THEORY OF MORAL

DEVELOPMENT

by:JEAN PIAGET

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Many Definitions of MORAL

• Berkowitz (2002) says moral is made up of those personal characteristics that lead a person to do the right thing in a given situation as opposed to not doing the right thing.

Many Definitions of MORAL

•Ryan and Bohlin (1999) define good character as knowing the good, loving the good, and doing the good.

Many Definitions of MORAL

•Wiley (1998) suggested that character is a reliable inner disposition to act in a morally good way, having qualities such as honesty and integrity.

Many Definitions of MORAL

• Concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness and badness of human character.

MORALITYone’s ability to distinguish

between right and wrong and to be able to act on this distinction.MORAL DEVELOPMENT

the process by which children acquire society’s standards of what is right and wrong.

Is Moral Inherited?• Moral is a combination of:

Geneticpredispositions

andEnvironmentalinfluences

Piaget’s Stages of Moral Development

• Piaget believed that there were two stages of moral development: Heteronomous morality and autonomous morality.

• Heteronomous morality is the stage at which children think that rules are unchangeable.

• Autonomous morality is the stage at which a person understands that people make rules and that punishments are not

• automatic

Piaget’s Stages of Moral Development

• Heteronomous morality– Rules are imposed upon children by adults.– characterized by a strict adherence to rules

and duties and obedience to authority– Violation of rules bring automatic

punishment; bad people will eventually be punished.

– Punishment is the automatic consequence of the offense

Piaget’s Stages of Moral Development

• Autonomous morality– This is the morality of cooperation– Equality is based upon cooperation among

autonomous individuals– Rules are the product of mutual agreement,

open to renegotiation and made legitimate by common consent

– Right or wrong is relative to an actor’s intention

– Fairness takes into account individual needs

Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development

• Jean Piaget (1965) was the first psychologist to suggest a theory of moral development. According to Piaget:– development emerges from action, and

people construct and reconstruct their knowledge of the world as a result of interactions with the environment.

– Piaget suggested that people pass through three qualitatively different stages of moral reasoning.

Piaget’s First Stage• Moral Realism – In this stage children

tend to have a clear sense of right and wrong, although they believe that there is typically only one right answer to every situation. They tend to trust adults at this stage and do not question an adult’s moral judgments. At this stage, children tend to believe in moral absolutes and tend to only see a situation from their limited perspective.

Piaget’s Second Stage• Morality of Reciprocity – In this stage, children

begin to understand that rules and regulations are formed through negotiation. Children learn that rules can be changed and they see the world through the eyes of other people. They are able to comprehend that there may be more than one right answer. They believe that punishment should act as restitution for immoral acts. They begin to use logic and hypotheses at this stage.

Piaget’s Third Stage• Mature Adult Thinking – In this stage, many

different moral issues are addressed through practical decision making. People at this stage, the ethics of cooperation and the complexity of moral issues are better understood.