Factors Influencing Young Children's Use of Motives and Outcomes as Moral Criteria - Nelson, S.A. (1980)
What if the girl helping the old woman across the street knew that she would get a reward for doing so? Does that make her actions less 'good'? What if she hoped that she old woman would be hit by a car, but made a mistake and ended up escorting her safely across? Does her motive matter, or is all that is important the positive outcome?
The full text can be read here.
A two part summary and evaluation of the study is here and here. Test your knowledge with this quizlet.
Make sure you can define what is meant by the terms...
Also - make sure you can describe how they were used by Nelson! |
The Trolley Problem - a classic moral dilemma
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Explicit motive, bad outcome condition from study 1. "This boy was playing with a ball; he was very mad at his friend that day. He wanted to throw the ball at his friend so he could hit him on purpose. The boy threw the ball. His friend did not catch the ball; the ball hit his friend on the head and made him cry."
Study 1 and Study 2
To make sure that the order of presentation (i.e. getting shown the motive first) had not biased the results in study 1, Nelson reversed the order for study 2, putting the motive after the outcome.
Did this make a difference to the results? What does the results of the second study reveal? What conclusions can be drawn from the results of both studies together?
(N.B. make sure you use what you already know about the advantages of repeating experiments, as well as thinking about specific advantages for Nelson)
Did this make a difference to the results? What does the results of the second study reveal? What conclusions can be drawn from the results of both studies together?
(N.B. make sure you use what you already know about the advantages of repeating experiments, as well as thinking about specific advantages for Nelson)
Explicit motive, bad outcome condition from study 2, with the outcome before the motive. "This boy threw the ball. His friend did not catch the ball; the ball hit his friend on the head and made him cry. The boy was playing with a ball; he was very mad at his friend that day. He wanted to throw the ball at his friend so he could hit him on purpose."
Results and conclusions
Nelson's results are complex and difficult to understand at times. Here are a few key overall findings from across both experiments:
• “…making a moral judgment requires understanding of the evaluative concepts (i.e. ‘good’,
‘bad’) to be applied.”
• “Also required is comprehension of the motives or goals involved (e.g. ‘sharing,’ ‘helping,’
‘hurting.’ ”
• younger children are more likely than older ones to make opposite valence motives and
outcomes congruent
• ‘bad’ is more important to younger children (it has a greater effect on ratings) than 'good'
• ‘bad’ is more important to younger children (it has a greater effect on ratings) than to older children
• young children make more recall errors on motives than on outcomes
• children develop the concept of ‘good’ before ‘bad’ (initially ‘good’ = no ‘badness’) so use the
first negative cue (whether outcome or motive)
• “…making a moral judgment requires understanding of the evaluative concepts (i.e. ‘good’,
‘bad’) to be applied.”
• “Also required is comprehension of the motives or goals involved (e.g. ‘sharing,’ ‘helping,’
‘hurting.’ ”
• younger children are more likely than older ones to make opposite valence motives and
outcomes congruent
• ‘bad’ is more important to younger children (it has a greater effect on ratings) than 'good'
• ‘bad’ is more important to younger children (it has a greater effect on ratings) than to older children
• young children make more recall errors on motives than on outcomes
• children develop the concept of ‘good’ before ‘bad’ (initially ‘good’ = no ‘badness’) so use the
first negative cue (whether outcome or motive)
Assignment 1 - Alternative study - Nelson as a longitudinal study?Nelson conducted a snapshot experiment. An alternative research method might have been to use a longitudinal study.
1. Describe the longitudinal study as a research method in Psychology. (5) 2. How could she have conducted an experiment with a similar aim, but as a longitudinal study? Write a description of the study, including the who, what, where and how. (10) 2. What would the advantages and disadvantages of such an experiment be, compared to the original? Evaluate this new study in practical and ethical terms. (10) Submit your study through the form on the home page |
Big Issue - Use of Children in Psychological ResearchChildren who are under 18 are not legally allowed to give their own consent to be a part of psychological research in most countries. If researchers want to use children in their studies, therefore, they must obtain parental consent instead. Have a look at this example parental consent form from Harvard University.
Of course, the use of children has advantages and disadvantages. Here are a few...
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RevisionRevision Assignment - Create a Nelson revision podcast or videoPodcasts are a great way to revise, and by making them yourself you are interacting with the material twice, so it will be twice as effective! Podcasts are easy to make using itunes, or there are other options here. If you prefer, you can upload a video to YouTube.
Email me the link of your podcast/video. The best ones will be embedded in the website... like the powtoon below for Study 1... |
ExtensionA feminist morality?
The psychologist Carol Gilligan has proposed a feminist theory of morality, where males and females follow different paths in their development of a moral sense. Her stages for women are below. Click the picture for a larger version. Do you agree that men and women follow different developmental paths for morality? Can you think of any criticisms of Gilligan's argument?
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