Moral Development

moral development

involves changes in the understanding and interpretation of how the concepts of justice, conscience, and ethics apply to a person’s own behavior and the actions of others

paul bloom

created mind and development lab at yale

believed we are born with prosocial tendencies and are predisposed to care about other people

piaget on moral development

observed and questioned kids as they played games with one another

• moral reasoning progresses as cognitive abilities progress and children learn to understand their pov of others

lawrence Kohlberg

believed that morality is a decision-making process and not a fixed set of behaviors

in research

• presented dilemmas to kids, adolescents, and adults and asked what the individual in the dilemma should do and why

lawrence Kohlberg’s 3 levels of moral reasoning

1. preconventional

2. conventional

3. post conventional

preconventional

younger children (coincides w/ preop. stage)

focuses on external consequences as the source of determining what is moral

will this behavior result in punishment or reward

conventional

develops as indivuduals reach Piaget’s concrete operational stage

focuses on social rules and gaining approval

decisions about what is right or wrong are based off of approval from others, such as parents or following laws of society

post conventional

individual decides for themself what is right and wrong

the development of morality is part of the process of socialization

carl gilligan

criticized kohlberg’s research

• failed to account for differences in the experiences and outlook between males and females

• subsequent research found little diff. in moral decision making between genders

hypothetical

what someone actually does in a real-world situation might not be consistent

other researchers

moral intuition and moral action and thinking

the challenge of studying moral development…

1. hypothetical

2. other researchers

3. character education programs for children