Four Moral Development Theories

As stages in psychological development have been defined by Freud, stages in moral development have been outlined by early educators Jean Piaget and Kohlberg, who put forth differing views on the moral development of children. Piaget theorized that children process morals in stages, first one then the next, with a transition in between. The first stage (from ages 4 to about 7) is referred to as “heteronymous morality”, where children think of rules as constants, that is to say, rules are part of the world’s makeup with no input or possibility of change by people. As children progress from seven to ten years of age, they move from one stage to the next, maintaining some of the traits of the

It is not easy being born a king. From the days of my humble youth to the present, my path to royal prestige has not been a clear path. The trials and tribulations I have suffered were only to develop my character. So, I say this: Am I the number one contender for valedictorian? No, I am not. Am I going off to Harvard to become a lawyer? No I am not. But the one thing that I am is something you jabronies will never be. Regardless after every failing grade, regardless after every tragic event, after every sickness, I still stand before you today as the People 's... King. And I think you would agree. Here is my story.

“The last Piagetian task that Child 2 participated in was the moral task. It was very typical for him to have answered in a premoral mindset this task because his age places him in Piaget’s heteronomous stage. In this stage which starts right around four years of age, according to Piaget, children understand rules as the almighty, unchangeable laws of nature. They base most decisions on punishment and not on intentions.” (Artifact #4, Interview Final Paper, PSY 370)

As I reflect on my personal levels of moral development and what drives my decision-making, I must acknowledge that as young children we all go through the preconventional moral reasoning development. We learn at a young age how rewards for good behavior are obtained. We learn to obey and inherently understand the immediate consequences if our actions are not of moral character, even though we can’t quite comprehend the morality of our actions at such a young age. Sosik & Jung (2010) highlights that, Preconventional moral reasoning is based on a self-interested focus on avoiding punishment and seeking rewards. This is the kind of self-centered reasoning that a personalized charismatic leader would possess” (p.140). As a young child I was guided by extremely moral family members, who seemed to instill a religious background as a formal foundation for influencing moral and ethical behavior. I can’t say for sure if this played an intricate part of my early

Lawrence Kohlberg named six stages of moral development. These stages occurred in three separate levels: level one is preconventional morality, level two is conventional morality, and level three is postconventional morality. Each level consisted of two of the stages. The first level, preconventional morality, consisted of the obedience and punishment stage and the individual interest stage. The obedience and punishment stage stated that behavior was driven by avoiding punishment and the individual interest age stated that behavior was driven by self-interest and rewards. These stages usually occurred with preschool and elementary School level children. The second level, conventional morality, consisted of the interpersonal stage and the authority

The development of morals values in a human life stems from the exposure and experience of varying degrees of those experiences in the life of a developing child. Popular theorists have wrestled and some won their arguments that, moral development is a social function, and therefore forms as a result of social condition. On the other hand, there is a strong argument from theorists such as Kohlberg that moral development is a mix component of psychological pre-disposition and the condition of a child?s life from the parent roots. Despite many harsh criticism of the Theory of Moral Development from Kohlberg, the stages of development he derived at have offered plausible explanations that moral development can be defined clearly a core function of nurturance. The way a child to acts or not act in any given situation determines whether

Modeling, according to Bandura, was a form of observational learning. Observational learning is learning through watching. According to Bandura, social behavior is passed down from each generation, in all societies. Behavioral patterns are usually observed by the younger age group and help a child develop. If the role model of the younger child is aggressive, it is more than likely the child will grow up with aggressive tendencies. The concept of modeling being a predisposing risk factor for aggression can be seen through Bandura’s BOBO doll study. Bandura and his research team escorted 4-year-olds into a play area with toys. While the experimental group of kids was playing with the toys, an adult entered the room and started acting violent with the BOBO doll, knocking it down, kicking and punching it, and shouting vulgarities at the doll. Later on, when the children were playing alone with the BOBO doll, they started to have aggressive tendencies, yelling at the BOBO doll and punching and kicking it violently, mocking the actions modeled by the adult previously. This experiment clearly showed Bandura’s hypothesis of modeling being a prompting risk factor for aggression. The children who are very impressionable at a young age and therefore imitated the adult, believing that the aggressive action was the correct action. This shows that a model

