problems faced by the autistic are specific (mindblindness)
or are down to more general cognitive deficits, such as attention.
Baron-Cohen does not consider the child’s motivation to understand other
people’s thoughts and behaviour. Perhaps autistic children perform less
well, not because of a specific inability but because they are less well
motivated than others.
ToM theory does not account for the other symptoms of autism, most
notably savant characteristics. How does an inability to read minds
explain the language problems and obsessive behaviours of some autistic
children and how can it explain the unusual skills possessed by a
minority of children with autism?
NB
(nota bene… meaning ‘note well’ in Latin)
In 1995 Baron-Cohen proposed the existence of ToMM (theory of mind
module). He sees this as a structure or mechanism within the brain
which develops at the age of about four years and allows us to
understand the thoughts of others. Clearly this ties in with the mirror
neuron system discussed later in the topic.
Individual differences and nurture
Biological structure cannot fully explain ToM however. Children from
larger families seem to develop ToM earlier than other children,
probably because they’re exposed to a wider range of different minds at
an early age. This would suggest an environmental influence on the
development, so we have an argument for the nurture side of the debate
too.
Perspective-taking
theory (Selman)
Put simply this is the idea that if we can understand another person’s
view we will be better able to understand people and to empathise with
them. We will be more socially competent.
Baron-Cohen (1985) distinguished between:
- Perceptual perspective taking (as tested by Piaget’s three mountains) whereby we can understand that other people see the world differently and
- Conceptual perspective taking (as tested by Baron-Cohen’s false belief task) whereby we can go further and attribute thoughts and feelings to other people.
Flavell et al (1990) made a similar distinction but referred to this as:
Level 1
(2 and 3 year old): who know that others see things differently and
Level 2
(4 and 5 year olds): who can work out what others are seeing and
feeling.
Flavell (1986) painted a sponge to look like a rock. Children
were then asked:
‘What does it look like?’ and ‘what is it really?
Three year olds tended to answer the same for both questions,
either rock or sponge.
By the age of five however, they can say it looks like a rock
but it’s really a sponge.
|
In a follow up by Gopnik and Astington (1988) they allowed children to
feel the sponge first and then they’re told that a friend hasn’t touched
the sponge, what will they think it is?
Younger children think others will know what they know… ‘he’ll think
it’s a sponge’
Older children (5 onwards) can attribute false beliefs to other people:
‘he’ll thin it’s a rock.’
By the age of five children can take another person’s perspective.
Selman’s stages of perspective taking
Selman’s methods are similar to those of Piaget (and his moral stories)
and Kohlberg (with his dilemmas). Typically Selman reads such a story
and asks questions. One such story is that of Holly:
Holly is an 8-year old
girl
who likes to climb
trees.
She is the best tree climber in the
neighbourhood.
One day while climbing a tree she falls off the bottom
branch
but does not hurt herself. Her
father
sees her fall, and is
upset.
He asks her to
promise
not to climb trees anymore, and Holly promises.
Later that day, Holly and her friends meet Sean. Sean's kitten is caught up in a tree and cannot get down. Something has to be done right away or the kitten may fall. Holly is the only one who climbs trees well enough to reach the kitten and get it down, but she remembers her promise to her father.
Later that day, Holly and her friends meet Sean. Sean's kitten is caught up in a tree and cannot get down. Something has to be done right away or the kitten may fall. Holly is the only one who climbs trees well enough to reach the kitten and get it down, but she remembers her promise to her father.
If children of different
ages
are presented with this
situation
and asked such questions as, "If Holly climbs the tree, should she be
punished?"
"Will her father
understand
if she climbs the tree?" "Will Sean understand why Holly has trouble
deciding what to do?" the children will give
answers
relevant
to their age
group:
-
Level 0: Egocentric viewpoint (or undifferentiated) Age:
3-6
Description: Children recognize that the self and others can have different thoughts and feelings, but they frequently confuse the two.
