Key Concepts in Child Development and Moral Understanding

Development of Children

Parental Praise Patterns

• In a study, parental comments to children revealed that 3% were praise.

• Breakdown of praise types:

  • Process praise: 18%

  • Person praise: 16%

• Observational data indicates key instances of praise across different ages.

Gender Differences in Praise

• Boys received 24.4% of praise as process praise while girls received 10.3%.

• Boys generally developed a more incremental framework, valuing effort.

Impact on Children's Beliefs

• More process praise correlated with children believing that effort is worthwhile.

• Study found correlations (e.g., 0.26, 0.29) between process praise and motivation frameworks.

• No correlation for person praise indicating it does not foster an incremental view.

Moral Development Theories

Piaget’s Stages

• Heteronomous Stage (5-10 years): Rules are absolute, focused on consequences of actions, and obedience is dictated by authority figures.

• Autonomous Stage (10 years+): Children understand intentions matter; agree on rules reflecting community goals.

Kohlberg’s Stages

• Introduced three levels of moral development:

  • Pre-conventional (up to 9 years): Focus on punishment and self-interest.

  • Conventional (most young people/adults): Emphasizes group norms and authority compliance.

  • Post-conventional (only ~10%): Personal moral principles and social contracts.

Critiques of Moral Development Theories

• Artificial scenarios in both Piaget's and Kohlberg's studies reduce ecological validity.

• Carol Gilligan's critique of Kohlberg highlights gender biases in sampling.

Application and Implications

• Understanding development helps inform parenting, education, social work, and healthcare professionals.

• Praise should be focused on process and effort rather than fixed attributes to foster motivation and moral development.

• Importance of considering each child's level during learning tasks to ensure consistent moral understanding.

Summary of Key Terms

• Morals: Standards of right and wrong; may vary culturally.

• Moral Development: Growth in understanding right and wrong behaviors over time.

• Heteronomous vs Autonomous Morality: Heteronomous is dependent on others, while autonomous reflects personal decision-making in moral reasoning.