Moral Development NICOLE HIGH ELK

Reflection from Prior Lesson:  Social Cognition:  Understanding empathy  To know when someone is upset or happy  Social Development:  Developmental stages:  Reaching identity

Goal and Objectives  Goal:  Students will have a good understanding of what moral development is. Students will also be able to understand the different levels and stages.  Objectives:  Students will be able to define moral development.  Students will be able to answer how many stages Kohlberg has verse Piaget.  Students will be able to define Kohlberg’s definition verse Piaget’s definition of moral development.

Introduction: Activity  A wife is dying of a severe illness. The husband doesn’t have enough money to buy the medication to save her life. He begs the chemist who created the medicine to let him do payments so that he can save his wife’s life. The chemist refused and says to the man, “ I created this, I will sell it and make big money from it.” That night the husband breaks into the chemist’s lab and steals the medication.

Questions:  Should the husband have stolen the medication?  Do you think it would change anything if he did not love his wife?  What if the person dying was a stranger, would it make any difference?  Should the police have arrested the chemist for the murder of the woman if she died?  Should the husband be arrested for stealing the medication, even though he did it to save his wife?

What is moral development?  Moral Development is the focus of understanding this changes from infancy through adulthood. The learning of right from wrong.  Morality is the principles for how individuals treat each other, and the respect each other.  Kohlberg’s definition of moral development is knowing what we should do versus what our actions show. Kohlberg has 3 levels that break down into 6 stages.  Piaget’s definition is that children see that authority figures make rules that last forever. Piaget has 4 stages to his idea of what moral development is.

Kohlberg  Level 1: Pre-Conventional Morality – Right and wrong determined by rewards and punishments.  Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment  Certain behaviors that lead to punishment are wrong.  Stage 2. Rewards  Children recognize that there is the right and wrong ways to behave and the right way is rewarded.

Kohlberg  Level 2: Conventional Morality – The perspective of how others see you matters. Try to avoid blame and seek approval.  Stage 3: Good Intentions  Behaving in ways that show good behaviors.  Stage 4: Obedience to Authority  To feel good about accomplishing what you need to do.

Kohlberg  Level 3: Post-Conventional Morality – Abstract notions of justice. Rights of others can override obedience to laws/rules.  Stage 5: Difference between moral and legal rights.  Knowing the difference between moral and legal rights. Recognizing that rules should sometimes be broken.  Stage 6: Individual principles of conscience.  Take into account the views of everyone who is or can be affected by a moral decision.  Kohlberg doubted many people ever reached this stage.

Piaget  Stage 1: Sensorimotor – Age 0 – 2 years  Coordination of their senses. Motor-skills response and sensory curiosity. The use of language for demands.  Stage 2: Preoperational – Age 2 – 7 years  Symbolic thinking occurs. Use syntax and grammar to express concepts. Imagination and intuition are strong. Complex and abstract thought is still difficult to comprehend.

Piaget  Stage 3: Concrete Operational – Age 7 – 11 years  Concepts are attached to concrete situations. Time, space and quantity are able to be understood but not as single concepts.  Stage 4: Formal Operations – Age 11 + years  Theoretical, hypothetical and counterfactual thinking. Strategy and planning are possible, concepts can be learned in one concept and be applied to another.

Quiz 1. Give a brief definition of moral development? 2. How many levels did Kohlberg have? 3. How many stages did Kohlberg have? 4. How stages did Piaget have? 5. How many sub-stages did Piaget have in Stage 1 and Stage 2? 6. In your opinion, what stage of moral development was reached in the activity we did earlier in the lesson?