Jean Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
Moral development and reasoning is actually the procedure by which children gradually develop different attitudes as well as behaviors towards various people in the society. This development of reasoning remains solely based on social as well as cultural norms, laws as well as rules. Researchers are of the opinion that moral development involves the formation of different systems of values on which the children can take the decisions regarding the right, wrong, bad or good (Kurtines, Gewirtz & Lamb, 2014). Values are actually underlying assumptions about the different standards that mainly take part in governing different moral decisions and reasoning in the children. Moral reasoning can therefore be described as the procedure by which individuals try to find out the differences between the right and wrong by the proper use of logic. People are often faced with dilemma in their lives and hence the moral reasoning capability developed by individuals during their childhood has huge contribution in developing the personality of human beings (Gibbs et al., 2013). The assignment will mainly show how the two theorists Piaget and Kohlberg have given their own theories of moral development. The theories will be critically evaluated followed by comparisons of the theories that will ultimately help in shedding more light to the developmental procedure of moral reasoning.
Jean Piaget is a Swiss psychologist who had huge contribution in exploring the ways by which children develop moral reasoning. Jean first rejected the concept that children mainly learn se well as internalize the different rules and morals of the society by the ways of giving them the rules and forcing them to adhere by the rules. He had shown through his researches that children develop morality mainly by dealing with other individuals in the groups (Modgil, Modgil & Brown, 2013). By his theory, he is mainly seen to reason out that there exists a procedure by which children are seen to conform to the norms of the society about what is right or wrong. The process he developed was rather active than passive. On close analysis, his theory can be seen to have two stages. The first stage is called the Heteronymous morality. In this stage, the children are mainly seen to follow strict rules and are found to be extremely obedient of the authority. Piaget is of the opinion that this mainly takes place as a part of their cognitive development. It is indeed true that children take rules as inflexible things that do not change and hence, Piaget’s theory is found to be correctly based on moral realism. It is indeed seen that children of very small age can effectively judge how wrong a particular action is by the consequences they face. They take negative consequences as automatic response of breaking the rules (Peters, 2015). Therefore, Piaget has rightly concluded that in this stage social relationships between the adults and children have huge impact on their moral reasoning. Adults are truly seen to have a natural authority over children of young age and power and rules are handed to the children without discussion. Therefore, this stage of Piaget rightly describes how children preliminary develops moral reasoning. The second stage is called autonomous reality. In this stage, Piaget has stated that with the passing of time, children begin to learn new things about the world and this is mainly through their interactions with the children and adults. In this way, they gradually progress in the second stage of moral development (Hala, 2013). He has also stated that in this stage, children begin to learn to take perspectives of others in the stage. When his theory is critically analyzed, it can be seen that intention is an important concept in this phase of children life. Children are really seen to begin their judging activities. They judge how wring an action is by the intention of their perpetrator according to which their punishments is adjusted. It is seen that best moral reasoning of the children occurs through problem solving events and cooperative decision-making (Cherry, 2014).
Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg is an American psychologist who has proposed his theory of moral development. It is an extended form of Piaget’s work that he did in the domain of cognitive reasoning into adolescence as well as adulthood. He used to feel that moral development is a slow procedure, which is evolved over time. There are three important levels that are then divided in to sub levels and completion of each level is reasoning for development of moral development. In his theory, the first level is said to be the pre-conventional morality. This comprises of two stages. In the first level, the first stage is called the obedience and punishments where the persons remain good in order to avoid any sort of punishments. The child believes that the persons are punished when they conduct any wrong. In the second stage of this level called the Individualism and Exchange, children are seen to recognize that there remains that there is not only one right view that is handed down by the authoritative power. Then is the level two that is called the conventional morality (Carpendale & Ulrich, 2014). In this second level, adolescents and adults begin to internalize the moral standards of the valued adult role models. In this step, the authority is internalized but the individuals do not ask questions to confirm them. The reasoning is mainly based on the different types of norms of the group where the individuals belong. In this level, the third stage is called the good interpersonal relationships. Here the child wants to be good so that others see him as a good person by the others. The children wait for answers that include approval of the others. The fourth stage is called the maintaining of the social category, where the child now becomes gradually aware of the different rules of the society. Therefore, their moral reasoning are seen to concern the obeying of the different rules. They do so to uphold the law and thereby to avoid the guilt (Beilin & Pufall, 2013). The next level is the third level called the post conventional morality. In this step, the children develop proper individual judgment that remains mainly based on justice and individuals rights. In this step, Kohlberg is seen to state that that most people take their moral views from those around them and only a minority thinks through perspectives of ethical principles this level has stage 5 called the social contract and individual rights. Here the individuals gradually develop the knowledge that although law might exist for the common good, there may arise situations when there comes a requirement so that they can work against the different types of interest of individuals (Gibbs, 2013). In the last stage called the universal principles, individuals develop their moral guidelines that may or may not become favorable to sit the law of the systems. After close evaluation of the levels, it is seen that individuals can only move and proceed through these levels in the way the order is listed. Moreover, it is also observed that each of the new stages of the levels completely replace the reasoning that was followed by the individual in the earlier stage. Moreover, it is not always possible for all to achieve all the stages (Mischell, 2013).