Response: The child predicts that Holly will save the kitten because she does not want it to get hurt and believes that Holly's father will feel just as she does about her climbing the tree: "Happy, he likes kittens." -
Level 1:
Social-informational perspective-taking Age:
6-8
Description: Children understand that different perspectives may result because people have access to different information.
Response: When asked how Holly's father will react when he finds out that she climbed the tree, the child responds, "If he didn't know anything about the kitten, he would be angry. But if Holly shows him the kitten, he might change his mind." -
Level 2:
Self-reflective perspective-taking
Age:
8-10
Description: Children can "step in another person's shoes" and view their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviour from the other person's perspective. They also recognize that others can do the same.
Response: When asked whether Holly thinks she will be punished, the child says, "No. Holly knows that her father will understand why she climbed the tree." This response assumes that Holly's point of view is influenced by her father being able to "step in her shoes" and understand why she saved the kitten.
-
Level 3:
Third-party
perspective-taking
Age: 10-12
Description: Children can step outside a two-person situation and imagine how the self and other are viewed from the point of view of a third, impartial party.
Response: When asked whether Holly should be punished, the child says, "No, because Holly thought it was important to save the kitten. But she also knows that her father told her not to climb the tree. So she'd only think she shouldn't be punished if she could get her father to understand why she had to climb the tree." This response steps outside the immediate situation to view both Holly's and her father's perspectives simultaneously. -
Level 4:
Societal
perspective-taking
Age: 12-15 onwards
Description: Individuals understand that third-party perspective-taking can be influenced by one or more systems of larger societal values.
Response: When asked if Holly should be punished, the individual responds, "No. The value of humane treatment of animals justifies Holly's action. Her father's appreciation of this value will lead him not to punish her."
Cognition and Perspective taking (chicken or egg?)
As with cognitive theories of morality (such as Kohlberg’), it would
seem logical that increases in cognitive development would need to take
place before perspective taking could improve.
Keating & Clark (1980) compared perspective taking ability with level of
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development.
Piagets’s level of cognitive development
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Selman’s level of perspective taking
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Sensori-motor and Preoperational
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Level 0
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Concrete operational thought
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Levels 1 and 2
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Formal operational thought
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Levels 3 and 4
|
As you can see from the table above, this seems to be the case. The
better the thinking the better the perspective taking. However, this is
correlational so all we can say with certainty is that the two are
associated. We can’t say that increases in cognitive ability are
causing the improvements in perspective taking. Importantly, however,
Walker (1980) does believe that the cognitive improvements do take place
first suggesting there may be a causal relationship.
Perspective taking can be slowed
There is plenty of research to suggest that children that are mistreated
in the home do not develop perspective taking skills as quickly as other
children. Manly (2006) found that teenagers (average age 15) that had
been mistreated at home had the average perspective taking ability of a
ten year old. This could be down to the fact that mistreated children
have fewer social interactions with parents or because they are
observing poor social behaviour in their parents.
Evaluation
Validity
Do the predictions made by these tests stand up in real life
situations? (Hint: think of how we could measure the validity of an IQ
test. If the test measures a person’s IQ at 130 then we would expect
that person to perform well in school tests, if it was valid).
In the case of Selman’s test, we would expect a child that scores highly
on perspective taking to communicate more effectively with others in
real life situations. This appears to be the case. Selman et al (1983)
got girls to work in small groups and make puppets and then put on
puppet shows. Those who had earlier scored well on PT were observed to
communicate better as part of the groups.
Research does tend to support many of Selman’s ideas:
Perspective taking is important in social situations
Perspective taking does seem to proceed through the stages he suggests
The lack of social skills in maltreated children may be due to their
inability to perspective take
Perspective taking does seem to be associated with improving cognitive
development and with higher intelligence.
However
Better developed perspective taking ability is not a guarantee of social
success! In real-life situations the child also needs to know how to
use these skills and crucially which behaviours are suitable (or not) in
different situations.
Although you would expect children with better PT skills to be more
popular with peers, this is not always the case. Attempts to teach PT
skills to children to improve their social competence are not always
successful.
