Piagetian Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development constitute an adaptation of a psychological theory originally conceived by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. Kohlberg began work on this topic while a psychology graduate student at the University of Chicago in 1958, and expanded upon the theory throughout his life.

Moral development is how an individual differentiates from right and wrong actions. This can be influenced in many ways and by many people such as an individual’s own personal experience, looking at another’s perspective, through parents, peers, society, cultural values, or moral stories, to name a few. Lawrence Kohlberg developed six stages that reflect the growth through moral development. The levels and stages describe the ideas of right and wrong can change as one grows. However, Kohlberg mentioned that because of the differences in cognitive functioning, not every individual will progress through the changes within his stages and levels (Crain, 2011, pg. 168). Kohlberg’s main curiosity went beyond the answers of ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ He

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

This is also the time children step outside of parental influence, to develop their own sense of right and wrong. This is where moral relativism makes and appearance, which is a “descriptive rather than a prescriptive Account of morality that reduces all moral concepts, rules, principles and virtues to nothing more than accidents of context, place and time” Wagner, Paul A. The Wagner-Kierstead Moral Self Assessment Protocol. 6th ed. N.p.: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 30. Print. This is the time they build upon the foundation that was set in early childhood. Kohlberg outlined three stages of moral

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.

Lawrence Kohlberg, the author of three stages, was an American psychologist who is well known for his theory on the stages of moral development. According to Kohlberg, there are three levels of moral development:Preconventional (moral reasoning is based on external rewards and punishments), Conventional (laws and rules are upheld simply because they are laws and rules), and Postconventional (reasoning is based on personal moral standards)” (powerpoint).

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.

In Michael Stewart’s novel Bye Bye Birdie, children and their attitudes play a significant role from disobedience and protective parents, to teenage love and jealousy. Some parents in the little town of Sweet Apple, Ohio attributed children’s attitudes to “Elvis-stereotyped” Conrad Birdie; however, others believed it was their age. Psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg, described many moral stages each and every person goes through during his or her life. I know two children who illustrate Kohlberg 's stages of Moral Development very well. Karim is an eight year old boy to whom I taught swim lessons, and he is currently in the preconventional stage. Sam is my 12 year old brother and living in the conventional stage of Kohlberg’s Moral Stages.

Piaget believes in three stage of moral development. The premoral stage that begins before the age six, morality of constraint that happens between the ages of six to ten, and the morality of cooperation stage that occurs after the age ten. The premoral stage is when the child exhibits little to no concern for rules. They do not understand the concept of rules and how they are applied to everyone. At this age, children are too selfish to take others wants and needs into account and they act to maximize rewards. Children know that rewards are given when they act in a positive way so they act to avoid punishment. The second stage is the Morality of Constraint. This occurs between the ages of six to ten and it’s illustrated when the child believes that what determines whether an action is good or bad is the consequence of the action and not the motive behind it. They believe that rules are made by people that have authority and that following the rules means being right. Children in this age group also tend to obey rules because they are unchangeable and important. The overall lesson of this stage is that morals are absolute. The last stage of this development is the Morality of Cooperation. Morality of Cooperation also known as Heteronomous Morality Stage and Autonomous Morality Stage is seen in children after the age of ten and it’s all about understanding rules and respect. Understanding that rules can be unreasonable agreements that can be changed and that rules can be

“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)

A brief overview of the history of moral psychology in the Kohlbergian tradition is necessary to understand the significance and need for the current proposal. Jean Piaget presented his construct of moral reasoning in his theory of development, and he found there were two stages of moral reasoning—heterenomous and autonomous. The former is associated with Piaget’s concrete operational stage as moral reasoning is dependent upon the relational context of the child and authority figures (parents, God, etc.) and is inductive by nature. The latter is

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 second level of moral development is the conventional moral reasoning; “Beginning in middle school, up to middle age – most people end up here” (“Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development.”). At this level,

Lawrence Kohlberg developed the theory of moral development. The theory of moral development “stemmed from Jean Piaget’s theory of moral reasoning.” This theory was a study which led to a better understanding of morality. This theory proved that morality started in early childhood years and had many factors which affected the outcome of the child’s perception of morality. Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory consisted of 3 levels and which each had 2 stages in them. The first level consists of preconventional morality, which can be divided into the 2 stages of obedience and relativism. The first stage, obedience, consisted of the children’s reasoning behind why they obey and do not disobey. One way of looking at it is adults obey laws set before us

Lawrence Kohlberg is the author of different stages of moral development. Kohlberg was a Harvard professor for many years. During his teaching years, Kohlberg was highly interested about the way children developed their moral reasonings (Kohlberg’s stages of moral development). In the early 1970s, Kohlberg was becoming famous thanks to his research about different stages of moral developments (Barger). In the research he did about different stages of moral development, he created 3 levels, which are: Pre-conventional, Conventional, and Post-conventional.