Moral Development Flashcards
(25 cards)
is the ability to learn the difference between what is right and what is wrong and understand how to make the right choices. As with other facets of development, it does not form independently from the previous areas discussed. Children’s experiences at home, the environment around them, and their physical, cognitive, emotional, and social skills influence their developing sense of right and wrong.
Morality
Molds an individual into what type of person they become in this world
Moral development is the process
He states that children at a young age begin to develop a sense right and wrong and that continues to develop at a deeper level as they mature. Schools are important training grounds for children’s developing conceptions of moral behavior and ethical values.
Woolfolk (2013)
he modified and expanded Jean Piaget’s work to form a theory that explained the development of moral reasoning. His theory outlined six stages within three different levels. He extended Piaget’s theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan.
Lawrence Kohlberg
Whose work Lawrence Kohlberg modified and extended?
Jean Piaget
one of the best known of Kohlberg’s stories concerns a man called…
Heinz, who lived somewhere in Europe
Kohlberg to Heinz. He was able to formulate three levels of morality with six stages:
Level 1 Pre-conventional Morality
~Stage 1 Obedience and Punishment
~Stage 2 Individualism and Exchange
Level 2 Conventional Morality
~Stage 3 Good Interpersonal Conformity
~Stage 4 Maintaining Social Order
Level 3 Post Conventional Morality
~Stage 5 Social Contract and Individual Rights
~Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principle Orientation
The child at the first and most basic level, the pre-conventional level, is concerned with avoiding punishment and getting needs met. This level has two stages and applies to children up to 10 years of age.
Level 1 Pre-conventional Morality
The earliest stage of moral development is especially common in young children but adults are also capable of expressing this type of reasoning. At this stage, children see rules as fixed and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because it is a means to avoid punishment.
Stage 1 Obedience and Punishment
The behavior is governed by moral reciprocity. The child will follow rules if there is a known benefit to him or her. they continue to define right and wrong primarily in terms of consequences to themselves.
Stage 2 Individualism and Exchange
This level broadens the scope of human wants and needs. Children at this level are concerned about being accepted by others and living up to their expectations. This stage begins around age 10 but last well into adulthood, and is the stage most adults remain on throughout their lives.
Level 2 Conventional Morality
Often referred to as the “good boy-good girl” orientation. People make decision based on what actions will please others, especially authority figures and other individuals with high status(e.g., teachers, popular peers). They are concerned about maintaining relationships through sharing, trust and loyalty, and they take other people’s perspective and intentions into account when making decision
Stage 3 Good Interpersonal Conformity
People look to society as a whole for guidelines about right or wrong. They know rules are necessary for keeping society running smoothly and believe it is their “duty” to obey them. However, they perceive rules to be inflexible; they don’t necessarily recognize that as society needs change, rules should change as well.
Stage 4 Maintaining Social Order
Some teenagers and adults move beyond conventional morality and enter morality based on reason, examining the relative values and opinions of the groups with which they interact.
Level 3 Post conventional Morality
People recognize that the rules represent agreements among many individuals about appropriate behavior. Rules are seen as potentially useful mechanisms that can maintain the general social order and protect individual rights, rather than as absolute dictates that must be obeyed simply because they are “the law.” People also recognize the flexibility of rules; rules that no longer service society’s best interests can and should be changed.
Stage 5 Social Contract and individual Rights
It is hypothetical, “ideal” stage that few people ever reach. People in this stage adhere to a few abstract, universal principles (e.g., equality of all people, respect for human dignity, commitment to justice) that transcend specific norms and rules. They answer to a strong inner conscience and willingly disobey laws that violate their own ethical principles.
Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principle Orientation
He developed his theory on children’s moral judgement from his multiple observations of children’s games and his professional interviews with them on the subject. It was with this foundation that he concluded that children’s moral reasoning ranges with age from just simply accepting them as a product of social interaction and opening them up a bit more to their own personal interpretation.
Piaget; Piaget’s Theory of Moral Judgement
Piaget again categorizes their moral development into categories:
Morality of Constraint
Transition period
autonomous morality
According to Piaget, children between the ages of 5 and 10 see the world through a….
heteronomous morality
Children think that authority figures such as parents and teachers have rules that young people must follow absolutely. Rules are thought as a real, unchangeable guidelines rather than evolving negotiable or situational. As they grow older, they develop more abstract thinking and become capable of forming more flexible, children become capable of forming more flexible rules and applying them selectively for the sake of shared objectives and a desire to co-operate.
Heteronomous Morality
are an important training ground for children’s developing moral behavior and ethical values. This is where teachers can have many opportunities to teach principles and ethical values such as honesty, fairness, responsibility, caring and respect for life.
Schools
One way teachers can promote moral development in the classroom in through…
presenting moral issues and dilemmas happening in the school, at home or even in the nearby community
He believed that schools should incorporate moral issues into the _____________
curriculum
There are many guidebooks available to help teachers teach values through the curriculum. In discussing controversial topics or moral issues, teachers need to help students consider different points of view, to share their own thoughts and feelings, and to listen to one another. Moreover, such discussion can help promote…
both critical thinking and communication skills.
