Moral development

PROFILE

Piaget and Kohlberg are the names most commonly associated with moral development, but a number of other psychologists have researched and written about this vital topic.

LINKS

Piaget

Bowlby

Skinner

Emotional intelligence

Gardner

Some key thinking and theories about moral development

Moral education is becoming an increasingly popular topic in the fields of psychology and education. Public anxieties about violence and lawlessness are often focused on young people. In fact morality is a lifelong concern. There are a wealth of theories and in this section some of the most widespread views about the nature of moral development will be explored.

Psychoanalytic theories

Freud claims that the quality of the child’s relationship with their parents greatly affects the way the child develops morally. He wrote of the id (the pleasure seeking part of our psyche) and the super-ego (which is our conscience, derived from parents and society). The third aspect he suggested is the ego, helping us to maintain a balance - to find socially (and morally) acceptable ways to satisfy the id.

Robert Emde has written of ‘The Dos and Don’ts of Early Moral Development: psychoanalytic traditional and current research’. He suggests (with some examples) that “guidelines for action (dos) are thought to be learned before prohibitions (don’ts)” and that this occurs in the first and second year of life. He reminds us that psychoanalytic theory is the ‘psychology of conflict’. He emphasises the aspects of psychoanalytic theory which he suggests are the roots of morality. They are namely relationships; motives; affect (or emotions); individuality; and psychopathology. This fits with other psychoanalytic writers who also see attachment to others as the basis of morality.

Social Learning Theory

Social Learning theory developed from behaviourism (see How Children Learn page 42). Like behaviourism it is assumed that children learn morality by being rewarded or punished. Social learning theory favours the view that children learn morality by imitating adult behaviour. Bandura has undertaken several studies of aggression. The most well-known of these involved a Bobo doll (a figure designed and constructed to be knocked down and then bob up again). In these studies an adult acts aggressively towards a doll and when the adult has left the room, children copy that behaviour. If the adult is seen to be punished for behaving badly, children were less likely to copy that behaviour.

Jean Piaget

In 1932 Piaget published a book entitled The Moral Judgement of the Child. Piaget observed children’s moral development in two ways. He observed the rules they used and developed in their games. Children up to the age of five simply played for enjoyment, disregarding the rules. Six year olds tended to be inflexible in applying the rules but by the age of ten they realised that rules can be manipulated.

By telling children stories that included a moral dilemma and analysing their responses Piaget suggested that young children were in a stage of moral realism. For them the ‘naughtiness’ of an action depended on the amount of damage done. A later stage of moral relativism led children to take into account a range of factors - social, personal and cultural. Thus, in a story in which one boy accidentally breaks fifteen cups and another breaks one cup while trying to reach something his mother has placed out of reach, younger children will say that the first is naughtier. Older children will say that the second was behaving less morally because his motives were bad.

Lawrence Kohlberg

Kohlberg is, like Piaget, a constructivist. He built on Piaget’s work. By telling stories containing a moral dilemma and asking children what they should do next he concluded that there were three levels of moral development.

In the preconventional level children are initially concerned with avoiding punishment and secondly focused on meeting their own needs. Kohlberg suggested that this included children up to about the age of ten.

After that older children may move to a second level which he called conventional. Initially, their concern is meeting other people’s expectations of moral behaviour. The second stage of this level is concerned with doing the right thing for family or groups with which you are closely concerned.

The third level is called postconventional. During this level individuals’ behaviour is shaped by the values and opinions of the groups they live and interact with. Moral behaviour is regarded as part of a social contract. The final stage is when universal, moral principles are adhered to. At this stage, a person will obey laws which are consistent with the universal principles but where there is any conflict will stick to principles rather than the social contract.

Nature or nurture?

