ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

JODHPUR
CLASSROOM PRESENTATION
SUBJECT: Clinical Specialty – 1st
(Psychiatric Nursing)

TOPIC- THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

UNIT- THEORIES OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
AND RELEVANCE TO NURSING PRACTICE

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Mr. Irasangappa Mudakavi Ganesh Kumar Bhambu
Tutor MSc Nursing 1st year
College of Nursing College of Nursing
AIIMS, Jodhpur AIIMS, Jodhpur

Date of Submission: 20 /12 /2022

S. No. CONTENT Page No.

1. Introduction 1

2. Definition 2

3. Moral Development 2

4. Piaget’s Theory of moral reasoning 3

5. Lawrence Kohlberg and theory of moral 3-5

Development

6. Stages of moral development 5-8

7. Qualities of moral development 8-9

8. Measurements 9

9. Current research 10

10. Summary and conclusion 11

11. References 11
INTRODUCTION
The Theory of Moral Development is a very interesting subject that stemmed
from Jean Piaget's theory of moral reasoning. Developed by psychologist
Lawrence Kohlberg, this theory made us understand that morality starts from
the early childhood years and can be affected by several factors.
Morality can be developed either negatively or positively, depending on how an
individual accomplishes the tasks before him during each stage of moral
development across his lifespan.
Kohlberg extended Piaget's theory; proposed that moral development is a
continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan.
History of the Theory
How did Kohlberg come up with the theory of moral development? All his
ideas started from the research he performed with very young children as his
subjects. He found out that children are faced with different moral issues, and
their judgments on whether they are to act positively or negatively over each
dilemma are heavily influenced by several factors. In each scenario that
Kohlberg related to the children, he was not really asking whether or not the
person in the situation is morally right or wrong, but he wanted to find out the
reasons why these children think that the character is morally right or not.

DEFINITION
Moral development is the process through which children develop proper
attitudes and behaviours toward other people in society, based on social and
cultural norms, rules, and laws
DESCRIPTION
Moral development is a concern for every parent. Teaching a child to
distinguish right from wrong and to behave accordingly is a goal of parenting.
Moral development is a complex issue that—since the beginning of human
civilization—has been a topic of discussion among some of the world's most
distinguished psychologists, theologians, and culture theorists. It was not
studied scientifically until the late 1950s
Moral Reasoning
 The thinking processes involved in judgments about questions of right
and wrong.
 The bases for ethical behaviour.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Moral Development is an aspect of a person’s overall development that follows
over the course of a lifetime. It is growth and, like all growth it takes place
according to a pre-determined sequence.

 The gradual development of development’s concept of:

 Right or wrong,
 Conscience,
 Religious values,
 Social attitudes,
 And certain behaviour.

 Process by which children learn their moral beliefs and develop moral
reasoning for making decisions regarding what is right or wrong.

PIAGET’S THEORY OF MORAL REASONING

Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, explored how children developed moral
reasoning. He rejected the idea that children learn and internalize the rules and
morals of society by being given the rules and forced to adhere to them.
Through his research on how children formed their judgments about moral
behaviour, he recognized that children learn morality best by having to deal
with others in groups. He reasoned that there was a process by which children
conform to society's norms of what is right and wrong, and that the process was
active rather than passive.
Piaget found two main differences in how children thought about moral
behaviour. Very young children's thinking is based on how actions
affected them or what the results of an action were. For example, young
children will say that when trying to reach a forbidden cookie jar,
breaking 10 cups is worse than breaking one. They also recognize the
sanctity of rules. For example, they understand that they cannot make up
 new rules to a game; they have to play by what the rule book says or what
is commonly known to be the rules. Piaget called this "moral realism with
objective responsibility." It explains why young children are concerned
with outcomes rather-than intentions.

Lawrence Kohlberg
(October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987)

• He was an American psychologist.

• He served as a professor in:
- the Psychology Department at the University of Chicago and at the
Graduate School of Education at Harvard University
• He started as a developmental psychologist and then moved to the field
of moral education.
• He was particularly well-known for his theory of moral development
which he popularized through research studies conducted at Harvard's
Centre for Moral Education.

KOHLBERG'S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

 This theory is a stage theory. In other words, everyone goes through the
stages sequentially without skipping any stage.
 Assessed moral reasoning by posing hypothetical moral dilemmas and
examining the reasoning behind people's answers.
 Proposed three distinct of moral reasoning: Pre-conventional,
Conventional, and Post-conventional.