The theory places too great an emphasis on perspective taking as a
determinant of social interactions. Many people have very good PT
skills and high cognitive ability but for whatever reason are not good
in social situations. Motivation, not mentioned by Selman, is also
needed.
The theory is reductionist. It doesn’t consider individual differences
between children, for example in their personality. Children high in
emotionality (those who experience intense, usually negative emotions)
and low in ability to manage their emotions, tend to be less socially
competent than others, (Eisenberg et al 1997).
This section will look at biological explanations of social cognition.
However, at the outset it is important to bear in mind that different
explanations of similar characteristics are not mutually exclusive.
Evidence for biological explanations do not mean other explanations are
wrong; they are simply viewing the behaviour at a different level.
From the point of view of the perspective; it does
say ‘including the mirror-neuron system’ and in fact this appears to be
the ONLY biological explanation worth mentioning!
The Mirror-Neuron System
Understanding the behaviour and thoughts of others is a very useful
characteristic of any social creature. All the primates fall into this
category as do a few lower species. In evolutionary terms therefore, if
an individual is socially adept then perhaps it has a greater chance of
passing on its genes. Therefore biological mechanisms underlying such a
predisposition are likely to be selected for meaning they are likely to
be widespread within the gene pool.
From a behaviourist point of view, much of our behaviour is
copied or learned from others (social learning). Individuals
that are better at interpreting the actions of others will be
better placed to copy and more likely to do so if they see
others being rewarded for their behaviour (vicarious
conditioning).
Gallese et al (1996)
Measured the brain activity of monkeys performing a grasping
action. Later when monkeys observed other monkeys making the
same action their brain activity was the same. This is the
basis of the mirror-neuron system. Behaviours we perform
ourselves result in very similar brain activity to those similar
behaviours we observe.
The researchers concluded that this system allows for the action
and understanding of others’ actions.
|
Does the mirror-neuron system exist in humans?
Rizzoletti et al (2006) got human participants to either watch the
experimenters making various hand gestures or to make the gestures
themselves. Either way the neural activity in the hands was very
similar.
PET scans identified the following brain areas as being involved:
Superior Temporal Sulcus (STS)
|
Responds to seeing body parts move
|
Inferior Parietal Lobule*(IPL)
|
Seems similar to the area involved in monkeys
|
Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG)
|
|
*such a sexy word!
This provides evidence for a similar system to humans but how can we be
sure it acts to help us understand the behaviour of others rather than
just copy it?
Umilta et al (2001)…
an ingenious experiemt!
The researchers got monkeys to watch experimenters carrying out various
actions.
- The experimenter is seen to reach for an item of food
- An item of food is hidden from view behind a screen. The researcher then reaches for it as in condition 1, but this time cannot be seen accessing the food.
Findings
Even when the food was hidden, more than 50% of the mirror-neurons still
fired and half of these did so as strongly was when the food was in
view. Umilta et al concluded that the monkey brains were responding to
the understanding of what the action entailed (i.e. getting food) even
though the food could not be seen.
As a further test to show that it wasn’t the action per se that
was triggering the mirror neurons, there was a third condition in which
no food was hidden and the monkeys watched the same action as in
condition 2. This time the mirror neurons did not fire. Clearly the
firing was triggered by the understanding of the action.
Dinstein et al (2007) measured the activity in five human brain areas,
known to be involved in the mirror-neuron system, while they watched or
performed an action.
Although watching and performing an action resulted in the same brain
AREAS being excited, the researchers could not say with certainty that
it was the same NEURONS that were firing each time. Scanning techniques
are simply not sufficiently sophisticated to measure at this level.
Autism and the
mirror-neuron system
Baron-Cohen’s work suggests that autistic children lack a theory of
mind. If we assume that the mirror-neuron system is the basis of ToM
then we would expect autistic children to have a defective MNS.
