Child and Adolescent Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development

Development – • Piaget believed that moral development is

Supporting Children’s linked to cognitive growth.
• To understand children’s moral thinking,
Social Emotional he told them a story about two little boys
Development and then asked them which boy was
Dr Sau Yin LAU
naughtier and why.
The Open University of Hong Kong
EDU E253F
Spring Term 2020

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One day Augustus noticed that Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development

his father’s inkpot was empty
and decided to help his father
by filling it. While he was
opening the bottle, he spilled a
lot of ink on the tablecloth. The
other boy, Julian, played with
his father’s inkpot and spilled
a little ink on the cloth.
• Piaget found that children younger than 7
usually considered Augustus naughtier
since he made the bigger stain while older
children thought Julian was naughtier
because he should not have been doing
that.
• Piaget concluded that young children
have immature moral judgements. They
focus only on the degree of offense rather
than the intent of the action.

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Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development

• Piaget proposed that moral reasoning
Discussion: develops in two stages.
• Morality of Constraint
Which child is naughtier,
• Children are egocentric and cannot put
Augustus or Julian? themselves in place of others. They view an
act as either totally right or wrong and think
Why? everyone sees it the same way.
• Children judge acts in terms of actual
physical consequences, not the motivation
behind them.
• They obey rules because they are sacred
and unalterable.

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OU C&A Dev p.1

 Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
• Piaget proposed that moral reasoning
develops in two stages. The Heinz Dilemma
• Morality of Cooperation
• Children put themselves in place of others.
They can consider more than one aspect of
a situation including the intent of an action.
• Children judge acts by intentions, not
consequences.
• They recognise that rules are made by
people and can be changed by people.
• They discard the idea that there is a single,
absolute standard of right and wrong. They
begin to formulate their own moral code.

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Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of
Reasoning cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save
• Lawrence Kohlberg (1927- her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had
1987) was an American recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the
psychologist. druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to
• Kohlberg agreed with Piaget make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a
that children’s moral small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went
development is affected by to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal
their cognitive development. means, but he could only get together about $2,000, which is
half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying,
• Kohlberg extended Piaget’s theory of and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the
moral development and formulate his druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make
theory of moral reasoning that describes money from if." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets
how one’s sense of right and wrong desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal
changes with age. the drug for his wife.

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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral

Reasoning
• To understand the moral reasoning in
children and young people, Kohlberg Discussion:
created stories that involved moral
dilemmas, such as the Heinz Should Heinz steal the drug?
dilemma. The character in each dilemma
had to choose between right and wrong Why or why not?
actions. Kohlberg asked the children and
young people how to resolve the
dilemmas and then coded their reasoning.
• Kohlberg found a stage-
like progression in their
moral reasoning.

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 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• The stages represent growth from self-
centeredness to other-centeredness and also
growth of the capacity to reason from
reliance on external authority to fidelity to
internalized values.
• Kohlberg proposed that there were six
identifiable stages which could be more
generally classified into three levels.
• The classification of stages is based on how
a person reason in resolving the moral
dilemma rather than on what he/she thinks
the character in the dilemma should or
should not do.
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Pre-Conventional Morality
• Actions are made according to the morality of
self-interest.
• People at this level judge the morality of an
action by its direct consequences, either to
avoid punishment or to gain concrete
rewards.
• Emphasis in this level is on external control.
The standards are those of others.
• People at this level assume stage are overly
trusting of authority figures.
• This level is typical of children ages 4 to 10.
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Pre-Conventional Morality
• Stage 1: Punishment Avoidance and
Obedience Orientation
• Children obey the rules of others to avoid
punishment.
• They ignore the motives of an act and focus
on its physical form (e.g. the size of a lie) or
its consequences (e.g. the amount of
physical damage).
• They would ask, “Will I be punished of
doing (or not doing) it?”
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Pre-Conventional Morality
• Stage 2: Instrumental Purpose and
Exchange Orientation
• Children conform to rules out of self-
interest and consideration for what others
can do for then in return.
• They look at an act in terms of the human
needs it meets and differentiate this value
from the act’s physical form and
consequences.
• They would ask, “What's in it for me?”
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Conventional Morality
• Actions are made according to the
morality of law and social rules.
• People at this level judge the morality of
an action by comparing them to society's
views and expectations.
• They want to gain approval or to avoid
disapproval from others. They obeys rules
and follows society's norms even when
there are no tangible consequences for
obedience or disobedience.
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Conventional Morality
• Morality is still predominantly dictated by
an outside force.
• People at this level observe standard of
others, but they have internalised these
standards to some extent.
• This level is typically reached after age 10.
Kohlberg believed that many people never
move beyond it, even in adulthood.
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 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Conventional Morality
• Stage 3: Interpersonal Accord and
Conformity Orientation
• Children want to please and help others.
• They can judge the intentions of others,
and develop their own ideas of what a good
person is.
• They evaluate an act according to the
motive behind it or the person performing
it.
• They would ask, “Am I a good
boy/girl/person?”
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Conventional Morality
• Stage 4: Authority and Social-order
Maintaining Orientation
• People become more broadly concerned
with society as a whole. They believe that
society would be chaos without laws.
• They are concerned with doing their duty,
showing respect for higher authority, and
maintaining the social order.
• They conform to social norms and laws to
avoid guilt.
• They would ask, “What is my duty?”
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Post-Conventional Morality
• Actions are made according to the morality of
abstract principles that typically include basic
human rights such as life, liberty, and justice.
• People at this level view the world as holding
different opinions, rights and values. They
recognise conflicts between two socially
accepted standards and try to decide between
them.
• They reason according to moral values and
ethics principles which are valid and applicable
apart from the authority of the groups.
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Post-Conventional Morality
• The control of conduct is now internal, both in
standards observed and in the reasoning
about right and wrong.
• Kohlberg believed that people generally do
not reach this level until at least early
adolescence, or more commonly in young
adulthood.
• He believed that most people never reach this
level in their lives.
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Post-Conventional Morality
• Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation
• Laws are regarded as social contracts
rather than rigid edicts.
• People think in rational terms, valuing the
will of the majority and the welfare of
society. They generally see these values as
best supported by adherence to the law.
• While they recognise that there are times
when human need and the law conflict, they
believe that it is better for society in the
long run if they obey the law.
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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral
Reasoning
• Post-Conventional Level
• Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle
Orientation
• People do what they as individuals think is
right according to their moral values,
regardless of legal restrictions or the
opinions of others.
• They believe that laws are valid only insofar
as they are grounded in justice. As they are
committed to justice principle, they would
choose to disobey unjust laws.
• They act in accordance with internalised
standards.
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p.4