HOW DID KOHLBERG COME UP WITH THE THEORY OF MORAL

DEVELOPMENT?
 All his ideas started from the research he performed with very young
children as his subjects. He found out that children are faced with
different moral issues, and their judgments on whether they are to act
positively or negatively over each dilemma are heavily influenced by
several factors. In each scenario that Kohlberg related to the children, he
 was not really asking whether or not the person in the situation is morally
right or wrong, but he wanted to find out the reasons why these children
think that the character is morally right or not.

Kohlberg's Moral Dilemmas

Hypothetical situations in which no choice is clearly and indisputably

right.
• In each case, he presented a choice to be considered, for example,
between the rights of some authority and the needs of some deserving
individual who is being unfairly treated.

 For purpose of illustration, Kohlberg uses the Heinz Dilemma.

The Heinz Dilemma:

A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one
drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that
a pharmacist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was
expensive to make, but the pharmacist was charging ten times what the
drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged
$2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz,
went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get
together about $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the
pharmacist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let
him pay later.
But the pharmacist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to
make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's
store to steal the drug for his wife.

SIX STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Level A: Pre-Conventional Moral Development: Physical

consequences & what suits the individual.
 Stage 1 Punishment-Obedience Orientation
 Stage 2 Instrumental Relativist Orientation

Level B: Conventional Moral Development : Winning group

approval, for the sike of social order.
 Stage 3 Good boy-Good girl Orientation
  Stage 4 Law and Order Orientation

Level C: Post-Conventional Moral Development: Laws can be changed

for the general good , defined by conscience.
 Stage 5 Social-Contract Legalistic Orientation
 Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principle Orientation

Level 1: Preconventional Morality (age 4 – 10)

The first level of morality, preconventional morality, can be further divided into
two stages: obedience and punishment, and individualism and exchange.

A person is motivated by obedience to authority commonly associated with

young children involves little thought about morality moral code is shaped by
the standards of adults and the consequences of following or breaking their
rules.

Throughout the preconventional level, a child’s sense of morality is externally

controlled. Children accept and believe the rules of authority figures, such as
parents and teachers.  A child with pre-conventional morality has not yet
adopted or internalized society’s conventions regarding what is right or wrong,
but instead focuses largely on external consequences that certain actions may
bring.

Stage 1: Punishment- Obedience Orientation

Related to Skinner’s Operational Conditioning, this stage includes the use of

punishment so that the person refrains from doing the action and continues to
obey the rules. For example, we follow the law because we do not want to go to
jail.

Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation

In this stage, the person is said to judge the morality of an action based on how
it satisfies the individual needs of the doer. For instance, a person steals money
from another person because he needs that money to buy food for his hungry
children. In Kohlberg’s theory, the children tend to say that this action is
morally right because of the serious need of the doer.

Level 2: Conventional Morality (age 10 - 13)

People focus on following social norms and customs begin to internalize the
moral standards of valued adult role models. Reasoning is based on the norms
of the group to which the person belongs.

The second level of morality involves the stages 3 and 4 of moral development.
Conventional morality includes the society and societal roles in judging the
morality of an action.

Throughout the conventional level, a child’s sense of morality is tied to personal

and societal relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of authority
figures, but this is now due to their belief that this is necessary to ensure
positive relationships and societal order. Adherence to rules and conventions is
somewhat rigid during these stages, and a rule’s appropriateness or fairness is
seldom questioned

Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation

In this stage, a person judges an action based on the societal roles and social
expectations before him. This is also known as the “interpersonal relationships"
phase. For example, a child gives away her lunch to a street peasant because she
thinks doing so means being nice.

Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation

This stage includes respecting the authorities and following the rules, as well as
doing a person’s duty. The society is the main consideration of a person at this
stage. For instance, a policeman refuses the money offered to him under the
table and arrests the offender because he believes this is his duty as an officer of
peace and order.

Level 3: Post conventional Morality (adolescence – adulthood)

The post-conventional morality includes stage 5 and stage 6. This is mainly

concerned with the universal principles that relation to the action done.
People look beyond convention to determine moral norms and appropriate
social interactions. judgment is based on self-chosen principles moral reasoning
is based on individual rights and justice.

