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Similarities between Piaget's theory and Kohlberg's theory
Moral development and its implication
Moral development and its implication
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Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
This web page is about Lawrence Kohlberg and his Theory of Moral Development. It gives the definition of morality, a biography of Kohlberg, the levels of Kohlberg's theory, and the pro's and con's to his theory.
Lawrence Kohlberg spent years researching how an individual develops their own moral codes. He studied the differences in children's reasoning about moral dilemmas. He also helped to clarify the general cognitive-development view of age-related changes. Kohlberg applied the developmental approach of Piaget to the analysis of changes in moral reasoning. He used surveys as his main source for research. He presented children with moral dilemmas and asked them to evaluate the moral conflict, he studied how the different children responded to these dilemmas.
The web page talks about the levels of Kohlberg's theory. His theory was created based on the idea that stages of moral development build on each other in order of importance and significance to the person. Each stage depends on the other. There are three levels and each level consist of two sequential stages.
Level 1: Preconventional Morality (ages 4-10)
- Moral value resides in a person's own needs and wants.
Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation. Person's moral judgement is motivated by a need to avoid punishment.
Stage 2: Instructional-Relativist Orientation. Person's moral judgement is motivated by a need to satisfy own desires.
Level 2: Conventional Morality (ages 10-13)
- Moral values reside in performing good or right roles, and in pleasing others.
Stage 3: "Good Boy/Nice Girl" Orientation. Individuals moral judgement is motivated by a need to avoid rejection, or disapproval.
Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation. Persons moral judgement is motivated by a need to not be criticized by a true authority figure.
Level 3: Postconventional Morality (adolescence-adulthood)
- Moral values reside in principles, seperstae from those who enforce them. Most people never reach this last level
Stage 5: Legalistic Orientation. Individuals moral judgement is motivated by community respect for all, respecting social order, and living under laws.
Stage 6: Universal, Ethical Orientation. Individuals moral judgement by ones own conscience.
Kohlberg’s theory was often criticized for being culturally biased towards individualistic cultures because the third and highest level of morality pertained most to middle-class Americans (168). Erikson’s theory of stage development revolved around accomplishing certain psychological goals to develop onto the next stage of life. Whichever goal was completed, would determine if a person could move on happily or have problems along the way (Myers 170).
For this experiment we asked Norma Tapia to interview her to find out where exactly she lies in Kohlberg and Piagets moral stages. She is a seventeen year old high school senior who
moral development. In these stages, Kohlberg concentrates on the reasons why people act the way they do; not the way they think about their actions or what action they take, but the reasoning behind their actions.
In Kohlbergs moral stages five & six people begin to understand morals and social good then moral reasoning. Basic human rights become important as well as principles.
end product of moral reasoning is a particular behavior, and as a person learns or completes a
I noticed in Piaget stages of moral development Kevin is in the autonomous morality stage. Kevin has realized the rules at school and standards can be negotiated and or changed because his parents can get the school to change the rules or policies for his benefit. On Kohlberg’s stage Kevin, his behaviors can be related to the conventional level stage 4. Broderick and Blewitt describes Kohlberg’s conventional morality as “what is right depends on other’s approval or on the need to maintain social order” (pg. 261). Kevin’s peers react to his negative behaviors is effecting his moral
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development is three levels consisting of two stages in each. Kohlberg’s Theory explains how a human’s mind morally develops. Level one is typically common in younger children. The two stages in level one are pre-conventional stages. Stage one is obedience and punishment driven; one will judge an action by the consequences given. Stage two is out of self interest. Level two is mostly common in teenagers. The stages in this level
They are able of solving problems using reasoning and logic. They can organize facts and events in mature fashion and figure out possible moves and their outcomes. They can also deal with proportions and analogies and reflect on their own thinking. One of the major themes of development is moral development. The most influential research on development was done by Lawrence Kohlberg. It was influenced by Piaget’s cognitive developmental approach. Kohlberg divided Moral development into 6 stages. The first stage is called Preconventional level. During this stage individuals recognize labels of “good” and “bad”, right and wrong, but do not interpret these labels in terms of social standards. The next stage is called Conventional level. During this level individuals make moral judgments based on expectations, whether the expectations are coming from family or society. This level of morality is shown mainly by adolescents and adults. The next level is the post conventional level. During this stage individuals accept and stand by society’s rules and laws but tend to view them in terms of the underlying principles. Individuals may also follow personal ethical principles. This is where they take into account human rights or life and
Psychosocial stage of development The theory of personality of Erik Erikson is among one of the most important theories used to explain how people develop their personality. Although a psychoanalyst, Erikson not merely considered the psychosexual aspect as the mere factors that contributed to the development of individuals’ personality, but also took into account the psychosocial aspect. Erikson divided personality development into eight stages: basic trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role diffusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair, (Cervone & Pervin, 2013; Johnson & Ahmad, 2014; Maitland, 2011). According to this theory, I have been greatly influenced by the stage four: industry vs. inferiority.
At the pre-conventional level, behavior is motivated by anticipation of pleasure or pain. The child is aware of cultural rules and labels of good or bad and right or wrong. (1) The subject interprets the labels in terms of the physical consequence, such as punishment or reward. (3) The child has an extreme self-interest. The first level of moral thinking is generally found at the elementary school level, before the age of 9. This level is divided into the following two stages. (2)
The moral development of children can depend on many factors. Parenting and upbringing of the child, their environment, social environment, gender, and race are all aspects that can contribute to how a child develops their moral standards and expectations. Many psychologists have tried for several years to develop a theory of how morality is developed. One in particular is Lawrence Kohlberg (1958). His moral development theory is based on the cognitive development of children and it is thought that moral development proceeds and changes as cognitive development occurs (Arnett, 2012).
Similar to Kohlberg 's theory and stages of moral development, Gilligan has three major stages. In the Pre-conventional morality stage self interest and an individuals survival are key. Children typically show selfishness and no responsibility. This stage can also be compared to Freud 's Oral Stage which highlighted the infants need for attention and inability to express what they needed. With transition into the Conventional stage an individual becomes more responsible and learns selflessness. The Conventional stages primary goal is learning to care for others and not the self. An example of this may be a mother or care giver. The Post-conventional stage transition includes the idea of taking responsibility and gaining control of their own lives. Caring for others is a major key of this stage of moral development and some people never make it to this
Kohlberg, L. (1984). The psychology of moral development: the nature and validity of moral stages. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Assignment 2: The Theories of Piaget and Kohlberg. Many researchers have written about child development, but none are quite as well known as Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Lawrence Kohlberg’s moral development theory are essential for researchers to gain a better understanding of child development. While these theories are unique in explaining different types of child development, they have many similarities and differences as well.
The obedience and punishment orientation is the earliest stage of moral development and is also very common in young children; however, adults are also capable of expressing this stage of reasoning. In this stage, young children perceive rules to be fixed and absolute and that obeying them is a necessary means to avoid punishment (McLeod, S.A., 2013). The individualism and exchange orientation is the second stage of pre-conventional morality. At this stage, children take into account individual points of view and judge their actions based on how they serve individual needs (Cherry, K., 2014, October