The Importance Of Moral Development

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

In Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World, John (referred to as “the savage”) is the voice of freedom in a society ruled by an inexorable pursuit of superficial happiness. In the dystopian setting, the world controllers maintain public satisfaction “but at a very high price—the sacrifice of freedom, individuality, truth, beauty, a sense of purpose, and the concept of God” (Neilson). John’s unorthodox beliefs about monogamy, God, drugs, and freedom clash with that of the overwhelming majority of people in the totalitarian London utopia. This barrier is rooted in John’s natural moral development as opposed to the artificial conditioning of the rest of society and it leads to John’s complete isolation from the people of London.

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.

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).

As a future teacher, it will be part of my job to increase my students’ moral reasoning. Moral reasoning deals with how individuals think about moral issues. Lawrence Kohlberg developed stages of moral reasoning which researchers use to assess an individual. According to Steinberg (2014), the adults in an adolescent’s life can impact their moral development. Therefore, as their teacher, I will conduct activities in my classroom, such as Collaborative Reasoning, Think-Pair-Share, a line activity, and an online discussion board, which will foster my students’ moral development. In addition, I will monitor my students’ growth by conducting a pre-assessment as well as a final assessment. Through my classroom activities, I expect my students to

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”).

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.

Moral Development: how it ties to

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.

As talked about in Berk there are many factors that impact our understanding of morals. Kohlberg believed that various experiences influenced and cause “cognitive challenges” and in turn allow them to moral questions and situations in more complicated ways. Some of these influences could be school, friends, and culture (Berk, 2014)

Rest, J. R. (1979). Development in judging moral issues. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

The link between morality and human nature has been a progressive reoccurring theme since ancient times (Prinz, 2008). Moral development is a characteristic of a person’s general development that transpires over the course of a lifetime. Moral development is derived by a wide variety of cultural and demographic factors that appear to influence morally relevant actions. Turiel (2006) defined morality as an individuals “prescriptive judgments of justice, rights, and welfare pertaining to how people ought to relate to each other.” Individuals’ moral judgments are frequently considered to be a product of culturally specific controls that provide a framework for behavioral motivations that are sensitive to the effects of gender, education, religion and politics (Banerjee, Huebner & Hauser, 2010). While several approaches have been utilized to examine the interaction of multivariate contributors to fundamental moral differences such as: disputes about family life, sexuality, social fairness, and so on, research has suggested that ideological considerations have provided a potent and diverse explanation for the polarization of contrasting views (Weber & Federico, 2013).

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.