An Exercise:
Which stage of moral reasoning
is involved?
1. “He should not steal the drug.
If he does so, he’ll be caught
by the police.”
2. "He should not steal the drug.
Stealing is not allowed by law.
It is wrong to break the law."
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Support Children Who Have Social,
Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
• Enhance their self-esteem
• Self-esteem refers to an individual’s
overall view of himself/herself.
• It is the judgement a person makes about
his/her self-worth.
• When self-esteem is high, a child is
motivated to achieve.
• Children with low self-esteem are found to
be more likely to suffer from social
emotional difficulties such as depression
or anxiety.
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Support Children Who Have Social,
Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
• Develop their social emotional skills
• Research studies showed people who had
better social and emotional skills when
they were young were found to be more
likely to succeed in adulthood.
• Research studies showed that friendships
are good for children’s mental health.
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Support Children Who Have Social,
Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
• Support them to reduce misbehaviour
• Use behaviour modification approach
• Apply learning theory and social learning
theory
• Use reinforcement/punishment and
vicarious reinforcement/punishment to
shape children’s behaviour
• Use problem solving approach
• Provide positive behaviour support
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Positive Behaviour Support
• Postive Behaviour Support is designed to
increase adaptive behaviour and no
longer has just a narrow focus on
decreasing misbehaviour.
• It is also known as multi-element
behaviour support.
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Positive Behaviour Support
• It offers a multi-element approach that is
values led and aims to:
• Understand why behaviour occurs.
• Reduce the likelihood of challenging
behaviour.
• Ensure skills teaching is a central
intervention.
• Establish quality of life as an intervention
and outcome measure.
• Reduce/avoid the use of restrictive
interventions (e.g. punishment, restraint,
seclusion).
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p.5
 Positive Behaviour Support
• It acknowledges the idea that problem
behaviour is a language used by people
who have no other way to relay their
message.
• The behaviour becomes unnecessary
when the behaviour finds a voice.
• It is important to understand the
‘functions’ of a child’s problem behaviour
in order to determine specific
interventions for the child.
Suggest what should be done to
provide positive behavioural support to
the following child.
1. A child who always speaks very
loudly in class or public areas
2. A child who is aggressive towards
peers
3. A child who always hand in
homework very late

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Positive Behaviour Support

• To formulate a support plan for a child,
functional assessment of problem
behaviour is to conducted.
• The assessment involves two parts:
• Getting to understand the person;
• Getting to understand the behaviour.
• Intervention should match the functions
of the problem behaviour.

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Positive Behaviour Support

• The following questions are to be understood.
• What function(s) does the behaviour serve
for the child?
• What environmental changes can be made
to change the child’s behaviour?
• What are the antecedents (triggers) of the
behaviour?
• What are the consequences of the
behaviour that affect the future behaviour?
• What skills can we teach the child to help
him/her meet his/her needs without using
the problem behaviour?

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