Saturday, September 27, 2014
Children's Morality
Post due by 10/4 Class
Take a look at this clip on "morality" in babies. How can we make sense of this considering what [think] we know about social learning (Vygotsky) and about the development of morality (Kohlberg)? Do these babies really have a sense of justice or sense of right and wrong? In the second portion, older kids seem to change in their understanding of right and wrong. How do we make sense of this based on Kohlberg's assertions?
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In the 1st part of the video Vygotsky is clear to see in the babies. It seems that they are born with a sense of social development. They are able to watch and choose and they choose the good guy which Kohlberg say they should not be able to do just yet. They also choose the one who does bad but does it to a character they may relate to in their daily context. I was amazed by this. When the older children were shown you can see more of Kohlberg stages theory in effect because they start out selfish but end up selfless as they grow. I loved this video. I no longer think of babies as "blobs"
ReplyDeleteStacy Houston
DeleteGood point that according to the theories, they should be able to do that yet. I'm curious about whether this means the theories are wrong? Perhaps what happens socially (as we talked about in class) either cultivates or prunes an innate sense.
DeleteWe all seem to innately possess the characteristics of good and bad and are thereby able, at a very early stage, to make choices. I see Vygotsky's point in that the babies played an active role in learning. However, I do believe that some bad and good behaviors are learned from the environment in which children live, albeit home, school, or society in general. From the second video, the children, in my opinion, were obviously functioning at Level 1 Stages 1 & 2. Those who seem to be preschoolers (Stage 1 reward is good) were without consideration for the next person. In the children who seemed to be elementary age, I saw as Level 1, Stage 2 (fairness means treating everyone the same). I will reiterate that I believe all behaviors, good, bad, or indifferent, can also be learned behaviors.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Jones
Yes- so the babies' active engagement in their environment plays a role in what they learned.
DeleteIt appears that all children are inherently good. They simply have to be taught right from wrong. According to Kohlberg some people do good to avoid punishment while others in hope of a reward. The infants making the same choices was amazing. The older children were operating on level1, stage 2. which showed a sense of fairness for others. I would even go as far as to say culturally, the environments in which children are raised are very influential in the early years of a child's life. But that does not mean that the child cannot overcome that particular circumstance with the proper nurturing and care. There has been so much research on brain development that I tend to lean towards Vygotsky's theory that social interaction drives cognitive development. I have enjoyed completing assessments and observations on infants through teens in my 30 year career as a Childcare Administrator. And I am continually learning new things in this field.
ReplyDeleteSharon Nichols
Yes, cultural environments are important, but they aren't a sure thing of what the person will turn into. There's actually research that indicates that social interaction actually changes pathways in the brain.
DeleteThe study was amazing to me! Who knew that infants have a since of justice at such a early age. The older children was in stage in level1, stage 2. They were being more fair about there choices. Baby's are born with morality, it appears they want what's right. The older children are more in line with Vygotsky's that interacting with other's can and shape what they think about the world. My thoughts are, man is born good, but still in sin, If we live long enough we may all see all experience all the level and stages of Vygotsky and Kohlberg.
ReplyDeleteDarrin L.Hill
In the first Video Lesley R. Stahl replied that babies seem to be born with an innate ability of right and wrong, this is true to some extent. But, we must also note that
ReplyDeletebehavior is also a learned experience. B .F. Skinner, said that we have to teach our children everything through conditioning, this is partly correct. Most babies have born within themselves the basic seed of right and wrong. Lev. Vygotsky stated that human use tools that are develop from a culture, such as speech and writing to mediate their social environment. In our culture as in most cultures babies like the
population in general want those who are mean or different punished. Around 8 kids choose equal choses for both themselves and the other person even through they might not have seen the other child or know them .Yes we are born with certain innate abilities, but we also learn them from our culture.
Rudolph W. Smith.
I am not surprised by the results discovered in this baby lab and the initial moral senses demonstrated by the babies. Based on what I have seen in the growth of my granddaughter over the past four years I do believe that babies are born with an innate ability to think and act on their own, although it may not be completely developed yet. I am also of the thought that babies are born inherently good and have a limited ability to make decisions based on feelings and senses. Their instincts remain pure, moral and innocent until their social interactions increase. If their home environment is healthy, nurturing and stimulating, there is more control until they transition to the world of daycare or school. As far as social and moral development are concerned, the findings from this baby lab sheds a little more light on the first year of a baby’s life than the discussions from Kohlberg and Vygotsky.
ReplyDeleteNaomi B. Powell
October 3, 2014
This was beyond fascinating! For a long time, I truly believe that humans have thought we've known so much about ourselves; however, just like on an individual basis - the longer you're 'around' the longer you realize you don't know much at all. Before they even brought up the relation to this study to racism, the thoughts were already in my head. What Vygotsky claimed, still seems to be true as evidenced in the behaviors of the older children in the last part of the video - social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. I've always thought that and I've always believed that based on my own life experience(s). If taking Kohlberg's theories in to consideration, one could even argue that the older children that decided to give more to a perfect stranger were displaying foundational elements of Level III, Stage 5. However, in the infants that can't even talk or walk, exuded the behaviors one would expect in Level I, Stage 1. I think the revelation is more so that it was unheard of to think that babies think in such cognitive ways at such an early stage of their human development. Maybe the hit movies "Look Who's Talking" and "Look Who's Talking Too" were a little more profound than everyone could have ever imagined. Thank you so much for sharing this video. This helps me have a lot more patience with people, prejudices, biases, and hatred. It's not always the case that people want to exhibit these behaviors. Seemingly these behaviors are apart of us from the start, whether we like it or not.
ReplyDeleteThis video . Dry interesting as it relates to the development of young children. At the beginning of the clip there is evidence of Vygotsky theory, that learning is produced by the child but only in a social rim. As young as the children are in the clip there appear to be a lot of social interaction. As the children get older they exhibit the desire to share with each other. The child eventually feels the need to give more than they receive. I believe this response is indicative of how the child would like to be treated.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: "this video is very interesting"
ReplyDeleteJanice H. Mitchell