Many researchers have written about child development, but the most well known are Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and Kohlberg's theory of moral development have been essential in helping researchers grasp the biological and psychological changes that occur between birth and adolescence. While these theories share some similarities, they also have many differences, such as Kohlberg’s application to various cultures. It is important to compare these models in order to comprehend child development. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss prodigy and psychologist. After he graduated from the University of Zurich, he moved to Paris, where he taught at the Grange-Aux-Belles school for boys. During his stay at the school, Piaget noticed that “children of the same age tended to give the same wrong answers, whereas children of a different age tended to give different wrong answers” (Cook, 2009, p. 153). This led him to believe that rational processes develop over time. According to his theory of cognitive development, children grow through four different stages. Piaget’s first stage, the stage of Sensorimotor Thought, starts at birth and continues to approximately two years of age. This is the world of infants and young children, who experience the world only through their five senses. Piaget divided this first stage into six substages. The first substage is Basic Reflexes. At birth, infants have only instinctive reflexes, such as rooting, sucking, and grasping. As the child reaches the approximate age of one month, he or she moves into the next substage termed Primary Circular Reactions. In this stage, the child begins to learn through trial and error. Thumb sucking is an example of this type o... ... middle of paper ... ...lopment. References (1980). Moral Development, Moral Education, and Kohlberg: Basic Issues in Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, and Education. In B. Munsey (Ed.). Birmingham: Religious Education. Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2009). Child Development: Principles and Perspectives (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education. Crain, W. (2005). Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications (5th ed., pp. 118-136). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Duska, R. F., & Whelan, M. (1975). Moral Development: A Guide to Piaget and Kohlberg. New York City: Paulist. Kohlberg, L., Colby, A., Gibbs, J., Speicher-Dubin, B., & Power, C. (1977). "Assessing Moral Stages: A Manual Part III". Thesis, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Power, C., & Kohlberg, L. (1981). The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice. Thesis, Harper & Row, San Francisco.
The first of Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development is the sensorimotor stage. The approximate age of this stage is from birth to two years
McNeel, S. (1994). College teaching and student moral development. In J. Rest, & D. Narvaez (Eds.), Moral development in the professions: Psychology and applied ethics (pp. 27-49). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
This theory is crafted by Jean Piaget (1896– 1980) and his work concentrated on seeing how kids see the world. Piaget trusted that from outset, we have the fundamental mental structure on which all ensuing information and learning are based and because of natural development and ecological experience, the mental procedures will have a dynamic rearrangement. Piaget's presumption was that kids are dynamic takes part in the advancement of information and they adjust to nature through currently looking to comprehend their condition. He proposed that cognitive advancement occurs in four phases, 0 to 2 years being the sensori motor, 2 years to 7 years the preoperational, 7 to 12 years the solid operations, and 12 years or more the formal operations.
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development shows the different stages of morality as people change as they get older (McLeod). He had three levels which broke down his stages
... (2009) The science of development. In R.V. Kail & A. Barnfield (Eds.), Children and their development (pp. 8 – 22). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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 psychologist have tried for several years to develop a theory to 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). Kohlberg’s moral development theory consist of 3 different levels each containing 2 stages altogether making 6 stages of moral development, as Kohlberg conducted
In the model I developed for child development there are three main groups: physical, mental, and social. Within these three groups are subcategories, many including ideas from various theorists, that I will use to support my system of child development. Throughout this paper, I will use ideas, definitions, and examples from the theorists I have chosen and from my own experience.
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 have been 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.
Lawrence Kohlberg conducted research on the moral development of children. He wanted to understand how they develop a sense of right or wrong and how justice is served. Kohlberg used surveys in which he included moral dilemmas where he asked the subjects to evaluate a moral conflict. Through his studies, Kohlberg observed that moral growth and development precedes through stages such as those of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. He theorized that moral growth begins at the beginning of life and continues until the day one dies. He believed that people proceed through each stage of moral development consecutively without skipping or going back to a previous stage. The stages of thought processing, implying qualitatively different modes of thinking and of problem solving are included in the three levels of pre-conventional, conventional and post conventional development. (2)
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are arguably two of the most noted and influential developmental psychologists. Their contributions to the field of developmental psychology, while different, also have several similarities. Throughout the following paper, I will discuss some of the similarities and, according to Orlando Laurenco, definitive differences of Piaget and Vygotsky.
“The influence of Piaget’s ideas in developmental psychology has been enormous. He changed how people viewed the child’s world and their methods of studying children. He was an inspiration to many who came after and took up his ideas. Piaget's ideas have generated a huge amount of research which has increased our understanding of cognitive development.” (McLeod 2009). Piaget purposed that we move through stages of cognitive development. He noticed that children showed different characteristics throughout their childhood development. The four stages of development are The Sensorimotor stage, The Preoperational Stage, The Concrete operational stage and The Formal operational stage.
While this theory does explain my own development from the influence of the decisions made during my undergraduate studies, Stage 2 and Stage 5 allowed me to develop a better sense of myself and how my moral evolved. By applying my parents’ decision to my own goals and achievements, I learned from areas where it failed me before. I moved onward from the decisions created and identified my own aspects and beliefs from my parents’ morals. In return, I grew into a bigger aspect of myself and learned. As I reflect back on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and my own personal cognitive development during my undergraduate years until today, I can say that there might be conflicting aspects that impacted my development and growth. In Stage 1, while it was easy for me to understand my parents’ decision, it failed to describe the conflicting decisions I had to make moving onward to Stage 2. While Stage 3 and Stage 5 were more easily acknowledged, I felt that the theory did not describe my development as a whole. There were certain parts of the theory that were accurate, Kohlberg’s theory allowed some room for error in being generalizable toward the student
Kohlberg, L. (1984). The psychology of moral development: the nature and validity of moral stages. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
This only happens when children are able to allow their existing schemas to handle new information through the first process, assimilation. The last of Piaget’s theory is the stages of development. We will look at the first two stages, which are the sensorimotor and preoperational stages. During the stage of sensorimotor, which happens during the first two years from birth, they will undergo a key feature of knowing and having object permanence that also means that if a particular object was hidden or covered by a cloth, he or she will be able to actively search for it. The preoperational stage takes place from two years of age until they are seven years old.
Jean Piaget was the first psychologist to suggest a theory of moral development .He believed that there was three stages the children go through to make moral development. He indicates that moral development, similar to cognitive development, takes place through-out stages (Piaget, 1932).