Depretto et al (2000) compared autistic children with non-autistic
children as they either watched or attempted to imitate one of five
facial expressions. Expressions were either anger, fear, happiness,
neutrality, or sadness.
Findings
- Autistic children showed less activity in the MNS as they watched or copied the expressions
- The greater the autistic symptoms the lower the level of activity recorded.
However, there are issues with cause and effect. We cannot be certain
that the autism is due to this lowered level of activity. Lowered
activity could be due to the autism or a third factor could be causing
both.
However, some autistic children have shown signs of cortical thinning
(means exactly what it says on the tin) in areas known to be related to
MNS.
But
Autistic children have a whole range of symptoms, only one of which is
inability to understand or interpret the actions of others. It is
difficult to see how MNS could explain symptoms such as the savant-like
abilities of some autistic children.
The MNS is not defective in all autistic children suggesting more than
one cause of the disorder.
Mirror neurons and autism:To investigate this connection, Iacoboni et al studied the brain activity of 20 child subjects, half of whom had autism. The subjects saw 80 pictures of faces expressing anger, fear, happiness, sadness, or nothing in particular. The researchers asked some subjects to merely view the faces and others to imitate them. In the group of autistic children asked to imitate the faces, the researchers found no activity in brain regions associated with mirror neurons. The more severe the condition, says Iacoboni, the less active the mirror-neuron system seems to be.
Emotion
Is the MNS involved in our ability to understand or empathize with the
emotions of those we observe?
Phillips et al (1997) measured activity in two brain structures, the
amygdale and the insula, both known to be involved in emotion and
particularly in our response to disgust! Participants were either
exposed to disgusting stimuli (in the form of unpleasant smells) or they
watched the facial expressions of other people exposed to similarly
disgusting things.
Both brain structures responded in a similar way regardless of whether
the disgust was being experienced or observed in others.
Note: the five main emotions are usually considered to be: love,
happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. However, disgust is often
tested experimentally due to fewer ethical issues!
It is also worth mentioning that the size of the response increased in
proportion to the level of disgust evident on faces of those being
observed.
In a similar follow up study, participants had electrodes fitted to
their hands and they received painful electric shocks while activity was
measured in the limbic system. Later the participants watched as the
electrodes were attached to the hands of a loved one. When told that
they would receive the same shock as they had experienced earlier a
similar pattern of firing was noted in the same brain structure.
However, as with earlier studies it is difficult to conclude that the
very same neurons are being fired in watching and experiencing; just
similar brain areas!
Phillips suggests that our understanding of others’ emotions occurs at
two levels:
Cognitive understanding:
we see the person being sad, disgusted etc. and have an understanding
based on past experience of how this feels.
Experiential:
on observing a sad or disgusted person the sensory input is mapped
directly onto a corresponding motor area that mirrors their response in
our brain. We then experience the same emotional response as the person
being observed.
If this latter one is the case then we have a biological mechanism for
empathy and true appreciation of the feelings of others. It might also
partly explain certain contagious behaviours such as laughing and
yawning.
Overall evaluation of the Mirror-Neuron System
The model does seem to offer a sound biological explanation of our
ability to understand others.
However there are a few issues:
Methods: the fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) technique is
unable to measure specific neurons. Therefore, as already mentioned we
cannot be certain that the very same neurons are being fired when we
experience and when we observe.
Much of the research has been carried out on monkeys who have nowhere
near the same social repertoire as humans. We therefore must have a
more sophisticated MNS or have other, as yet undiscovered, biological
systems underpinning theory of mind.
Gopnik is a particularly staunch opponent to the MN theory. Apart from
its basis in animal research she is also opposed to the reductionist
nature of the theory. Can altruistic behaviour and true empathy be
reduced to activity in a set of cells? Similarly Eisenberg (2000)
believes that early understanding of another person’s distress may be
the result of MNs but a fuller appreciation and true empathy only comes
about through perspective taking which she believes involves far more
than the simple MNs.
