Moral Development: Theory, Evidence, and Contemporary Relevance (Week 3, Lecture 1)

Moral Development

changes in how people understand, experience + act on issues of right/wrong across development.

moral:-

• reasoning

• emotions

• behaviour

Stages of Moral Development (Piaget, 1932)

1. Heteronomous morality (5-9 years)

rules fixed + imposed by authority. moral judgements based on consequences over intentions.

2. Autonomous morality (10+ years)

rules flexible, socially negotiated. moral judgements consider intentions + fairness.

Empirical Basis (Piaget)

observational studies of children rule-based games - interaction with rules, reaction to rule breaking, etc.

younger → rules fixed, authority-given

older → rules negotiable social agreements

Moral Change (Piaget)

• decline in egocentrism (recognise other perspectives)

• improved role-taking abilities (understand intentions and feelings)

• cooperative peer interaction (equality, fairness, reciprocity)

Smetana (1981; 2006)

3-4 years - distinguish moral rules (harm, fairness) and social conventions (rules, manners - flexible, context-dependent).

moral judgements less dependent on authority.

Piaget - Evaluation

strengths:

• active role of child in moral understanding

• importance of peer interaction → fairness, cooperation

limitations:

• underestimate children’s moral understanding

• cultural variation not considered

• stage boundaries too rigid

Kohlberg - Stages of Moral Reasoning

pre-conventional morality → obedience + punishment; self-interest

conventional morality → good interpersonal relationships; maintaining social order

post-conventional morality → social contract; universal ethical principles

Kohlberg - Support (Colby et al., 1983)

longitudinal study - 20 years.

moral reasoning progressed through stages in fixed order - did not skip stages (supports structured pattern proposed).

does not mean everyone reaches higher stages.

interviews - high degree of internal consistency in scoring.

Kohlberg - Evaluation

strengths:

• clear developmental progression

• emphasised reasoning processes over outcomes

limitations:

• relies on verbal reasoning, abstract dilemmas

• Western cultural bias

• gender bias

• moral reasoning does not always predict moral behaviour

Gilligan (1982)

interviews - women emphasise care and harm reduction. not justice-based reasoning. gender bias in what constitutes moral maturity.

Cross-Cultural Evidence

• post-conventional reasoning more common in West

• analytic (West) vs holistic thinking (East Asian) style (Shimizu, Senzaki & Cowell, 2022)

Social Domain Theory (Turiel)

distinguishes moral, social, personal rules.

children - early moral understanding of harm+fairness.

children - ‘intuitive moralists’ - eval. rules differently based on domains and functions.

Moral Foundations Theory (Haidt)

moral judgements influenced by intuition; emotion. reasoned judgement comes later.

emphasises cultural variation in values - moral development influenced by cognitive, emotional, social, cultural factors.