Stage Theories of Development
STAGE THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT
1Although all psychologists agree that people change over time, they disagree considerably over how to conceptualize those changes. One group sees us as changing gradually with age; the other school of thought sees people as going through a series of abrupt changes form one stage to the next.
Those who see gradual changes generally lean more toward a “molding” view by which they interpret behavior as gradually changing, mostly due to increasing experience. Those who see stages in development typically lean toward a view in which behavior “unfolds” over time, largely due to biological maturation.
Stage theorists believe that:
the changes occurring from one stage to the next make children qualitatively different rather than quantitatively from how they were at a previous stage.
All children must pass through the same qualitatively different stages in the same order. In addition, they believe that a child cannot progress to the next stage until the current one has been mastered.
Stage Theories of Moral Development
Two theorists have provided us with stage theories of moral development that are related to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
1. 1KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Theorist: Lawrence Kohlberg Born on 1927 and died on 1987
Theory: (1969) He collected data for his stage theory of moral development by presenting boys with moral dilemmas and asking for evaluations of the people and action involved.
Example of the type of dilemma used by Kohlberg:
In Europe, a lady was dying because she was very sick. There was one drug that the doctors said might save her. This medicine was discovered y a man living in the same town. It cost him $200 to make it, but he charged $2,000 for just a little of it. The sick lady’s husband, Heinz, tried to borrow enough money to buy the drug. He went to everyone he knew to borrow the money. He told the man who made the drug that his wife was dying and
1Although all psychologists agree that people change over time, they disagree considerably over how to conceptualize those changes. One group sees us as changing gradually with age; the other school of thought sees people as going through a series of abrupt changes form one stage to the next.
Those who see gradual changes generally lean more toward a “molding” view by which they interpret behavior as gradually changing, mostly due to increasing experience. Those who see stages in development typically lean toward a view in which behavior “unfolds” over time, largely due to biological maturation.
Stage theorists believe that:
the changes occurring from one stage to the next make children qualitatively different rather than quantitatively from how they were at a previous stage.
All children must pass through the same qualitatively different stages in the same order. In addition, they believe that a child cannot progress to the next stage until the current one has been mastered.
Stage Theories of Moral Development
Two theorists have provided us with stage theories of moral development that are related to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
1. 1KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Theorist: Lawrence Kohlberg Born on 1927 and died on 1987
Theory: (1969) He collected data for his stage theory of moral development by presenting boys with moral dilemmas and asking for evaluations of the people and action involved.
Example of the type of dilemma used by Kohlberg:
In Europe, a lady was dying because she was very sick. There was one drug that the doctors said might save her. This medicine was discovered y a man living in the same town. It cost him $200 to make it, but he charged $2,000 for just a little of it. The sick lady’s husband, Heinz, tried to borrow enough money to buy the drug. He went to everyone he knew to borrow the money. He told the man who made the drug that his wife was dying and