Chapter+7+Morals,+values,+religion

Domains of Moral Development
[] A disconnect oftentimes exists between moral thought and moral behavior caused by rationalizations and other defenses that disengage us from self-blame (p. 241). The Association of Psychological Science published a research study conducted at the University of Toronto Scarborough that tested the difference between moral thought or forecasting and moral action or behavior. It was suggested that emotions such as fear, guilt, and love caused the lack of congruity between moral thought and behavior. Participants in the study took a math test and electrodes measured the strength of their heart contractions, breathing rates, and sweat on their palms. Each version of the math test had an alternative set of consequences that in some cases caused physiological responses that were reflective of a participant's moral attitudes. (Mary)

__**THE LION KING**__ The Lion King is a Classic movie depicting the good and evil that arises in families. It is also a film that portrays many of the concepts in Chapter 7 of our classroom text, __Adolescence__ (Santrock). On page 245, Santrock begins the discussion of "Moral Thought and Moral Behavior." One of his sub-topics is __**Gender and the Care Perspective**__ (Carol Gilligan). It is in this section where comparisons can be made with Simba, the "future king," son of the King, Mufasa, and Nala, Simba's playmate as youngsters, who ends up being Simba's life time partner. Simba is driven from the family (pack) by his evil uncle, Scar, for many years out of guilt he killed his father (Scar was the actual murderer). It is during this time away where Nala shows her __care perspective__ - "the moral perspective that views people in terms of their connectedness with others and emphasizes interpersonal communication, relationships with others, and concern for others." (Santrock, p. 247) After much time under the new king Scar, the pack was going to die off. Nala, went on a journey to find Simba, who was presumed dead, and demonstrate to him HE was the rightful King, being the son of Mufasa. Nala listened to Simba, and showed compassion and empathy towards Simba because he had lived with such guilt he had presumably killed his father. Giliigan states females consistently use listening skills, show concern, and use interpersonal communication in their moral thought and moral behavior and how they make decisions. (John)

[] This link is about adolescents and other people helping others. Santrock talks about altruism, and how one has an unselfish interest in helping other people. (P. 246) The Giraffe Heroes Project honors the risk-takers, people who take the time out to help other people without looking for anything in return. This group reminds me of the boy scouts and girl scouts. They have the valour to go beyond the call of duty for the common good. This behavior is the foundation for several religions in the US and around the world. Usually, just like Sarah Herr, adolescents help because they feel empathy or pity for others. Sarah Herr saw girls who were usually not selected for teen activities and decided to come to their aid and include them as cheerleaders. These people are usually the unsong heroes.(Miranda)

[|Defining Issues Test Online]

Santrock, in Ch. 7, discusses how moral thinking is assessed starting with the Kohlberg moral dilemma stories and then the development of James Rest's Defining Issues Test. Now, most versions of this test consist of 5 or 6 stories followed by issues that the subject has to answer; additionally, most have to be ordered/proctored by a qualified personnel. But, this website offers an abridged version of the DIT with the results being used by a Doctor of Education whose Doctorial research was in Ethical Reasoning. The researcher has since recieved her Doctorate but left the test up on her website for others to use and learn more about themselves. It takes only about 15 to 20 minutes to take and you might learn something about yourself. (BradH)