Throughout the postconventional level, a person’s sense of morality is defined

in terms of more abstract principles and values. People now believe that some
laws are unjust and should be changed or eliminated. This level is marked by a
growing realization that individuals are separate entities from society and that
individuals may disobey rules inconsistent with their own principles. Post-
conventional moralists live by their own ethical principles—principles that
typically include such basic human rights as life, liberty, and justice—and view
rules as useful but changeable mechanisms, rather than absolute dictates that
must be obeyed without question. Because post-conventional individuals
elevate their own moral evaluation of a situation over social conventions, their
behaviour, especially at stage six, can sometimes be confused with that of those
at the pre-conventional level. Some theorists have speculated that many people
may never reach this level of abstract moral reasoning.

Stage 5 : Social Contract Orientation

In this stage, the person is look at various opinions and values of different
people before coming up with the decision on the morality of the action.
Stage 6 : Universal Ethical Principles Orientation
The final stage of moral reasoning, this orientation is when a person considers
universally accepted ethical principles. The judgment may become innate and
may even violate the laws and rules as the person becomes attached to his own
principles of justice.

QUALITIES OF “MORAL DEVELOPMENT

I. Stage development is steady.

one must progress through the stages in order, and one cannot get to a higher
stage without passing through the stage immediately preceding it.
2. Subjects cannot comprehend moral reasoning at a stage more than one
stage beyond their own.
Thus a person at stage two, who categorizes good and bad on the basis of his
own pleasure, cannot comprehend reasoning at stage four which appeals to
fixed duties the performance of which need not offer any promise of reward or
pleasure.
3. Subjects are cognitively attracted to reasoning one level above their own
main level.
A stage one person will be attracted by stage two reasoning, a stage two person
by stage three reasoning, and so on. Kohlberg states that reasoning at higher
stages is cognitively more acceptable than reasoning at lower stages, since it
resolves problems and dilemmas in a more Satisfactory way.
4. Movement through the stages is effected when cognitive uncertainty is
created.
That is, when a person’s cognitive outlook is not suitable to cope with a given
moral dilemma. If in a given situation one’s cognitive framework cannot resolve
a problem, the cognitive organism adjusts to a framework which does. Yet if a
person’s orientation is not disturbed there is no reason to expect any
development.
 These qualities of moral development are, as I said, important to keep in
mind. Because they have not only been verified time and again by
research but they also make sense if one looks at the development of
one’s cognitive capacity as a kind of orderly growth.

 Kohlberg believed, as Piaget did, that most moral development occurs

through social interaction.

MEASUREMENTS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Since the development of Kohlberg’s theory, a number of measurement tools
that purport to measure moral reasoning have been constructed. Kohlberg’s
Moral Judgment Interview (1969) is a rather lengthy structured interview
requiring trained interviewers and scorers. Another instrument is the Defining
Issues Test developed by James Rest (1974). These measures, ranging from
projective tests to structured, objective assessment, all consist of a set
of hypothetical stories involving moral dilemmas.
Research
Parents' Roles and Parenting Styles on Shaping Children's
Morality
W. N. Tan1, Maizura Yasin2,*1SJKC Ting Twa, 75200, Malacca,
Malaysia2Department of Language and Humanities, University Putra
Malaysia, 43400, Selangor, MalaysiaReceived November 4, 2019;
Revised December 30, 2019; Accepted January 15, 2020
Abstract
Nowadays, we live in a modern world whichhas been engulfed by a
wave of technology. The changesin the modern world have brought
some alterations to ourlife. The good side brought by the technology
is that ourlife becomes better and better. However, the morality inour
children is found deteriorating. Therefore, the paper isgoing to study,
to which extent the parents' roles andparenting styles are in shaping
the children's moral development. The data was collected from online
data base including ScienceDirect, Wiley, ResearchGate, Procediaand
Google. Both qualitative and quantitative studies, which were
published from year 2009 to 2018 were viewed systematically and
synthesized in a narrative format. The findings of this study were that
the parentsshould play their roles in shaping the children's
morality.They should involve themselves in their family, being
rolemodels instilling religious beliefs, communicating moreoften with
their children and providing bonding time fortheir children with their
grandparents. For parenting styles,the results showed that the most
effective parenting stylewas authoritative parenting followed by
authoritarian.Both the permissive parenting styles were ineffective
inencouraging children's morality.
SUMMARY
We have discussed about basic concept of Moral development,
Kohlberg's theory of moral development and its correlation with
Piaget's theory of moral reasoning, levels and stages of moral
development, measurement of moral development.
CONCLUSION
Moral development plays an important role in our social interactions.
Understanding how and why individuals make decisions regarding moral
dilemmas can be very useful in many settings. Kohlberg’s theory of moral
development provides a framework in which to investigate and begin to
comprehend how moral reasoning develops within individuals with respect to
developmental stages throughout the life.
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