The Development And Testing Of An Intermediate Concept Measure

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.

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

While in middle school and high school, many of our teachers use to teach us about adolescents and warn us about our hormones and sex, but they never really touch on the topic about our mental change and how moral reasoning would change in such an unnoticeable manner. I honestly believed that I still had the same mind set from high school, until I learned about moral reasoning and watch the video of the three different age groups and it showed each mind set and their moral reason for the situation that was given. After watching that video, I reflected on the memories of middle and high school and realized, that I made a lot of dumb choices that I’m not proud of.

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 importance of Lawrence Kohlberg’s work is the link he makes between moral development and reason. Although this concept originated with Kant and other earlier philosophers, Kohlberg provides a psychological analysis that sheds light on how reason influences moral judgments. Describe what is necessary for moral growth according to Kohlberg. Explain.

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.

The Emergence of Rationality Life is like a ladder with many rungs: in order to ascend and reach the top, each step must be taken. While individuals master different levels of cognition at various stages, the sequence of the milestones follows a continuous pattern. Unfortunately, the achievement of morality remains undeveloped in some, leaving the person in a crippled state of implementing proper judgment in appropriate situations. Thus, it is valuable for one to conduct in-depth research to grasp the egocentricity so prevalent in youths and to comprehend the stages of emerging morality which will eventually compensate for their immature and irrational actions that are in the control of emotions.

“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)

“At the pre-conventional level (nine-year-olds and younger, some over nine), don’t have a personal code of morality. Instead, our moral code is shaped by the standards of adults and the consequences of following or breaking their rules. Authority is outside the individual and reasoning is based on the

For this application paper, I chose to discuss the moral development theories that were instituted by Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. Jean Piaget believed that children must develop cognitive skills before they can understand moral reasoning (Slavin, 2015). Piaget studied children in different circumstances and presented stories to younger and older children to see how they perceived the differences between right and wrong and how severe punishment should be in those situations (Slavin, 2015). Piaget described his first stage of moral development called ‘heteronomous morality’ by saying, that children have a mindset that all rules are set by authority figures such as their parents, teachers, or any other adults and that if these rules are

Moral psychology has a long-standing rationalist tradition focused on reasoning. More recent evidence emphasizes the role of emotions in models of moral development and behavior (Gilligan, 1993; Haidt, 2001). Yet, both reason and emotion likely play an important role in moral judgment. “Moral emotions” have been the focus of several recent empirical psychological studies. They differ from basic emotions in that they are intrinsically linked to the interests or welfare either of society as a whole or of persons other than the agent (Damasio, 1994; de Waal, 1996; Rozin et al., 1999; Haidt, 2002). Moreover, according to the dual-process theory (Kohlberg, 1969; Lierberman, 2002; Kahneman, 2003) a phenomenon can occur in two different ways, or as a result of two different processes. Often, the two processes consist of an implicit (automatic), unconscious process - which leads to intuitive emotional responses - and an explicit (controlled), conscious process - which leads to controlled cognitive responses.

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.

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.

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)