Contexts of Moral Development
Experience (LeAnn) I would like to share an experience that is related to chapter 7. The example I would like to share is about induction (section 9111 on a Kindle). This type of disipline uses reasoning and explanations rather than trying to exert power over a child or student. I use this a lot in my classroom, especially with my behavior students because I find it more effective than yelling or reprimanding. Several of my students tend to get into trouble more than others and they do not like following rules. When a rule is broken I explain why the rule is in place (so nobody gets hurt, so they don't get into trouble, for their protection etc...). For example, I have a rule about carrying chairs over your head. This sounds like a very silly rule but I have it for a reason. One of my students chose not to follow this rule and while he was carrying his chair over his head, he hit my projector, that is mounted to the ceiling, so hard that it wasn't lined up right with my smartboard (which he almost hit as well, but thank God that he didn't). He was embarrassed and upset and, after I got over being upset, we had a talk and I explained that I had the chair rule for the very accident he had. After the incident, he understood that it was more to protect him than my equipment because he knew that his parents would be paying a lot of money to replace it if he had broken the projector.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Kerry) As a high school English teacher, __To Kill a Mockingbird__ is one of the greatest pieces of fiction that reveals the concepts of parenting among adolescents. In the novel,Atticus Finch, the father of Jem and Scout, strives to teach his children tolerance and respect for everyone during a historical time period that segregated black Americans from white American communities. Atticus strives to teach his children to understand someone's life from that particular person's perspective and and not to judge based on society's stereotypes and prejudices. Withn Santrock's textbook, one researcher uses a method called "integrative approach" to guide parents as they teach their children moral education. Another method called "integrative ethical education divides its concepts into four categories: ethical sensitivity, ethical focus, ethical judgement, and ethical action. Within the novel, the main character Scout juggles all of the factors associated to the above categories. She learns that the color of one's skin does not make them lesser of a person. She learns not to judge others without "walking in their skin". And she learns to respect others regardless of class, age, or race. All of these lessons Scout and Jem learn are a direct result of the guidance from their father. According to Santrock, "Parents who show this configuration of behaviors likely foster concern and caring about others in their children, and create a positive parent-child relationship" (p.252). The type of parenting that the author Harper Lee creates within the character Atticus models the aspects of moral education listed on page 252.



media type="youtube" key="RgrbuRNc-AQ" height="390" width="480" This youtube clip is from the 1980's movie //Parenthood//. Though not directly mentioned in this link, this movie does discuss/portray all of the discipline techniques (love withdrawal, power assertion and induction) that Santrock (pg. 251) mentions in the chapter. This movie also addresses moral development and self-control (pg. 251) (Katie)

=Sex ed or moral instruction?= **[]**

Researchers are questioning why American sex ed is relatively ineffective when compared to sexual education in other countries. After a quantitative analysis the researcher tried to find out what was different about the other more successful programs. The researcher suggests that the United States should reevaluate their approach to sex ed radically. The researchers feel that there is more moral education happening with current sex ed programs rather than public teen safety in the current approach while the inverse approach is more success in countries like Sweden and Germany. Their approach is more more about the use of contraceptives and abstinence is not included all in most of the curriculums (since the 1970's in Sweden). These countries have seen a dramatic decrease in pregnancies with these approaches. This relates to the last two chapters as the author believes there should be a distinction between sex ed and moral instruction and the link between the two is absent (no pun intended) in more successful programs.

Bjorklund, Erinn Sexual education: morality or teen safety? , Washington State University Honors College thesis, Spring 2005, 52 p. (Joel)

Values, Religion and Cults
=__**The Christy Miller Series **__=

[[image:Christy-christy-miller-2906935-800-600.jpg height="300"]]
[|Amazon Book Page]  The [|Christy Miller series]  follows the story of [|Christy]  from age fourteen through the summer after her senior year of high school. In the first book Christy is exposed to church and decides to become a Christian. She becomes active in a church and involved with a youth group. This choice impacts her decisions regarding her relationships throughout the series. She struggles communitcating her beliefs to her agnostic aunt and uncle. As the books progress, Christy seeks after friendships with teens that are making good choices. She stops associating attending parties where drugs and alcohol are present. Her faith influences her romantic relationships. She decides to remain a virgin until marriage. This choice lead to her breaking up with boyfriend who was pressuring her for sex. In the finale books of the series, Christy flies to Europe for service work in impoverished areas. These books, while a little idealistic, demonstrate the positive impacts of teenagers who //choose// to be religious, as described in Santrock, chapter (pg. 258-261). Christy cares deeply for other people and tries to make positive choices with her life. (Emily Grace)

Saved!



View Movie Trailer The 2004 film //Saved!// follows the lives of high school students who attend a Christian School and are confronted with issues such as religious beliefs, homophobia, teen pregnancy, disabled students, and being ostracized for being different. The main character, Mary, has been a fundamentalist Christian her whole life and is part of the “Christian Jewels” a group of girls who try to “save” other students by forcing their own beliefs on them. However, when her boyfriend confesses he is gay, she has a vision in which Jesus asks her to fix her boyfriend, which she goes about doing by having sex with him. After her boyfriend is sent away to the Mercy House to be cured of his homosexuality, Mary discovers that she is pregnant with his baby and her relationship with religion becomes extremely complicated.

