Psych 113 - Lab #3 Piaget

Name_______________________

In this lab you will apply your knowledge developmental psychology to carry out various tasks related to
concepts we discussed in class.
Exercise 1: Parenting Style
Within groups of three, choose one person to the mom, the dad, and the child. Each parent needs to be a
different parenting style (you choose). The childs job is to explain to the parents that he/she just got in trouble
at school for stealing another childs candy.
1. Parents: using your designated parenting style, have a discussion with the child about what he or she did
wrong and what punishment they deserve. Label which parenting styles are being used. (Make sure all 3
names are listed in your description).
Jonathan - permissive
Amber- Authoritative
Peyton-Child
2. Each family member write down and describe your experience separately. Note any conflict that
occurred between the parents as well as the childs reaction to both.
Jonathan was very supportive when I told him why I stole the candy and he just let it go. Amber was
still pretty supportive, but explained why I should not take other peoples candy and told me that I could
not have any dissert after dinner. My reaction to Jonathan was very chill and I could tell him the truth
right away because I knew I would not get in trouble. My reaction to Amber was a little reserved
because I knew she would be a little stricter and I would get punished for taking the candy. Jonathan
and Amber sort of disagreed about not letting me have dessert for dinner.
Moral decision making:
Select a partner with whom you can discuss each of these ethical dilemmas. For each dilemma, each of you
must write a couple of arguments for the merits of one decision and the other must write something for the
opposite decision (you dont have to believe your arguments, but try to come up with the strongest ones you can
think of). One argument needs to demonstrate Kohlbergs Preconventional level of morality and the other one
can demonstrate either the Conventional or Postconventional level (youll need to label which your second
argument fits into).
Next, come to an agreement about which decision you would both go with, and then rate the dilemma on the
gray scale with 1 = very clear answer to what is moral in this situation to 10 = it is difficult to say whether one
decision was more moral than the other.
So, for this question, each person will be writing down 2 arguments for or against a particular decision (and
label what stage of moral development the arguments represent), and then write down your joint decision along
with a rating number on the gray scale.

Scenario 1: You observe an out-of-control trolley hurtling towards five people who will surely die if hit by the
trolley. You can throw a switch and divert the trolley down a side track saving the five but with certainty killing
an innocent bystander. There is no opportunity to warn or otherwise avoid the disaster. Do you throw the
switch?
Argument 1: PreconventionalPerson 1-Yes, I would throw the switch to save the five people and risk that one persons life, because I will be
rewarded by getting an award for saving the five people.
People 2- No, dont throw the switch because I may not get the reward for saving the people.

Argument 2: ConventionalPerson 1- the five people are strangers. So I dont care if they die or not. I do not want to get involved in the
incident.
Person 2- Throw the switch because losing five people is better than losing one person, which will maintain
social order.

Joint decision: yes, throw the switch, because it is better to save five people than just saving one.

Joint rating: 8

Scenario 2: As before, a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people. You are on a bridge under which it
will pass, and you can stop it by dropping a heavy weight in front of it. As it happens, there is a very fat man
next to you - your only way to stop the trolley is to push him over the bridge and onto the track, killing him to
save five. Should you proceed?
Argument 1: PreconventionalPerson 1- yes, because pushing the other dude over the bridge will save the five people that were going to get
hit by the trolley and I could be honored as a hero.
Person 2- no, do not push the man over the edge, just yell over the edge and tell the five people to get out of the
way.
Argument 2: Conventional
Person 1- the five people are strangers and I know the fat person, so it does not matter to me that the five people
die.
Person 2- push the fat guy over the bridge because losing one life is better than losing three.
Joint decision:
Push the fat person off the bridge, so that the five people live. Losing three lives is much worse than just one.

Joint rating: 10
Next, use Piagets stages of cognitive development to identify the relevant stages in the videos below.
The first step is to watch the videos in this folder. Identify the Piagetian stage of each child. (Note: Video #2
has 4 segments, so you will record 4 answers.) What clues led you to each answer?
Video #1
Which stage? Sensorimotor
Why? The child was completely interested in the toy when it was in sight, but once it was placed behind the
cloth the child looked away to find something else.

Video #2
Segment A:
Which stage? Preoperational
Why? The little girl can tell that the short cups have the same amount of juice in them, but when one of them is
poured into the tall glass she could not tell that they still had the same amount of juice in them

Segment B:
Which stage? Concreate operational
Why? This girl could recognize that the short glass and the tall glass had the same amount of juice in them.

Segment C:
Which stage? Preoperational
Why? This little girl can count that there are the same amount of quarters when both lines are placed evenly
apart, but when the top is spread out a little the girl thought that there were more quarters in that line than the
other.

Segment D:
Which stage? Preoperational
Why? The little girl did not think it was fair that the lady had two graham crackers and she only had one, so
when the lady split the little girls in half the little girl thought it was even, because they both had two.

Video #3
Which stage? Preoperational
Why? Because the little girl can tell the difference between the animal and the baby and can tell her mom which
one mom is looking at.

When you have finished this, please upload your answers to the dropbox on Moodle. Please upload your
document as lastname.doc or lastname.docx. I cannot read .wps files!
Piaget videos
1. Video #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFUInSY2CeY
2. Video #2 (2 parts): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B65EJ6gMmA4
3. Video #3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIkpdM4k1DU