Comparison of Piaget and Kohlberg’s Theories
Both the theories when compared help in reflecting a number of ideas in the moral development and reasoning of the children. Piaget was the researcher who postulated two important stages of moral reasoning. Contrast to this. Kohlberg’s three level model and 6stages of moral development is clearer and each of the stages is distinct and more vivid in comparison to Piaget’s theory of moral development (Lapsley & Carlo, 2014). Again, Piaget theory has not specified the ages of the individual stage of the children that makes the theory abrupt. On the other hand, Kohlberg’s theory proceeds in a hierarchical manner and has distinct stages mentioned in the theories and the moral development in each stage. Stage 1 is infancy stage; stage 2 is of the toddlers’ age. Stage 3 is of the preschool years, stage 4 is the ages from 7 to 10 ad stage 5 is of the preteen and teenage stage. Such divisions are not made in the Piaget’s theory of moral development among children. The theories of Piaget contain stages that seem not to have an interconnection in an intricate manner although the second stage follows the first stage (Arnett, 2014). In case of the Kohlberg’s theory, it is seen that each of the stages are interconnected where the latter stage replaces the learning of the previous stage. The latter theory shows detailed moral development in each stage that makes it easier for the readers to develop idea about children’s development.
From the entire discussion, it becomes clear that children go through several stages of oral development and reasoning. While the researcher Piaget has put forward two important stages to describe the steps, Kohlberg has made the stages of development more vivid thereby dividing each of the age cohorts for specific learning and moral development. A moral choice can be personal, economic as well as ethical one. Therefore, researchers have concluded that experiences of children at home, or their environment around them as well as their physical, emotional, cognitive and social skills are seen to influence their developing sense of what is right and what is wrong. This in turn had the power to develop better or poor quality life in their adult stage.
References:
Arnett, J. J. (2014). Adolescence and emerging adulthood. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Beilin, H., & Pufall, P. B. (Eds.). (2013). Piaget’s theory: Prospects and possibilities. Psychology Press.
Carpendale, J. I., & Ulrich, M. (Eds.). (2014). Social interaction and the development of knowledge. Psychology Press.
Cherry, K. (2014). Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development Stages of Moral Development.
Gibbs, J. C. (2013). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg, Hoffman, and Haidt. Oxford University Press.
Gibbs, J. C., Basinger, K. S., Fuller, D., & Fuller, R. L. (2013). Moral maturity: Measuring the development of sociomoral reflection. Routledge.
Hala, S. (Ed.). (2013). The development of social cognition. Psychology Press.
Kurtines, W. M., Gewirtz, J., & Lamb, J. L. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of moral behavior and development: Volume 1: Theory. Psychology Press.
Lapsley, D., & Carlo, G. (2014). Moral development at the crossroads: New trends and possible futures. Developmental Psychology, 50(1), 1.
Mischel, T. (Ed.). (2013). Cognitive development and epistemology. Academic Press.
Modgil, S., Modgil, C., & Brown, G. (Eds.). (2013). Jean Piaget. Routledge.
Peters, R. S. (2015). Moral Development and Moral Education (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
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