Gopnik also questions the innate nature of mirror neurons. Since
imitation is present at birth it has led many to assume that we must be
born with a mirror-neuron system fully intact (innate). Gopnik suggests
the possibility that mirror neurons arise through experience. Hebb
suggested the theory of cell assemblies, in which neurons that fire
together, wire together. They form a connection. Mirror neurons
therefore may not be present at birth but develop through the process of
association due to experience.
Mirror neurons and language acquisition
Language development is probably the most important of all human
abilities and seems to be the one characteristic that sets us apart from
all other species. Non-human animals communicate but practically all
impartial research suggests that it is only humans that have the ability
to impart information about experiences and acquired knowledge.
The main language areas in the brain are Wernickes (concerned with the
understanding of language) and Broca’s area (concerned with language
production), both named after their respective discoverers.
Attempts to teach language to other species have generally failed,
though the Savage-Rumbaughs and others would disagree. What seems
essential to language acquisition is immersion. Rather than sitting
down and being formally taught to acquire language, humans seem to pick
it up by watching and listening to others and then imitating. Clearly
mirror neurons would be useful in this process. Binkofski et al (2000)
used brain imaging techniques to show the existence of mirror neurons in
Broca’s area.
Latest stuff
One of the main criticisms of research into mirror neurons centres on
our inability to measure activity in specific neurons. Research simply
shows that similar regions of neurons fire when observing and
actually doing or experiencing. These regions comprising perhaps half a
million neurons!
However, Iacobani (reported by Slack 2007) measured the activity of
individual neurons in the brains of volunteer epileptics. The
researchers were trying to find neurons responsible for triggering
seizures. The volunteers performed simple actions and then observed
others performing similar actions. Meanwhile the activity of 286
individual neurons was recorded by the researchers. They reported 34
neurons were the same pattern of firing was triggered by both performing
an action and watching it being performed by others (mirror neurons).
Interestingly they found different types of MN including one that
becomes suppressed when we watch others perform the same action. The
researchers concluded that this might explain why we don’t blindly copy
everything that we observe and perhaps how we distinguish between our
own behaviour and that of others.
More primitive motivations, such as hunger, might also
govern the mirror system. In a study by Decety et two groups of
subjects were shown a video of a person grasping food. Some of the
subjects had fasted for at least 12 hours before the viewing; others had
a meal before the session. Using functional imaging, the researchers
found greater activity in the mirror systems of the hungry subjects.
When a blender brain is running on empty it reacts strongly to the site
of fresh fruit; when it’s filled to the brim with a smoothie, it’s less
interestedThe evolutionary benefits of an efficient and well-regulated perception-action system that swings into action shortly after birth are numerous. A glimpse into another person’s emotions might help predict that person’s behavior. Understanding the face of pain from an early age could keep us from touching a hot stove. At a greater social level, a personal insight into the experiences of others could aid cooperation.
Psychologists are finding that the mature adult mirror system does indeed seem to regulate itself, particularly when it comes to empathy. Such checks and balances occur for our own good. If, through the mirror system, we were able to completely experience the pain of another person, we might constantly feel distressed.
Clarifying this phenomenon might require a temporary substitute for the term “mirror system.” A regulated mirror system acts not as a complete mirror, merely flipping around another’s emotions, nor as a sponge, expelling only what it soaks up. Perhaps the mind is more like a kitchen blender: We understand the raw feelings of a friend in pain, but instead of devouring them whole we mix, chop, and purée them into a more digestible serving. Our blender brains enable us to simultaneously provide support and avoid emotional paralysis.
“The best response to another’s distress may not be distress, but efforts to soothe that distress,” (Jean Decety 2006). “Empathy has a sharing component, but also self-other distinctions and the capacity to regulate one’s own emotions and feelings.”
In one study, writes Decety, researchers showed subjects a video of patients feeling pain as a result of medical treatment. Some subjects imagined themselves in the patient’s position, whereas others merely considered the patient’s feelings. Patients who put themselves in the painful shoes showed stronger neural responses in regions of the brain involved in experiencing real pain.
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