Santrock discusses how developmental changes in adolescents may change their religious beliefs, especially in situations where parental influences have always prevailed (p.259). In this film, Mary has always been a devout Christian, until she begins to question what exactly her Christian beliefs mean. Mary attempts to sort out her beliefs and reasons for religion throughout the film, while she is going through with a secret pregnancy, dealing with her former friends performing impromptu exorcisms on her, developing romantic feelings for the pastor principal’s son, and trying to find new friends and her place in the world. I really like this movie, because I think it approaches religion in the same way that adolescents approach their religious beliefs. There are a lot of confusing situations and many instances of others trying to force their beliefs on you. Yet, the film is presented in a satirical way, so it does not come across as too serious, which I think makes it more approachable for adolescents.(Caitlin)

In 1963, the Amazing Spider-Man made his comic book debut. Writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko told the story of a teenage boy named Peter Parker, who was bit by a radioactive spider and gained superpowers. Peter had the chance to stop a burglar, but he didn't, and the burglar went on to kill his uncle Ben. Peter Parker's selfishness had inadvertedly led to the death of the closest thing he had to a father. He would never be able to forget what had happened.

He decided to use his powers to help people and save lives, because as Uncle Ben had said, "with great power comes great responsibility." Peter had learned a painful lesson about the value of human life, and decided to use his powers to help others, not just himself. This set of values would influence his thoughts, feelings and actions (p. 256), even to this very day. (Zak)

(Malinda) While reading about teens and their moral compass, I began to think about all the television shows where people like Ellen, or Oprah highlight the works of an adolescent who has done something extraordinary for others. I had not realized that there was actual research showing that there were learning benefits to things like service learning. Grades improving, having a "deeper appreciation of the right action", self-esteem improvement, improved sense of "being able to make a difference for other", feeling less alienated at a time where most adolescents do struggle with fitting in, and being able to think critically and reflect on society are great benefits to service learning (258). I did find a website that is geared toward those adolescents who want to do more than simply be a kid. [|Random Kid] This website has projects where students can participate in areas helping with pollution, recycling, etc. They also teach you how to create a project by giving advice about financial funding, and who it would benefit etc. I thought that this was a great place for those kids who have a strong moral compass and feel that there is good to be done in this world.

[|30-Hour Famine] brings teens together from around the world to raise funds for world hunger. As I read about altruism being an "unselfish interest in helping another person and a guiding principal Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism" (246) and the positive role of religion (258) I thought of this outreach. I myself have never done this but have known about it and have come to learn about it with my church youth group doing this every year. They learn about hunger, take pledges to raise money for kids all over the world while experiencing hunger themselves. The 30-hour famine is powered by World Vision and helps to overcome poverty for a lifetime. This is also an opportunity for teens to not only save lives but grow closer to God and each other. (Melanie)

**A Walk to Remember**
media type="youtube" key="V96uhfQ0x9A" height="390" width="480" Although I'm not big into romances, this is at the top of my short romance movie list. I may have even dropped a few accidental tears. This is a twist on your typical boy meets girl story. The main character is the "bad boy" you expect from these types of movies. His focus is on being popular, which usually comes at the expense of others. While being forced to do community service, the boyis exposed to and finds a relationship with God while building a relationship with the girl whom he'd previously bullied. While he desperately wants for her to be healed from Leukemia, he manages to find redemption and healing for himself, even through losing her. This coincides well with the studies that were cited on page 259, which explored the effect that religion has on the reduction of problem behaviors in adolescents. It demonstrates the cleansing properties that values play in the lives of adolescents. (Jason)


 * Contexts of Moral Development** (Gik) Parenting and schools are connected to moral developments, values, and religion of adolescents. After I read about parenting, it made me think about a movie, Greta. The movie is about a girl whose mother sends to stay with grandparents over the summer so Greta will not get in her mother's way with her new husband. Greta has many issues. She plans to kill herself and she is aggressive. In the chapter (p.251), it mentions that it is responsibility of parents to provide opportunities for adolescents in moral development. It is very important for parents to help their children to be well-behaved and think positively. media type="youtube" key="0rHx1_ssaLM" height="390" width="640"