Masked Costume

Superego, level of moral development, conformity, deindividuation, and modeling are a few factors that can help determine weather and adolescent wearing a masked costume will damage property if denied treats on Halloween. Superego is the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. Superego could affect the adolescent’s decision if his superego is strong, if it is strong the child will choose to not destroy any property because it is morally wrong, and they would feel guilt or remorse for it. Level of moral development, according to Piaget, consists of three basic levels of moral thinking: pre conventional morality, conventional morality, and post conventional morality. Pre conventional morality usually occurs before age 9, and it focuses on self-interest: They obey rules either to avoid punishment or to gain concrete rewards. Conventional morality develops by early adolescence; morality focuses on caring for others and on upholding laws and social rules, simply because they are laws and rules. Post conventional morality, with the abstract reasoning of formal operant thought, people may reach a third moral level. Actions are judger “right” because they flow from people’s rights or from self-defined, basic ethical principles. If the child is in early stages of moral development, preconventional, the child will not damage anything in fear of getting punished or denied more candy. If in conventional morality, the child will not do it because it is against the rules, he isn’t allowed to break things. In the last stage, post conventional morality, the child will not break anything because it is against his moral ethics. Conformity is adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. If another child got angry because he also was denied a treat, and started to damage property, other children would think it is okay to damage