Robert Coles, the author of the book The Moral Intelligence of Children describes children’s early years as the ‘moral archaeology of childhood’. While acknowledging that babies come in many shapes, sizes and temperaments emphasises that for most babies it is the case that:

A baby has learned to love, even as it has been loved, to reward with effort those who have exerted effort on its behalf, to accept and please those who have accepted it, have been so pleased by it. This reciprocity of feeling and behaviour, this clear connectedness, as it broadens and enlarges all concerned, is an early expression of a shared respect, a mutuality of regard, a moral mutuality… (1998 page 94)

Cole’s book has been praised by Daniel Goleman who wrote Emotional Intelligence. Both owe something to the work of Howard Gardner but both emotional and moral intelligence are resisted by Gardner who favours something that he calls existential intelligence. Existential intelligence would involve what he describes as ‘ultimate’ issues - such as ‘the significance of life, the meaning of death’ and so on. In a chapter entitled ‘Is there a Moral Intelligence?’ Gardner (1999) asks the question and concludes that moral behaviour is concerned with the kind of person you are rather than a human intelligence as such.

While Cole clearly thinks of morality as largely nurtured, Gardner’s view seems to suggest a balance of nature and nurture. Steven Pinker on the other hand believes, as an evolutionary psychologist, that morality owes much to nature. This doesn’t mean that we can excuse immoral behaviour but that our intrinsic morality comes from the structure of the brain. He points to the fact that even toddlers have a sense of sharing and that all cultures have concepts of right and wrong. Pinker compares our innate moral sense to our sense of number—and suggests that both are hardwired into our brain in order to help us deal with complex, abstract ideas. In his view we cannot but think in moral terms.

Putting the theory into practice

Most of the theories described in this section require adults to treat children in moral ways and for the adults themselves to lead moral lives. If you take a psychoanalytical view of morality for example, you will regard secure attachment and helping children to manage feelings in socially acceptable ways as what you must do. Practitioners favouring a social learning viewpoint will place an emphasis on good models of morality, while those favouring learning theory (or behaviourism) will focus on rewarding moral behaviour and punishing unacceptable behaviour.

For constructivists such as Piaget and Kohlberg, accelerating moral development (if that is possible) must be a question of presenting children with moral dilemmas - through story and discussion and in resolving normal daily conflicts. In this way the practitioner creates ‘disequilibrium’ which children have to resolve through a process of accommodation and assimilation. Cole focuses on kindness to children and supporting secure attachment and emotional well-being. Neither Pinker nor Gardner would argue with that point of view in practice - even though their theories differ from his in some key aspects.

The influence of theories and thinking about moral development

Moral development is much talked about and it would be nice to think that the relevant theories are having influence on practitioners and policy makers. Certainly there is more understanding of the importance of attachment (see for example the Early Years Foundation Stage and the requirement for key persons in all settings). However, there is much room for improvement. Gerhardt (2004) and Palmer (2007), for example, both highlight the way in which current attitudes and practices are placing young children’s ability to make strong attachments at risk.

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Comment

There are many criticisms of aspects of the theories surrounding the concept of moral development. Both Kohlberg and psychoanalytical theories have been criticised by feminist writers (such as Carol Gilligan). Her work has focused on Kohlberg who suggested that men were more likely to operate at a higher emotional level - thinking in terms of justice rather than care, omitting to take into account emotional aspects of morality.

Both Piaget and Kohlberg have been criticised for being culturally biased in their view of moral development. Although many people have criticized Piaget and Kohlberg about their staged theories of moral development. They are also criticised for reporting development as though it were a one-way, linear process. Do we all act as though we were fully developed in all situations and contexts? Probably not!

It should also be noted that Bandura’s Bobo studies have been widely criticised. Critics point out that since the dolls are designed to be knocked down, it is somewhat unfair to label children’s behaviour in his study as aggressive. Moreover they were dolls - there can be no certainty that behaviour towards a doll would be replicated with another human being.

Points for reflection

References

The moral intelligence of children Robert Coles (Bloomsbury Publishing 1998)

Intelligence reframed Howard Gardner (Basic Books 1999)

Why Love Matters Sue Gerhardt (Brunner-Routledge 2004)

The psychology of moral development Lawrence Kohlberg (Harper and Row 1984)

Toxic Childhood Sue Palmer (Orion Books 2007)

Where to find out more

http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/DLiT/2000/KESPres/theor.htm%20copy