According to the approach from ‘Albert Bandura 1992’ the learning experiences acquired as an individual when growing up will determine their personality. Looking upon behaviour, if it is reinforced it will be produced more often and behaviour that is punished will occur less often. For example, a child who is punished for behaving unnecessarily is positively reinforced for being polite instead, therefore the aggressive behaviour will gradually stop as the positive behaviour increases. The views of Bandura suggest individuals develop a sense of self by imitating others, as well as direct reinforcement or punishment. Albert Bandura took into consideration that behaviour is learnt through observation. His evidence in his study on children, which was pursued to see if they would copy modelled behaviour. It was believed that if a person copies someone’s actions of who they perceive as a role model and see the outcome as positive or negative, they will imitate that person’s specific behaviour. (Bilingham,

Young children learn emotions and the way to respond to stressful situations and events by emulating what they observe in adult role models (Berger, 2014). With that said, the cognitive factor of development encompasses the inability of children to appropriately comprehend the difference between reality and fantasy as logical operations are not yet applied (Berger, 2014). Jean Piaget, a Swiss scientist, believes limitations exist which create obstacles in problematic thinking because operational thinking at this age is not yet feasible (Berger, 2014). This is best observed in the self-centered or egocentric way in which a six year old typically views and observes the world from his own vantage point or perspective and not from selfish desires (Berger, 2014). Furthermore, the child believes that the world is unchanging and remains the way in which it is presently exists (Berger, 2014). Lev Vygotsky, a Russian developmentalist, takes a different approach in that children are unable to think critically for themselves and often learn through the observation of those around them while mimicking behavior, action and speech (Berger, 2014). His thinking emphasizes the social aspect of development within children and the way in which they are impacted by the world (Berger,

According to psychological encyclopaedia (Egidius, 2001), moral can be defined into 3 part which are the valid moral which are stated in codes of practices and which humans need to follow; the rules and system of moral principles of an individual or a population; and a perception of an individual that what things is allowed or not allowed to follow. From the Piaget study (1965), he identified moral understanding into two stages which is heteronomous morality and morality of cooperation. Heteronomous defined as child behaviour is regulated by others. Heteronomous morality studied in children age range from 5 to 8 years old.

The second level of moral development is Conventional which focuses on following the laws and rules. This level of reasoning is mainly made up of adolescents and adults. This level is also made up of two stages named Interpersonal Expectations and Law-and-Order. The first stage focuses on wanting to live up to the expectations of someone important. This means individuals in this stage make certain decisions to follow rules to win someone important's approval. This stage is also focused on keeping the relationship between others and the individual on a positive note and to not try to harm the relationship.

The definition of Morality according to the Oxford Dictionary “Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour” (Oxford Dictionary, 2015). This say that morality is the difference between behaviours. The definition of a debate “A discussion, as of a public question in an assembly, involving opposing view point” (Dictionary Reference, 2015). Debate is when a number of people have different view points o a certain thing.

For this week’s assignment in our complete section, students were asked to identify two immediate family members that vastly differ in age. We were asked to compare and contrast the moral developments of each. For this exercise, I have chosen to compare and contrast my thirteen year old autistic son, Matthew and my late grandfather, Merritt Cole who was 84 years old. Before delving into the subject matter, I feel compelled to provide background information on the stages of moral development according to esteemed psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg.

Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg is widely known for his proposed stages of moral development; he argued that the development of moral reasoning “is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan.” (Cherry). Moreover, Kohlberg’s stages of moral development involve three levels, namely: the preconventional moral reasoning, conventional moral reasoning and postconventional moral reasoning. Each of these levels consists of two stages. Furthermore, we will examine Kohlberg’s stages of moral development by creating a character named Ciara. Ciara is a mischievous, temperamental and aggressive 11-year old who studies at a christian school. Throughout this essay we will see how Ciara’s moral reasoning will evolve.

A child does not have its own morals, they are passed down by the parents and often the consequences will drive the moral decision a child make. In other words, a child knows that lying is wrong because he was taught by his parents and if caught lying will result in a punishment a negative outcome tied to being bad in a child’s mind. As a child becomes a young adult the sense of belonging and relationship will drive his moral choices. Lastly as adults, we are often conflicted between our inherited morals and the moral judgements we make based on acceptance, our emotions and often times judicial systems and rules and associated consequences. You steal, you get caught you go to jail. In some cases not all, this will persuade the adult to refrain from stealing and act morally.