Moral Development: Piaget and Kohlberg

Severity of a transgression is directly proportional to its superficiality; the bigger the lie, the worse it is

Heteronomous Morality -

rules are sacred and

fixed; handed down

by authority figures

Stage 1

Moral Realism

Rules are taken literally and absolutely; they must be respected

Objective Responsibility -

you are responsible for your

transgressions, regardless

of your intent

Expiatory Punishment -

strong, arbitrary, pays penance;

Retributive Justice - "an eye

for an eye," based on

Adult Restraint

Immanent Justice -

automatic punishments (karma); bridge between stages

More sensitive to

Intentionality

Reciprocity between

severity of crime

and the punishment

Young person has become

freed, or autonomous,

from adult imposed

reality

Mutuality - equality,

reciprocity, and cooperation

Equity - accounts

for individual circumstances

and factors

Stage 2

Distributive Justice -

restitution, focus on

treating everyone

equally

Mutual Respect -

taking turns,

following rules

Stage 3

Autonomous Morality - rules set by and

changeable through

mutual agreement

Autonomy - rules are seen as social conventions

Golden Rule

Justice - equality

gives way to

equity

Interest in rules

as a code of

conduct, maintain spirit of game

Stage 5

Social Contract

Awareness of complications / issues not

clear cut; rules for the common good

sometimes work against

interest of individuals

Stage 3:

Autonomy

Ages 11-15

Stage 2:

Mutuality

Ages 7-11

Stage 1:

Moral Realism

Age 2-7

Children's views of

Punishment

Level 3

Postconventional Morality

Individual judgment based on

self-chosen principles;

moral reasoning based on

individual rights and justice

Stage 1: Punishment / Obedience

Stage 2: Personal Reward

Level 2: Conventional Morality

Level 3: Postconventional Morality

Level 1: Preconventional Morality

Stage 5: Social Contract

Stage 6: Universal Ethical

Stage 3: Good Person

Stage 4: Law and Order

Stage 6

Universal

Ethical Principles

Development of individual moral

guidelines which may or may not

fit the law; defending these

principles may require going

against society and facing

severe consequences

Lawrence Kohlberg

Jean Piaget

Moral

Development

Stage 1

Moral Development:

mechanism by

which children learn

right and wrong

Moral Development - talked to

children about stories which

contained an immoral act,

such as a lie, but varied in

their intentionality

Retributive -

requiring punishment

to stamp out disobedience

or unjust acts

Child aware of wider societal rules; obey to uphold law and avoid guilt

Good boy/good girl; seeking approval

Autonomy:

Unfair acts

violate sense

of equity

Mutuality:

Unfair behavior

goes against equality

Stage 3

Good Person

Stage 4

Law and Order

Stage 3

Stage 2

Kohlberg

Universality? Generality?

Biased towards: Western cultures? High Social / educational levels?

Gender?

Expanded Piaget's ideas

into a six-stage theory

of moral reasoning

Ideas of Justice

develop...

more detailed; no age limits; more room to progress; birth-adult; more gradual;based on Piaget; more interaction; more focus on individual;

Ideas of Unfairness

develop...

Psychosocial development - sense of self emerges as a result of interactions between social and personal sides;

Individual development takes place in a social context

Includes: feelings, attitudes, beliefs and values manifested as morality and identity

Patterns of responses in

children of different ages?

Moral Dilemmas

Stage 2

Stage 3

Distributive -

considering equality;

treating everyone the

same; maintaining

harmony

Equity -

attenuating

circumstances are

taken into

account

development of self;

children;moral reasoning = consequences; males;stages;limitations;final stage may not be reached; importance of rules;

valuable insight

Occasional tendency to move backward, inconsistency, unpredictability

Limitations

Overlapping Stages

Authority is internalized

but not questioned; reasoning is based

on group norms

Compare / Contrast

Moral Realism:

Unfair behavior forbidden by adults or by the rules of the game

Stage 1

Moral Judgment:

children's conceptions

of rules and the respect

they acquire

for these rules

Level 2

Conventional Morality

ages; focus on social;

observed; rigid; birth-adolescence; self-realization by age 15

Moral Judgment - studied

children's games (marbles)

Other Factors: inconvenience,

personal risk, gender-role

orientation, perspective

taking

Moral Reasoning is not

the same as Moral Behavior

Piaget

Stage 2

Personal Reward

Child is good to be rewarded; limited

sense of reciprocity; a practical morality

Authority is outside the individual;

reasoning based on

physical consequences

Level 1

Preconventional Morality

Child is good to avoid punishment;

if someone is punished, they must have done wrong

Stage 1

Punishment - Obedience