Discuss Theories Of Moral Development
Discuss theories of moral development
Piaget researched into the moral development of children and found that until about 5 years old children are amoral. They cannot make moral judgements or understand rules. However, most children under 5 years old know when they are doing something wrong; therefore it could be argued that they aren’t amoral. To understand rules children use equal-status contact with peers to understand others perspectives and begin to develop morally. Piaget used pairs of vignettes where one child had good intentions but accidentally caused trouble and where the child had bad intentions but caused less damage. He presented these to children and found that most children believed the child with good intentions was the naughtiest. However, this task places a heavy cognitive load on children and may be deemed too difficult to understand for young children. Also consequences are much easier to see for children as they are egocentric so this is what they base their judgements on not intentions. Armsby made the task less cognitively demanding and found that 60% of 6 year olds judged deliberately breaking a cup more deserving of punishment than accidentally breaking a TV, therefore suggesting 6 year olds understand intentions. Piaget underestimated children’s abilities, as Chandler et al found that when the stories were videotaped, 6 year olds also recognised intention as well as older children. Piaget tested children’s understanding of rules by observing boys playing marbles, as rules are the essence of morality. Piaget however, didn’t observe girls and was therefore considered andocentric and his results can therefore not be generalised. Turiel suggested that marbles wasn’t a representative way of showing moral behaviour and claimed that people use social-conventional rules to make moral judgements.
According to Piaget's theory, children between the ages of 5 and 10, see the world through the lens of a "heteronomous" morality. In this moral
Piaget researched into the moral development of children and found that until about 5 years old children are amoral. They cannot make moral judgements or understand rules. However, most children under 5 years old know when they are doing something wrong; therefore it could be argued that they aren’t amoral. To understand rules children use equal-status contact with peers to understand others perspectives and begin to develop morally. Piaget used pairs of vignettes where one child had good intentions but accidentally caused trouble and where the child had bad intentions but caused less damage. He presented these to children and found that most children believed the child with good intentions was the naughtiest. However, this task places a heavy cognitive load on children and may be deemed too difficult to understand for young children. Also consequences are much easier to see for children as they are egocentric so this is what they base their judgements on not intentions. Armsby made the task less cognitively demanding and found that 60% of 6 year olds judged deliberately breaking a cup more deserving of punishment than accidentally breaking a TV, therefore suggesting 6 year olds understand intentions. Piaget underestimated children’s abilities, as Chandler et al found that when the stories were videotaped, 6 year olds also recognised intention as well as older children. Piaget tested children’s understanding of rules by observing boys playing marbles, as rules are the essence of morality. Piaget however, didn’t observe girls and was therefore considered andocentric and his results can therefore not be generalised. Turiel suggested that marbles wasn’t a representative way of showing moral behaviour and claimed that people use social-conventional rules to make moral judgements.
According to Piaget's theory, children between the ages of 5 and 10, see the world through the lens of a "heteronomous" morality. In this moral