Moral And Social Developments Of Children

Lawrence Kohlberg is known for his theory of moral development developed in 1958. His theory was dependent on the thinking of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and American philosopher John Dewey. It consists of three levels of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. These levels are based on the degree to which an individual accommodates to the conventional standards of society. Each level aquires two stages that serve as different standards of sophistication in moral reasoning. Overall, Kohlberg affirms that moral development is a process of maturing that emerges from thinking about about moral issues (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”).

The Theory of Moral Development is a subject that derived from Jean Piaget's theory of moral reasoning and this theory was developed by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg. This theory made us conscious that morality starts from the early childhood years and can possibly be affected by several factors such as society, but there are people in opposition to this theory. Kohlberg developed six stages of moral development and it is divided into three levels of development. The three levels of moral development are preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. As stated in Kohlberg's theory, “moral development proceeds in a linear process; it also proceeds steadily from one stage to the next in the order of moral development” (“Kohlberg's slide presentation”). Kohlberg uncovered four stages after Jean Piaget's because he had only discovered two. The stages that Kohlberg discovered after Jean flourish into adolescence and adulthood. He suggested that some people reach the postconventional level. (Oswalt).

One of the key responsibilities of a Teaching Assistant or TA is to support and guide children while they are going through the different stages of their development.

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.

There are many different theories on child development but they are all related in some way. Jean Piaget theory focuses on the first twelve years of a child’s life. Erik Erikson’s theory focuses on a person complete life. In this paper I will be focusing on the differences between Piaget’s and Erikson’s theory on child development.

Jean Piaget is best known for his stage theory on moral development of children which occurs in two distinct stages from heteronomous to autonomous and three sub stages premoral (0 to 5 years), moral realism ( 5 to 10 years), and moral relativism (after age 10). In premoral development, children do not think about right or wrong. In the moral realism phase, children understand right and wrong. Lastly, in moral relativism children move from a concrete understanding of morality to an abstract one; meaning they make decisions according to their own rules. They understand that rules are not absolute but necessary for society to get along (Slavin & Schunk,

Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development has served as basis of the investigation of many issues related to morality. Building on Piaget’s belief that the moral judgment of children derived from their cognitive development, Kohlberg attend to identify cognitive stages that underline the development of moral thinking.

This paper evaluates how David Pelzer develops in his memoir, A Child Called “It”. Pelzer is evaluated using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model demonstrates how Pelzer’s environment impacted his development greatly. Pelzer is greatly influenced through others by how they treat him. Throughout this memoir, Pelzer is in the concrete operations stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The reader is also able to see Pelzer’s development from preconventional morality to conventional morality using Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning.

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 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 mostly a concern of every parent. Parents wants their children to well behaved, respected and disciplined. Hence they work hard from infancy through adulthood to build morality in them. It is the development of establishing objective norms and standards of behaviors. This view provides the basic structure of character such as kindness, honesty, courage, dedication, etc. that is analyzed and cooperated. Development of morality is construct by multiple factors. Children 's interpersonal experiences with family, peers, and other adults, as well as their physical, cognitive, emotional and social skills combine to effect moral development. According to the text book “A chronological Approach”, self-control is one of the first step of moral development because it teaches children that they cannot get everything they wanted. There must be limitations and pros and cons which they must be respected. Similarly, there are multiple factors

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.

Thanks you for this opportunity to apply for Position at your school, I understand you have a student centred philosophy, so I’ve done some research on cognitive and moral development in primary age students.

Kohlberg was not interested in the actual ethical decision the children were making, he was interested in the thought process being followed and reasoning developed. Kohlberg studied and built on Piaget’s theory of stages of cognition starting with egocentric preoperational thought. As intellectual maturation advances children shift from primarily pre-conventional to conventional, from worrying only considering their own view to including the views of their peers.

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