You must have heard about Piaget Theory of Cognitive Development and Kohlberg Theory of Moral Development. But, DO YOU KNOW??? That Piaget also gave a theory on Moral Development. YES, You heard it right most of us don’t know about it . So, Today, In the beginning we are going to learn about Piaget Moral Development Theory and later on compare it with the Kohlberg Moral Development Theory. I will helping you to understand it easily So, Let’s get started right away.
WHAT IS MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
As a child grows Egocentrism decreases and a Disequilibrium arises and Moral Reasoning starts developing. Moral development is a process by which children develop the standards of Right and Wrong within their society, based on social, cultural norms and laws.
Piaget see Moral Development as a constructivist process as he believe A child construct his own knowledge by experiences and surroundings and his thoughts helps in building moral concepts. He gave importance to the thinking of the child rather than focusing on the rules.
He observed that as the child grows his concepts regarding rules and moral judgement changes according to the stage he belong.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT STAGES
PRE MORAL OR ANOMY (0-5 YEARS)
- At Sensorimotor and Pre- Operational Stage Children cannot carry out complex mental operations as they have a little understanding of rules.
- Behavior of child is not regulated by moral standards.
- Pain and Pleasure regulates the behavior of child.
- The children have little respect for or awareness of socially defined rules.
HETERONOMOUS MORALITY/ MORAL REALISM (5-9 YEARS)
- At Pre- Operational and Concrete Operational stage Children think rules are rigid and given by Adults.
- Rules tells them what is right and wrong.
- Consequences dictate the severity of a behavior, not the intentions.
- Children accept the rules made by some authority figure like Parents, Teacher, God and breaking the rules will lead to immediate or serious punishment( imminent justice).
- Egocentrism of young children encourage them to adhere to three beliefs-
- Imminent Justice- wrong doing leads to punishment.
- Objective Consequences- morality of an act is judged by its objective consequences and not the objective intentions of the persons.
- Absolutism- They believe that there is only one correct moral conclusion of a particular circumstance.
AUTONOMOUS MORALITY/ MORAL RELATIVISM (10 YEARS UPWARDS)
- At Concrete and Formal Operational stage emphasizes on co- operation.
- Children recognize that there is no absolute right or wrong.
- Rules are changeable under certain circumstances with mutual consent.
- here, Morality is based on your own rules and depends on intentions not consequences.
CONCLUSION:-
According to Piaget’s theory of moral development children’s sense of justice and fairness varies with age. For a young child fairness is equal treatment to everyone whereas at higher stage of development fairness is same treatment when needs and requirements are same. Moral development, consideration for others and mutual respect becomes the criteria of one’s behavior as he grows up to be an adult.
I hope this article helped you. If you have any suggestions or queries feel free to write in the comments section below. I will be more than happy to answer them all. for more such articles you can visit https://edusights.com and if you want to read more about this theory you can also try this link: https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget-moral.html Till then Keep Learning and Keep Growing.