Moral And Cognitive Development : Morality Is The Herd Instinct

The theory holds that moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior, has six identifiable developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor.Kohlberg followed the development of moral judgment far beyond the ages studied earlier by Piaget,who also claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages.Expanding on Piaget's work, Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is an adaptation of the development theory of Jean Piaget. Piaget studied many aspects of moral judgment, most of his findings fit into a two stage process of moral development. Put into the simplest of terms, Stage 1: children younger than 10 or 11 years think about moral dilemmas one way and Stage 2: older children consider them differently.

Lawrence Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist, identified six developmental stages of human moral reasoning. The first stage that he recognized was the Punishment-Obedience Orientation, where the person’s concern is for avoiding punishment through obedience. The second stage was the Instrumental Relativist Orientation, where the person’s concern is to work in their self interest, and better their position. The third stage of moral development was the Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation, where the person’s concern lies with their reputation. Next was the Law And Order Orientation, where the person was less concerned with their own immediate well being to the maintenance of a larger society. The fifth stage was the Social Contract

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

The second level of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral development is the Conventional Level. The Conventional level consists of stages 3 and 4. Stage 3 is based on interpersonal expectations. Those who are at this stage try to be a “good” boy or a “good” girl and live up to others’--such as close friends and family’s-- expectations. Stage 4 is based on Law-and-Order. They are not only focused on what their family and friends say; they are now focused on society. These stages are usually reached by early teens. They don’t blindly follow rules;

This is when company rules, policies, and societal rules formed a considerable amount of my moral and ethical behavior. By being visible at such a young age to the adult world and adult responsibilities gave me a broader range of exposure to conventional moral reasoning and shaped many of the decision I had to make during this time. I learned the importance of respecting others, the conformity of behaviors that is expected by others, and I began to understand the principles of justice as an ethical concern. Kendra Cherry, Psychology Expert, describes Level 2 – Stage 3 & 4 (Conventional Morality) of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development as being, “Often referred to as the "good boy-good girl" orientation, this stage of moral development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles. There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and consideration of how choices influence relationships”

Kohlberg and Piaget both believe that moral development occurs through social interaction. When Kohlberg started his theory it developed from Piaget’s theory, but he used a more polished way to understand morality by breaking it down into several models. Kohlberg focused on positive and negative reactions to moral issues in children. In contrast to one another Piaget uses a two stage model, while Kohlberg uses a six-stage model. Piaget was the first to create the stages of child development however, many theorist came after and developed their own approach. Piaget created structured stages of development that ranged from infants to adolescents, Kohlberg also created structured stages of moral development but his didn’t focus on an specific age. In addition, Kohlberg focuses on development throughout a person’s life while Piaget stops his focus at the age of

Moral development is the growth through which children evolve proper attitudes and behaviors toward other people in society, depend on social and cultural norms, rules, and laws.

Kohlberg’s Moral Stages help to explain how people act the way that they act. Level 1 is Preconventional/Premoral. This is where “the child is responsive to rules and evaluative labels, but views them in terms of pleasant or unpleasant consequences of actions, or in terms of the physical power of those who impose the rules.” Level two is conventional/role conformity where there is good boy/good girl orientation and authority and social order are determined. Level three is post conventional/self-accepted moral principles where norms of right and wrong are defined in terms of laws or institutionalized rules. Then there is where the morality of individual principles of conscience where if one acts against social rules they feel self-condemnation and guilt. These principles help to not only see how people are acting at the time but they also help to show how over time that may be the phone call or afterwards how a person will

An outstanding example of research in the Piagetian tradition is the work of Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg has focused on the moral development and has proposed a stage theory of moral thinking which goes well beyond Piaget's initial formulations.

Lawrence Kohlberg who was a psychologist the framework in establishing six different stages of moral development that occur at three different levels. Each level contains two separate stages. Level I and stage one is considered more associated with younger children prior to reaching adolescence with a focus is on self (Klein, 2016, p. 27). At stage II level one, an individual still to act out of self-interest but starts to realize that punishment is delved out based on the severity of the misconduct or infraction that is taking place (Klein, 2016, p. 28). The concern here

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

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

Kohlberg (1963, 1981, 1984; Colby & Kohlberg, 1987) expanded Piaget’s work, developing a most influential cognitive developmental theory of moral development. Kohlberg proposed the progression through the invariant, universal sequence of three moral levels each composed of two distinct stages. According to Kohlberg, no stage can be skipped, neither will there be a regression to an earlier stage.

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)