Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development Essay

This paper is written to examine various influences on the moral development of young children. Specifically, the paper will speak to the definition of moral development, the views held by educators Piaget and Kohlberg on this area of development in young children and the application of moral development theories by Early Childhood Educators. Theories posited by Sigmund Freud with regards to the psychological development of children in the early childhood arena will be discussed as well. Suggestions for parents on supporting the moral development of their children will also be addressed.

Younger generations aren’t feeling as empathetic as older generations and this will lead to a dangerous society. Empathy is the ability to understand and share feelings. Teaching empathy at a young age will allow one another to accept and communicate with each other. It is also a necessity skill in life that helps each other to recognize one’s emotions. According to the article, This is How Literary Fiction Teaches us to Be Human by Tom Blunt, he emphasizes empathy can be taught through literary fiction and it is vital that young children feel empathy toward each other.

Ethics, or moral philosophy, as a field of intellectual inquiry developed in the west for well over two thousand years with minimal input from women. Women's voices have been virtually absent from western ethics until this century. The absence of female voices has meant that the moral concerns of men have preoccupied traditional western ethics, the moral perspectives of men have shaped its methods and concepts, and male biases against women have gone virtually unchallenged within it. Feminist ethics explores the fundamental effect of this imbalance on moral philosophy and seeks to rectify it. So the questions we face are: Do women have a distinct moral perspective? How if at all is gender

What is a theory? Well, a theory is an assumption or accepted facts that provides logical and rational explanation to a cause and effect relationships among a group being observed (Theory). In other words, a reason or thought that someone has created a response to a topic but, it can’t be proven or disprove. Included in this paper is a discussion about three theorist Piaget, Vygotsky, and Kohlberg along with their beliefs. I have chosen my brother Isaiah Thomas to compare and contrast the theories of the known theorist. The theories I chose to talk about are cognitive theory stages of development by Piaget, sociocultural theory by Vygotsky, and the stages of moral development by Kohlberg.

In this case, Russell is in Mr. Willow’s eighth-grade biology class. After scoring a 72 percent on his first test, Russell’s dad threatens to take away his extracurricular activities. Worried that his dad will take away his social life, Russell decides that he is going to work extra hard on his genetics assignment so that he can improve his grade and get back on his dad’s good side. After hearing that Mr. Willow’s genetics assignment is extremely difficult, Russell is persuaded by his soccer teammate, Luis, to use his brother’s assignment that he turned in to Mr. Willow a few years back that had received a high grade. Thinking about pleasing his dad, keeping his social life, and not getting made fun of by his teammate, Russell turns in Luis’ brother’s assignment as his own. Mr. Willow notices that the paper is not Russell’s original work and embarrasses him in front of the entire class. Given Russell’s age and actions, Russell is in the conventional stage of Kohlberg’s Moral Development, more specifically the “Good boy/Good girl” stage because he is looking to meet other people’s expectations when he is making decisions. For example, Russell used Luis’s brother’s assignment because he wanted to get a good grade that would please his dad. Secondly, Russell knew that if Luis found out that he didn’t use his brother’s assignment, Luis would more than likely make fun of him.

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.

During English class we talked about empathy and how in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout showed empathy to her brother, Jem when he was moody and silent. Scout showed a great deal of maturity at the age of seven when she was empathetic to her brother. Many people nowadays have trouble showing empathy for others around them. Empathy is the ability to not only detect feelings of other people but also experience the emotion yourself. Empathy can be both a blessing and nuisance. If a person can read someone else’s emotions they can help and understand them, it will be easier to connect with that person. But empathetic people may end up experiencing the negative feelings and emotion around them which can be a major problem for some people.

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

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development were based on a moral philosopher by the name of Lawrence Kohlberg. His main interest was to observe children during growth to develop and conclude which stages they best fit into. After observing both adults and children, he concluded that, “Human beings progress consecutively from one stage to the next in an invariant sequence” (“Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development”). All of the 6 stages he created, represent the morality in which a child or adult can be at; he created an age zone for each stage. There are a total of 6 stages but each main concept consists of 3 levels. Level 1 is the preconventional stage. This stage focuses on punishment/obedience and how the person decides to act due to the

Social and emotional development is the development of the child’s identity and self-image, relationships and feeling about themselves and learning to live with others in both the family and society which is one of the most important parts of development.

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.

Goldman Sachs should have been punished for its behavior in the years leading up to the financial crisis. Goldman ended up settling with the federal government for $110 Billion, which I do not believe was sufficient based on the magnitude of problems created. This amount should have been much larger, and at minimum they should have forfeited the $14 Billion paid to them by AIG. (Inside Job, 2011) In addition, AIG should have had the right to sue Goldman Sachs for fraud. It was in the public’s best interest to keep Goldman up and running, however additional penalties could have been put on a repayment schedule to keep them solvent. Instead, you had Goldman giving out large bonuses.

The theory of moral development, advanced by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg is one of the most well-known persuasive theories in the field of cognitive science and stems from the work of Jean Piaget, which hypothesizes on the direct correlation that exists between moral and cognitive development. Kohlberg speaks of the appearance and understanding of what is right and wrong from childhood to adulthood and explains by this transition through the identification of various levels of morality known as pre-conventional, conventional and post conventional. People will make decisions based on the understanding of the possible outcome and through reasoning of morals. (Target Concept)

The definition of morality or what constitutes proper morals is a difficult task and may be explained differently 100 times if one were to ask 100 people. Generally speaking, being moral is conforming to the standards of good or right. This vague definition is open for many interpretations. As mentioned, morality is not recognized internationally or is scrutinized as a weakness by the realist community, at least not openly so. Morality has played a role in international affairs and war for centuries.